UP Diliman graduates win James Dyson Award national title for low-cost CKD dialysis machine
Two mechanical engineering graduates from the University of the Philippines - Diliman have been hailed as the national winners at the 2026 James Dyson Awards for their low-cost kidney dialysis machine project.
Andrew Jacob Buensalido and Allyson Cabrestante clinched the national win with their invention, BiDaKidney, a low-cost, compact dialysis machine designed to automate the flow of dialysate to and from patients. It uses peristaltic pumps for contact-free fluid handling and load cells to measure fluid volume accurately.
Per the project profile, BiDaKidney was created after one of its inventors was inspired by their sibling, a healthcare worker at a government hospital, who witnessed the challenges patients face during dialysis. This motivated the team to develop a more accessible treatment option for the 2.3 million Filipinos living with chronic kidney disease.
"We were thinking about how we could help patients spend less of their lives managing dialysis and more of their time living it. If treatment at home can become simpler, safer, and cheaper, patients may be able to continue their care with greater confidence and independence,” Buensalido said, per UPD.
BiDaKidney is aimed at making dialysis accessible to every Filipino who suffers from chronic kidney disease. It is designed to address the contamination risk and physical burden of manual PD while offering a more affordable alternative to commercial automated machines.
Per the inventors, it is priced at around $100 (~P6,000), which is roughly 1% of the cost of commercial cyclers, and uses existing PD sets instead of specialized cassettes. Its lightweight design of 2.5 kg allows patients to use it at home, school, or work.
Prior to receiving the James Dyson Award, BiDaKidney had already earned recognition in the university. It earned the Dr. Francis Chua Innovation Award, placing first in the 2026 University Project Competition – Design Category hosted by the UP Diliman College of Engineering. It was also recognized as the Best Capstone Project in the UP Department of Mechanical Engineering at a colloquium held on June 11, 2026.
The team plans to further improve BiDaKidney with features such as audio cues for treatment phases, a redesigned chassis for mass production, and a single circuit board for easier assembly. Clinical testing and broader patient evaluations will also be conducted to assess its safety, performance, and user experience.
Other than BiDaKidney, another project, OrthoFlex by Jabez Bote and Ada Koreen Bacay from the same university, emerged as the national runner-up. The project is a compact arm device to help stroke patients regain movement even outside hospitals. It can be operated through a smartphone application.
BiDaKidney and OrthoFlex are now shortlisted for the next stage of the James Dyson Award, with the final 20 projects set to be announced on Oct. 14, followed by the announcement of global winners on Nov. 4.
The James Dyson Competition is an annual program for designers and engineers who develop practical, innovative solutions to real-world problems, with a focus on simple engineering, commercial viability, and sustainability.
