Nigerian robotics and embedded systems engineer, Kemisola Bolarinwa, has invented a smart bra capable of diagnosing early-stages breast cancer before symptoms develop.
Bolarinwa made the invention known to the world in February 2022, by designing the prototype of the smart bra. It was spurred by the death of her loved one in 2017.
She said before the death of her aunt, she rarely paid any attention to breast cancer. This was because it was just something she heard on the TV or radio.
Bolarinwa is the founder and chief executive officer of Nextwear Technologies, the first wearable technology startup in Nigeria. She said she was moved to invent the smart bra, after frequent visits to the hospital where her aunt was before she died.
According to her, seeing other women battling breast cancer was painful. She then intensified efforts on the invention.
Her invention was recognised by BBC Africa. She spent a year and a half of intense research, before the smart bra came up in 2019, Bolarinwa added.
How breast cancer bra works
To detect lumps in the breast, the smart bra repurposes ultrasound technology into a small form factor. The initiative is to shrink down an ultrasound machine to a portable size where it becomes wearable.
According to Bolarinwa, this was possible with nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a branch of science, technology, and engineering that deals with the manufacturing of tech in small sizes.
For more context, the smart bra uses an ultrasound system called the Doppler that bounces high-frequency sound waves off the body to detect blood clots, heart defects, and blocked arteries. This works differently from ultrasound machines that use sound waves to generate images of the scanned area.
