In light of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, today we wanted to share an innovative well-tech tool called DotPlot designed by postgraduate students at the Royal College of Art, co-founders Shefali Bohra and Debra Babalola.
DotPlot is an at-home breast health monitoring tool that assists women to perform self-checks with clarity, ease & confidence.
After various studies conducted by the team, they found that many women are confused, scared or even reluctant to conduct self-assessments, despite it being a prime method of detecting breast cancer.
From this research, DotPlot was born…
“We were surprised to hear that women who had been shown how to conduct self-checks by their general practitioners were still not 100 per cent sure that they were doing them correctly, It highlighted that the demonstrations, pamphlets and tutorials provided for breast health care – though useful – were insufficient “
DotPlot
How does it work?
The handheld portable device uses sensing technology – a technology that uses sensors to acquire information by detecting the physical, chemical, or biological property quantities and converting them into a readable signal.
These signals create a map of the user’s body to detect changes and abnormal readings in their breast tissue.
When used consistently over a period of time, the device can provide comparisons which makes it helpful for the user to see any unusual patterns and abnormalities.
“Our goal at Dotplot is to eliminate the confusion and misconceptions surrounding self-checks, “We want women to take care of their breast health with confidence, clarity and ease”
DotPlot
The device connects via Bluetooth to an app and while applying the device to their chest, users can read an easy step-forward guide on how to check each area of their breasts correctly.
Instructions include an on-screen marker which guides women to move the device to cover their entire chest.
The app provides real-time feedback and a report which is how users can compare previous statistics.
“Dotplot’s technology identifies the location of the device on the women’s torso, then takes a reading of that specific location which can be seen on your phone screen – it then keeps blinking on the specific position until it receives a reading for that location”
DotPlot
Winning the James Dyson Award 2022, The students now hope to commercialise in the near future with the goal that their invention will help prevent more cancer diagnoses whilst eliminating fear or any uncertainty around conducting self-checks.
The good news is that early detection increases survival rates to 93% making DotPlot a pioneering example of what the future holds in the world of well-tech.
Photos Courtesy of DotPlot
