A device that can identify early signs of breast cancer has won the International 2020 James Dyson award.

The Blue Box, which has been created by Judit Giro Benet, is able to provide a swift diagnosis partly courtesy of an AI-based algorithm. Upon providing a urine sample which is then placed inside The Blue Box, sensors then carry out a chemical analysis. 

A result as to whether the analysis pinpointed any potential signs of the disease in the urine or not is produced from an algorithm situated in a cloud-based system that is linked to the device. That result is then displayed on the user’s phone via a linked app – The Blue App.

Looking ahead, Benet emphasised how winning this award will aid her product moving forward.

“It will help in two ways”, said Benet speaking to Dyson. “One is that if you say you have won the James Dyson Award, people will listen to you. Because someone has already trusted us, so that’s a huge help. Also, the prize money will let us patent the product. And if we are patented, we are able to pitch to investors. So instead of taking two years, it will take half a year. It’s a huge difference.”