The SenseGlove is a glove with sensors that incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms and works as a replacement for breast self-examination. The aim is to increase early detection of breast cancer and consequently survival rates. The startup Glooma won the BfK Awards, awarded by the National Innovation Agency (ANI) as part of the partnership between the Born from Knowledge (BfK) programme and the Empreende XXI Awards.
A home and portable pre-screening medical device that, in addition to detecting changes in breast tissue, enables women to understand their breasts, allowing them to act more quickly. SenseGlove works in conjunction with the self-examination app through the “Reminder” function, which reminds users via email or mobile phone notifications to carry out the home examination. It also provides all the information on the self-examinations carried out over time, comparing the results and assessing changes over time, so that it is easier to present the results to the doctor.
The SenseGlove, together with the app for self-examination, complements but does not replace routine consultations and screening and diagnostic tests.
The sensors accurately detected changes in 88 per cent of uses, with only a 12 per cent false positive rate, and achieved a record with no false negatives, without the AI algorithm and variables that affect the texture of breast tissue. Glooma has already collected 236 patients and is working with four Portuguese hospitals.
In fact, the company is already distributing its first paid pilots and plans to register the product with the FDA next year, since the SenseGlove is a class I medical device in the United States. In the meantime, and by the end of this year, the plan is to increase the number of paid pilots and finalise product development.
The prize awarded by ANI to the SenseGlove project, through the BfK Awards programme, consists of the “Tree of Knowledge” and a cash prize of 2,500 euros. The trophy, the “Tree of Knowledge”, links art with technology, expressing the values of scientific excellence and social and economic relevance.
Since 2017, ANI has awarded around 50 projects and start-ups born out of academic research, in national innovation competitions and prizes promoted by organisations such as Altice, Crédito Agrícola, BPI, Glintt, PortugalFoods and the Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications (APDC), through the BfK programme.
