Can We Build A Better Breast Pump, Already?

When Ayyana Chakravartula discovered she was pregnant for the first time, she borrowed a breast pump from a cousin of hers. Chakravartula, who has a PhD in mechanical engineering and lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, was completely stumped by the contraption that was put in front of her.

There were so many different parts to the device that they had to be collected in an enormous bulky bag: there were adaptors, battery packs, bottles, ice packs, valves, tubes, and a cap that presumably attached to your breast. (It was hard to tell for sure: there was nothing at all that seemed intuitive to Chakravartula about the kit.) The entire thing was analog, which was odd to her, given that every other device she owned used digital technology.

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