UCL Hawkes researcher wins Best Innovation Award for speculum-free cervical screening

Dr Aoife McDonald-Bowyer has been awarded the Best Innovation Award at the Hamlyn Symposium Surgical Robot Challenge 2026 for the development of SoftCerv - a tampon-sized, speculum-free robotic device designed to make cervical cancer screening more accessible to women worldwide.

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death among women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A significant barrier to screening in these settings is the speculum-facilitated pelvic examination currently required for a smear test, a procedure that many women find uncomfortable, unfamiliar, or inaccessible without specialist clinical infrastructure. Soft Serve has been developed to address this directly.

The device is a soft silicone, tampon-sized robot that is inserted without a speculum and without forced dilation. Once inserted, the tip anchors via radial balloon inflation and is steerable across all four uterine positions, enabling it to reach the cervix reliably regardless of individual anatomy - an important capability where rigid instruments may fail. A collapsible cytology brush deploys through a single mechanical actuation, enabling simultaneous HPV sampling and cytology in one procedure.

A chip-on-tip camera connects to any smartphone or laptop, with a real-time AI system identifying the transformation zone and directing the user to the correct sampling location. This reduces the level of clinical expertise required to perform the procedure, enabling task-shifting to non-specialist healthcare workers, a critical feature for deployment in low-resource environments.

The full system weighs less than 300 grams, requires no mains power and no cold chain, and is controlled by a portable, fully mechanical handheld controller.

SoftCerv is currently a proof-of-concept device that has undergone bench testing to validate its actuation, steering, and sampling mechanisms. The next phase of development will involve in vivo studies to assess the forces and range of motion involved during use, and to benchmark its performance against current clinical practice.

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Related links

• Dr Aoife McDonald-Bowyer's research profile 
• Prof Dan Stoyanov's research profile 
• Dr Agostino Stilli's research profile