NIDC Celebrates Nigerian-American Engineer Over Braid-Assist Robot

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission has celebrated Nigerian-American engineer and Harvard graduate, Yinka Ogunbiyi, over her invention of HaloBraid, described as the world’s first braid-assist robot.

The commission congratulated Ogunbiyi in a post on X on Friday, tagging the achievement under the hashtag #ProudlyNigerian.

“Congratulations again Yinka,” the NIDC wrote.

PUNCHONLINE reports that the celebration comes weeks after the US Mission in Nigeria disclosed the development in a separate post on X, saying the innovation had raised $7m and attracted more than 7,000 salons to its waitlist.

HaloBraid is designed to ease the physical strain on hairstylists and save time for salons, with the funding round led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, alongside additional investments from AlleyCorp.

The idea for the device emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic after Ogunbiyi spent four days installing her own protective knotless braids. Recognising the opportunity to apply technology to the labour-intensive process, she partnered with co-founder David Afolabi to develop an automated alternative.

The technology is designed to assist human hairstylists rather than replace them, with the robotic system handling the repetitive mid-shaft braiding process that accounts for a significant part of a typical salon appointment.