Traditional hair braiding can take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours, forcing clients to spend half a day in a salon chair and causing stylists repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel and arthritis. Halo Braid (also known as Halo) is a groundbreaking hardware and robotics startup reimagining the $42 billion hair industry. The company builds a robotic braiding assistant that works with professional stylists to automate the most time-consuming parts of the braiding process.

About the Founder

• Yinka Ogunbiyi serves as the founder and CEO of Halo Braid alongside co-founder David Afolabi.
• Engineering & Business Background: Ogunbiyi is a biomechanical engineer and serial entrepreneur who holds both a Master of Science in Engineering and an MBA from Harvard University (class of 2023).
• Inspiration: The idea originated during the COVID-19 pandemic when she spent four days attempting to braid her own hair in her London apartment. Recognizing that hair braiding had seen little technical innovation in 5,000 years, she approached the process as an engineering challenge.
• Recognition & Capital: Halo Braid won the prestigious $75,000 grand prize at Harvard Business School’s President’s Innovation Challenge and subsequently raised a $7 million seed round led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm, Seven Seven Six.

Key Concepts of Halo Braid

• Collaborative Assistant (Co-Bot): The machine is designed as an assistant rather than a full replacement for human hair braiders. Stylists handle the initial parting, precision root styling, and handoffs, while the device completes the length of the braid.
• Drastic Time Reduction: The device finishes each plait up to 5x faster than a human hand, cutting traditional 6-to-12-hour appointment times down to a fraction of the duration.
• Ergonomic Protection: By taking over the repetitive down-braid motion, the machine significantly decreases physical strain on braiders, combating occupational risks like arthritis and carpal tunnel.
• Gentle Mechanical Design: Using advanced principles from material science and mechanical automation, the device applies a patent-pending “gentle, no-pull” approach to work with complex textured hair safe and comfortably.
• Salon Revenue Scalability: Shorter service times allow braiders to serve multiple clients a day instead of just one or two, drastically boosting salon earnings and operational efficiency.

Watch the Video

Check out futuristic beauty and transformation technology concepts featured in action:

👉 Watch the video on YouTube