( CNN ) -- On Tuesday , January 12 2010 , the world watched in horror as Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake . At least 100,000 people lost their lives in the devastation . In the aftermath , many people around the world sent financial aid to help support survivors . But one young entrepreneur was so affected by the tragedy that he sat down at his desk to try to lend his professional skills to future relief efforts . Having watched the disaster unfold on TV , Francisco Aguilar , a graduate from MIT Sloan and the Harvard Kennedy School , began working on a tool that could be used to help in emergency response situations around the world . `` If you remember the 2010 earthquake in Haiti , you saw hundreds of thousands of people buried under the rubble . After an earthquake most people die in the first 48 hours . People who are trapped tend to die in the first 48 hours . And the international rescue teams came with their very sophisticated equipment , and did a fantastic job when they got there , ( but ) they did n't get there for 48 hours . And their tools , their fiber optic scopes , and all the kinds of equipment that they have , cost $ 50,000 , and are very hard to use . So , despite their very valiant efforts , they pulled out a few hundred people , but most of the damage was already done , '' Aguilar says . The device Aguilar invented is called the Bounce Imaging Explorer -- a small black probe about the size of a baseball , fixed with an array of sensors and cameras that can be thrown or dropped into dangerous environments . `` The initial thought was , how could we create something that was easy to use , that could allow a first responder , or even a volunteer , to easily look inside a space to determine whether it was safe to enter it , to see if there was a victim inside , '' Aguilar says . `` And that moved from search and rescue , to police who often face hostage situations : aggressive shooters , or terrorism . To fire fighting applications , where people often want to search different rooms in a complex , before having to enter or decide whether there is a fire or not . So there 's a common problem across first responders of having to decide whether to enter a house or a space . And we are trying to make it cheap and easy to get images while they are out of there . '' To develop the product Aguilar partnered with David Young , an entrepreneur who spent four and a half years as a US Army infantry officer . The Bounce Imaging Explorer 's cameras and sensors can quickly take panoramic images after being thrown into an inaccessible space . The impact resistant shell can also house heat sensors , Geiger counters , vibration antennae or smoke detectors to provide different information in different kinds of emergencies , such as natural distasters or SWAT team hostage rescues . The ball then broadcasts its findings back to a mobile device to give users information on whether there are hazards ( or indeed survivors ) around a corner , or buried beneath fallen debris . The company , Bounce Imaging , won a gold award of $ 50,000 at MassChallenge , and was named one of TIME Magazine 's Best Inventions of the year . Gianfranco Zaccai , CEO of design consultancy Continuum , said : `` I think that the concept is really great in its simplicity ... There 's a lot of potential there , and there 's a lot of potential for doing good with it , because if you think about , the dangerous world that we live in , we need simple , robust , usable ideas that are embedded in great products . '' Aguilar hopes to begin producing the Bounce Imaging Explorer next year , and says he aims to keep the cost between $ 500 and $ 1000 .
U.S. graduate Francisco Aguilar invents throwable camera called the Bounce Imaging Explorer . The shock absorbent baseball-sized tool can be thrown into hostile situations to assess risk . It is a low-cost piece of equipment that could help first responders in developing countries .