( CNN ) -- An eclectic group of engineers , designers , artists , parents and lactation consultants came together at MIT over the weekend to improve a necessary , unpopular device : the breast pump . `` They are loud , they are painful , they are very expensive , they can cause pain and tissue damage , and they are weird , '' said Alexandra Metral , a research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and mother of three . Together with a group of other MIT Media Lab researchers and students , Metral helped host a `` Make The Breast Pump Not Suck '' hackathon in Boston . The 120 participants broke into 18 teams . They tinkered with old pumps and materials , consulted with volunteer experts and low-income working moms and came up with prototypes for what they hope will be the next generation of breast pumps . The winning team designed a pump for people who are n't able to take breaks to pump breast milk . Pumping while working means stopping all activity and heading to a secluded room for half an hour , multiple times a day . That loss of productivity is bad for employers and employees , and it can be difficult to do with active jobs such as nursing . The Mighty Mom utility belt turned a pump into a hands-free portable device that is worn discreetly under clothes and can work while the wearer goes about her regular routine . Many of the teams saw potential in wearable sensors and data . The PumpIO design used a smartphone and sensors to log data such as pumping times and amounts . A mother could share the information with her doctor , a lactation support consultant or a larger community of other pumping mothers to troubleshoot any issues . A handful of teams focused on mimicking the natural feel of breastfeeding a baby instead of the vacuum technology used by current pumps . A hands-free compression bra used small bladders that fill up to massage and compress the breast , drawing the milk out . Another used technology similar to blood pressure cuffs . A soft baby sling with little ears on it doubles as a holder for a pump , mimicking the feel , look and weight of carrying a child . The technology already exists to fix many of the biggest issues with breast pump technology , such as loud motors and bulky , weak batteries . `` There really is low-hanging fruit here , '' said Metral . To make the leap from cool idea to actual product , the hackathon teams need to attract funding or the interest of a major pump manufacturer . Luckily , the event drew executives from major maternal health companies , including Medela and Ameda . And the winning team gets to pitch its idea to Silicon Valley investors . The group started as an idea for an art project : to make a wonderful breast pump that everyone wanted to wear . Then Catherine D'Ignazio , Metral and Alexis Hope realized the idea was n't so crazy after all . Spurred on by a piece in The New York Times ' Motherlode blog , they got a Hack the Breast Pump group together and decided to do something about it . The first `` Make the Breast Pump Not Suck '' hackathon took place in May and included about 20 people . The response was huge . Over 1,000 people wrote in with their own problems , ideas and fixes on the group 's Facebook page . Some had specific issues , such as breast cancer survivors who wanted to breastfeed . Parents also shared their own fixes and solutions . As it turns out , moms have been hacking their own pumps for ages . Some knit cozies to muffle the loud noise the pump makes , others have created custom flanges to fit their unique shapes . Instead of just encouraging manufacturers to improve their designs , the Hack the Breast Pump group is making some hacks publicly available . They 'll publish 3D files online so anyone with access to a 3D printer can print custom accessories and parts that work with existing pumps .
120 people participated in a `` Make the Breast Pump Not Suck '' hackathon at MIT . The engineers , designers and parents created new takes on the breast pump . The winner was a pump on a utility belt that could be worn under clothes .