I-Corps: A Quantitative Approach to Detecting Meltdowns in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是改善自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者及其照顾者的生活质量。2014年，自闭症的患病率上升了15%。现在，在美国，每59个出生的孩子中就有1个患有自闭症。这意味着美国大约有550万人在高中毕业后不太可能上大学或找工作。我们的用户友好，谨慎的设备可以帮助受影响的个人获得独立，并为他们创造一个支持性的学习或工作环境。先发制人的熔毁检测和护理设备在目前的市场上几乎不存在。作为第一家以可承受的价格进入市场的公司，我们希望引领并催生衍生产品。除了自闭症，我们的平台技术还可以将数据推送给医疗保健专业人员，促进知情和个性化的预防护理。其他可能的应用是监测依从性和测量中风患者肌肉参与康复锻炼的有效性。我们的创新也有可能触及和帮助那些受其他类型焦虑症影响的人。它可以帮助人们更加了解自己的心理健康，进行干预，并过上更健康的生活。这个I-Corps项目涉及可穿戴技术，用于预测、检测、跟踪和减轻自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者的崩溃。我们开发了一套生物识别传感套件，包括两个组件：硬件部分包括可拆卸的防水核心单元，用于生物信号过滤、处理和传输，以及可嵌入服装的可机洗传感器；软件部分由我们专有的机器学习模型组成，用于确定何时发生熔毁，提醒父母或照顾者熔毁的高风险，以及事后评估缓解技术。我们的创新将推动自闭症研究，因为这项技术有可能为更好地理解行为表型打开大门。能够说出一个不会说话的孩子的感受可以为社会/教育发展以及更广泛的表型研究铺平更有效和富有成效的道路。我们产品的评估功能将导致熔毁缓解技术的改进。盖亚的竞争优势在于其先发制人的护理性质。演示了概念验证，测试原型将于2018年夏末完成。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project will be the improvement of the quality of lives of both the individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their caregivers. The prevalence of autism has increased by 15% in 2014. Now, 1 in 59 children born in the US has ASD. This translates to roughly 5.5 million individuals in the US who are less likely to go to college or find a job after high school. Our user-friendly, discreet device can help affected individuals gain independence and create a supportive learning or working environment for them. Pre-emptive meltdown detection and care devices are virtually non-existent in the current marketplace. As the first to enter the market at an affordable price point, we expect to lead and spawn derivative products. Beyond autism, our platform technology can be utilized to push data to a healthcare professional, catalyzing informed and personalized preventive care. Other conceivable application is monitoring compliance and measuring the effectiveness of rehabilitation exercises for muscle engagement of stroke patients. Our innovation also has the potential to reach and assist those affected by other types of anxiety disorders. It can help people become more informed about their own mental health, intervene, and lead healthier lives. This I-Corps project involves wearable technology for predicting, detecting, tracking, and mitigating meltdowns for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We have developed a biometric sensing suite comprising two components: The hardware portion consists of a detachable, water-resistant core unit for biosignal filtering, processing, and transmission as well as machine washable sensors that can be embedded into apparel; The software portion consists of our proprietary machine learning models for determination of when a meltdown is to occur, alerting the parent or caregiver of a high risk of a meltdown, and an assessment of mitigation techniques afterwards. Our innovation will advance autism research, as the technology has the potential to open the doors to a better understanding of behavioral phenotypes. Being able to tell what a non-verbal child is feeling can pave the way for more efficient and productive lessons for social/education development as well as broader phenotypical research. The assessment feature of our product will lead to the improvement of mitigation techniques for meltdowns. gaia's competitive advantage is in its pre-emptive nature of care. Proof-of-concept was demonstrated, and a beta prototype will be complete by the end of Summer 2018.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.