SBIR Phase I: Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot providing flare-up support for patients with endometriosis

SBIR 第一阶段：人工智能 (AI) 聊天机器人为子宫内膜异位症患者提供紧急支持

• 批准号: 2304436
• 负责人: Christopher Fortuna
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: AMIE HEALTH INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304436&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Artificial; Intelligence; AI

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is a novel chatbot that provides support to endometriosis patients. Endometriosis is a debilitating chronic pain disorder that impacts approximately one in ten women in the United States - resulting in significant loss of productivity, low quality of life, and greater than $80 billion annual economic burden. This artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot aims to conversationally educate users regarding clinically accepted paradigms of care and options during scenarios including painful endometriosis flare-ups. This project ultimately aims to improve patients' self-knowledge and quality of life, expand access to patients in rural communities to improve endometriosis patient recovery, and reduce the burden of the disease due to lack of knowledge or hesitancy for proper self-care.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop an on-demand endometriosis flare-up management chatbot using advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Understanding (NLU). Many endometriosis patients experience pain or symptoms on a daily basis but symptoms can become unbearable during flare-ups, causing patients with little support to seek emergency room care. The conversational chatbot will be trained to answer user’s questions, guide them through pain-reducing exercises such as pelvic floor therapy, and provide direction to professional resources. This framework uses an internal Natural Language Understanding unit to create user intents, variable entities, conversation context, and conversation resuming slot filling. The technology incorporates emotional understanding and empathetic mirroring allowing the chatbot to have a natural freeform text conversation with the user to encourage them to freely express themselves and feel understood during moments of crisis. This chatbot will serve as a digital companion for patients, acting as both a supportive friend (listening and validating) and as a virtual coach (guiding the patient through exercises to alleviate symptoms). This technology project will design, develop and validate the chatbot in a limited patient pilot.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.

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是一个为子宫内膜异位症患者提供支持的新型聊天机器人。子宫内膜异位症是一种使人衰弱的慢性疼痛障碍，在美国大约十分之一的女性会受到影响，导致生产力显著下降，生活质量降低，每年的经济负担超过800亿美元。这个人工智能(AI)聊天机器人旨在对话式地教育用户，在包括痛苦的子宫内膜异位症发作在内的情况下，关于临床接受的护理范例和选择。该项目最终旨在提高患者的自我认识和生活质量，扩大农村社区患者的接触范围，以促进子宫内膜异位症患者的康复，并减少由于缺乏知识或对适当的自我护理犹豫不决而造成的疾病负担。该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将利用高级自然语言处理(NLP)和理解(NLU)开发按需的子宫内膜异位症突发管理聊天机器人。许多子宫内膜异位症患者每天都会经历疼痛或症状，但在突发期间症状可能会变得无法忍受，导致几乎没有支持的患者寻求急诊室护理。对话聊天机器人将接受培训，回答用户的问题，指导他们进行盆底治疗等止痛练习，并为专业资源提供指导。该框架使用一个内部的自然语言理解单元来创建用户意图、可变实体、对话上下文和对话恢复空位填充。这项技术融合了情感理解和共鸣镜像，允许聊天机器人与用户进行自然自由的文本对话，以鼓励他们在危机时刻自由表达自己并感到被理解。这个聊天机器人将充当患者的数字伴侣，既是支持患者的朋友(倾听和验证)，也是虚拟教练(指导患者进行锻炼以缓解症状)。该技术项目将在有限的患者试点中设计、开发和验证聊天机器人。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。