SBIR Phase I: An innovative virtual reality platform that accurately and rapidly assesses meaningful brain function outside the lab

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力不仅在于运动员，而且还在于每年遭受创伤性脑损伤的300万美国人，以及4000多万关注痴呆症并寻求测量大脑健康的方法的人。目前的解决方案（通常仅在有受过培训的专业人员的设施中可用）仅评估认知的显著健康变化。相比之下，我们的解决方案提供了一种负担得起的，可靠的方法来测量大脑健康，并监测治疗，训练和康复后的变化。因此，它将是其他公司可以用来评估旨在影响大脑功能的各种干预措施的一个很好的工具。“量化自我”市场销售收集数据的技术（可穿戴设备，DNA测试，软件），以告知和指导健康和自我改善。2019年全球潜在市场总额估计约为190亿美元。客户的最初目标市场是那些通过测量，跟踪和训练认知能力（如反应时间，决策和多任务处理）来寻求竞争性运动优势的人。这些客户是美国各地高中、大学和高性能健身房的教练。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将满足以下需求：联合收割机和利用眼动、手部和头部跟踪仪器、虚拟现实和认知神经科学的力量，以准确测量和监测大脑功能。本SBIR项目第一阶段将完成四个技术目标：（1）开发一个高度受控的测试环境，能够精确测量用户的时间（2）开发能够从自然输入中收集可靠数据的软件;（3）开发一套用户可以在30分钟内完成的任务，并将生成足够的数据用于分析;（4）快速处理，总结和情境化收集的数据，并向运动员及其教练报告有意义的结果。成功完成这些目标将实现首个同类产品，该产品通过实验室质量的认知评估在真实世界的背景下提供对大脑的有意义的洞察。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project lies not only with athletes, but with the 3 million Americans who suffer a traumatic brain injury each year, and the 40+ million more who are concerned about dementia and seek a way to measure their brain health. Current solutions (typically available only at facilities with trained professionals) assess only significant health changes to cognition. In contrast, our solution provides an affordable, reliable way to measure brain health and to monitor changes after treatment, training, and rehabilitation. Thus, it will be an excellent tool other companies can use to assess various interventions aimed at affecting brain function. The "quantified self" market sells technologies (wearables, DNA tests, software) that collect data to inform and guide health and self-improvement. The total addressable global market is estimated at ~$19B for 2019. The initial target market of customers are those seeking a competitive athletic edge by measuring, tracking, and training cognitive abilities such as reaction time, decision-making, and multitasking. These customers are coaches in high schools, colleges, and high-performance gyms across the US.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will address the need to combine and harness the power of eye-, hand-, and head-tracking instruments, virtual reality, and cognitive neuroscience to accurately measure and monitor brain function. This Phase I SBIR project will complete four technical objectives: (1) to develop a highly controlled testing environment that can accurately measure the time users (athletes) spend on detecting, processing, and acting on different cognitive tasks; (2) to develop software that can collect reliable data from naturalistic inputs; (3) to develop a set of tasks that users can complete within 30 minutes and that will generate sufficient data for analysis; and (4) quickly process, summarize, and contextualize the collected data and report meaningful results to the athletes and their trainers. Successful completion of these objectives will realize a first-of-its-kind product that provides meaningful insight into the brain with laboratory-quality cognitive assessment in a real-world context.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.