Cooperative Agreement 2025772

This $749,685 National Science Foundation project grant under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) will fund the development of an Automated, Integrated, Multimodal Software (AIMS) system to improve inclusive access to information for persons with disabilities. Saint Louis University leads a consortium that includes software companies Vital, Unar Labs, and Viewplus Technologies to build a unified framework for authoring, converting, and delivering accessible content...

This $400,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program (CFDA 47.070) supports research to develop new methods and systems for enabling blind and low-vision (BLV) users to create customized, interactive multisensory data representations. The goal is to empower BLV people to engage in data analysis as effectively as sighted users through the creation of interactive, multimodal data visualizations that combine...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project award of $222,489 aims to develop an accessibility interface technology to improve software usability for the approximately 61 million Americans living with disabilities. The proposed solution will enable end-users to access up to 80% of commercially-available software, while also providing software distributors a low-cost method to fulfill accessibility mandates and increase product usage and...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (CFDA 47.070 - Computer and Information Science and Engineering program) to the University of Maine System provides $1,126,197 to develop a multisensory navigation assistance tool to aid individuals with visual impairments. The three-year project aims to: Identify information access requirements and optimize delivery via multisensory smartphone interfaces to support indoor navigation for blind and visually impaired individuals. Create...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $305,000 awarded to A Cubed Design LLC, a limited liability company in Aurora, IL, aims to develop a novel, cost-effective, and user-repairable refreshable braille device. The project seeks to address the high costs and durability issues associated with existing refreshable braille technology, which limit braille literacy among the 7 million...

This SBIR Phase I project, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084), aims to develop a bi-directional brain-computer interface (BCI) solution to support advanced neuroprosthetics and devices. The $295,000 award, granted to In Virtualis LLC, a woman-owned small business, will fund the creation of a Unity-based extended reality (XR) BCI development platform, a unifying API to handle diverse digital signal...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) Project Grant award of $140,758 to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) aims to explore the feasibility of using teleoperated robotics to assist individuals with visual impairments. The key goals of this one-year project are to: 1) conduct surveys and interviews with visually impaired individuals to understand the challenges they face in employment and explore their interest in using...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) program (CFDA 47.070) provides $285,274 to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) to develop and test new technology that enhances communication and interaction for individuals with severe speech and motor impairments. The key innovation is a novel interface that leverages multiple information sources, including passive eye gaze, language models, user behavior...

This $275,000 SBIR Phase I Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development of a wearable multimodal sensing device by Skywalk Inc., a for-profit Asian-Pacific American-owned manufacturer. The device aims to enable more intuitive interaction with augmented reality (AR) technologies by turning human hands into cursors, turning any surface into a touchscreen, and unlocking new...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering (CFDA 47.041) will fund research to advance accessible collaboration tools for visually impaired information workers. The $943,192 award to Northwestern University will: Develop a taxonomy of accessibility barriers and design guidelines for AI-powered collaboration tools to support ability-diverse team communication, coordination, and knowledge sharing. Create an accessible infrastructure of new...