This federal Project Grant award, valued at $802,180.00 and running from August 15, 2024 to July 31, 2026, is funded by the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to support the development and evaluation of the Robot Interaction Scale of Engagement (RISE) system. The RISE system, which leverages advanced artificial intelligence and the Pepper social robot, aims to provide essential information and support to unpaid caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and...
This Project Grant award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director under the Trans-NIH Research Support program (CFDA 93.310) aims to foster the ethical adoption of artificial intelligence-enabled assistive robots (AIAR) in dementia care. The $179,449 award, granted on September 17, 2024, will fund a two-stage study to: 1) describe the experiences, ethical complexities, and decision-making processes associated with AIAR usage by people living with dementia, their care...
This $300,000 National Science Foundation project grant will support the development of remotely operated reconfigurable walker robots for eldercare services through February 2025. Funded under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering program, the award recipient Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Volunteer Services, Inc. will conduct research to design a multi-functional robotic system that can alter its physical configuration to navigate residential environments. The robot is...
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a $499,996 Project Grant under the Aging Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.866) to Beaver Health, Inc., a minority-owned, woman-owned small business, to develop a prototype of the COMPASS conversational AI assistant. COMPASS is designed to provide personalized, culturally responsive support and coordination for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) caregivers in real-time. The 12-month project aims to develop and test the initial...
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a $1,010,368 Project Grant under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866) to Koronis Biomedical Technologies Corporation (KBT) to develop and validate an interactive gaming platform that facilitates cognitive interventions for individuals living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and other related dementias (ADRD). The goal of the proposed research is to create an in-home cognition training system that provides...
This Project Grant award of $175,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) program supports the development of an AI-driven system to assist individuals with mild cognitive impairments in setting and achieving personalized rehabilitation goals. The key products and services to be delivered through this 2-year award (July 2025 to June 2027) include: 1) designing a goal-setting framework using multimodal data to model...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), provides $399,988 to Charles River Analytics, Inc. to prototype and demonstrate the feasibility of a Social, Assistive Mobile Manipulator (SAMM) software suite. The goal is to enhance functional independence and psychosocial well-being in people with spinal cord injuries and tetraplegia. The Phase I effort will...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $1,498,158.00 to Synaptic Health LLC to develop a novel closed-loop feedback neuromodulation system to improve slow wave sleep in Alzheimer's disease patients. The project aims to create a prototype device that can sense sleep architecture and provide peripheral neuromodulation stimulation to individuals over age 65 who are at elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease. The goal is to demonstrate that...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging's Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866) provides $349,333.00 to Rendever, Inc. to develop and test the feasibility of a new virtual reality (VR) platform tailored for dementia caregivers. The platform aims to address the social isolation, stress, and high turnover rates faced by in-home dementia caregivers by providing them with virtual support groups, training, and shared VR experiences. The project will co-develop the VR platform...
This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to Lifebio Inc. totaling $864,674 will support the development of LifeBioTalk, a tablet-based platform designed to provide engaging audiovisual content narrated by a human-like avatar to people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The key objectives of this Phase I SBIR award are to create a prototype of LifeBioTalk with 6 scripted 22-minute episodes, as well as conduct a fidelity...