SBIR Phase II: Virtual reality platform that accurately and rapidly assesses meaningful brain function outside the lab

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to provide new infomration on cognitive health. The support includes 60 M people who identify as athletes, 3 M annually suffering traumatic brain injuries, and the 40 M more looking to measure brain health. Current healthcare assessments are available at specialized facilities with trained professionals and detect only significant changes to cognition. In contrast, this project develops an affordable, reliable way to measure brain health and to monitor changes after treatment, training, and rehabilitation. This project leverages expertise in human performance, cognitive neuroscience, computer science and virtual reality simulation. Furthermore, it offers athletes a way to assess cognitive abilities such as focus, decision making and multitasking. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on the technical aspects of training, measuring, analyzing and reporting how people perform athletic and cognitive tasks in unison. These domains of research and technical knowledge come together to form a unique cognition platform that accounts for both physical and cognitive behavior. The platform's measurement instruments reflect cutting-edge research on (1) human perception, specifically in fast-paced and dynamic environments; and (2) the interplay of perception and action in a virtual reality environment. The analytics engine captures and processes thousands of data points per minute describing object locations in simulated space; users' hands, body and head behavior; and cognitive performance. 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.