Alastair Monk
$1,000,000
IMMERGO LLC
California
Technology Innovation and Partnerships (TIP)
SBIR Phase II
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II<br/>project concerns greater affordability, accessibility, and accuracy of physical therapy for patients and<br/>therapists. The product to be commercialized will contribute to developing innovation around immersive<br/>telehealth experiences, exploring the future of work for physical rehabilitation in the metaverse,<br/>establishing standards in embodied telehealth, and grounding novel scientific research methods within VR<br/>for healthcare from a California-based startup with the goal of increasing access to care. Establishing a<br/>remote immersive virtual platform will provide a means for in-patient success metrics and full-body virtual<br/>guidance. Patient throughput potentially could be doubled through remote visits in virtual environments<br/>and automated physical health documentation. The platform will be designed with accessibility in mind<br/>with patients from "medical deserts," where patient care is significantly limited by hospital capacity,<br/>physical distance, doctors per population, and cost. Remote physical rehabilitation tools and predictive<br/>physical therapy analytics will benefit patients without adequate insurance coverage. This technology<br/>could lower hospital visits, enable clinics to remain open during future pandemic periods, decrease costs<br/>for patients and clinics alike, and begin detecting physical health needs earlier to help manage the pace<br/>of recovery.<br/><br/>The proposed project aims to expand a novel physical rehabilitation telehealth solution through the<br/>continued research of an instrumented and gamified immersive virtual reality platform for physical therapy<br/>and healthcare monitoring. This technology addresses the shortcomings of widely used telehealth platforms (often videoconferencing) where therapists find it difficult to perform common evaluations<br/>such as movement abilities and balance coordination tests. The solution will expand upon an embodied<br/>telehealth platform with 3D virtual avatars and predictive AI tools to assess user biomechanics in real-time<br/>extending to full-body assessment while providing normative assessment metrics, creating a goal<br/>standard for remote physical therapy care. The development method will continue to utilize user-centered<br/>design with a panel of therapists to ensure accessibility and usability of the prototype systems by their<br/>relevant stakeholders. Such research will incorporate predictive biomechanical analysis to increase the<br/>reliability and repeatability of physical therapy measures and exercise programs for remote monitoring<br/>at the clinic or the patient’s home. Iterative prototyping with user experience will be conducted to<br/>establish in-patient success metrics and full-body virtual assessment. This innovation will enable greater<br/>affordability, usability, and effectiveness of physical therapy for patients and therapists.<br/><br/>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.