MIPS Project Detail:
Company
Company Description:
AnthroTronix is a research and development (R&D) firm specializing in the development of advanced interface technology, product development for wearable computing and robotic control systems, and the design, development, and testing of simulation tools for training applications. The company supplies its R&D services and advanced product development to commercial and government customers. AnthroTronix was founded by Corinna Lathan and Jack Maxwell Vice and distributes products emerging from the company’s R&D projects.
MIPS Project
Robot Toolkit for Rehabilitation
Project #
2516.27
|
MIPS Round
27
|
Starting Date:
Feb 2001
MIPS Project Challenge:
AnthroTronix wanted to integrate its expertise in gestural interfaces, which the company had been developing for video games, with the UMD Human Computer Interaction Laboratory’s storytelling robot, to create a new robot for pediatric rehabilitation.
Project Scope:
AnthroTronix and HCIL staff jointly developed JesterBot, a therapeutic tool for children with speech, learning, or physical disabilities. The product worked by placing wireless sensors on a child’s body, after which JesterBot would mimic a child’s movements. The idea was to make physical therapy fun.
Results:
The MIPS research resulted in a patent, which AnthroTronix licensed from the University of Maryland. Subsequently, the next generation of JesterBot became CosmoBot, a robot that interacts with children, both with and without disabilities, to promote educational and therapeutic activities. The current version, CosmoBot V3, was tested in a research study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and was used in physical therapy with children with disabilities through an NIH-funded project. CosmoBot has been tested with children with a range of abilities, including autism spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, neurodevelopmental disorders, and language developmental disorders. Funding sources have included the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and U.S. Department of Education.
CosmoBot was most recently redesigned in 2013 to include additional degrees of motion in the arms and an improved control system. The CosmoBot character is also part of Cosmo’s Learning Systems, an assistive technology product developed by AnthroTronix, which includes the company’s Mission Control input device and accompanying educational software.
AnthroTronix employs 17 people and has generated over $24 million in revenues through research awards and contracts, from funders such as Lockheed Martin, the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Education, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and NASA, among others.
In 2014, the company received FDA clearance for its computerized, cognitive test battery, known as DANA™. Offered through a mobile medical application, DANA™ provides clinicians with objective measurements of reaction time (speed and accuracy) to aid in the assessment of an individual’s medical or psychological state. In 2015, AnthroTronix won an Edison Awards™ Gold Award in the Medical Testing & Evaluation Category for DANA™. AnthroTronix was awarded the Washington GovStar “Technology Trailblazer” award in 2016.
The experience and expertise gained in the mHealth field while growing its business and research capabilities in the MIPS program moved AnthroTronix into the digital health field and set it on the path to create other innovative health technologies. One such tool, DANA™, is providing researchers, individuals, and health care providers with a new, fast, and flexible way to track cognitive performance and help with the screening for a variety of health issues. DANA™ is available on Android and iOS, has been scientifically validated, and has been verified by test/retest capability.
Principal Investigator:
Catherine
Plaisant
Senior Research Scientist, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
Project Manager:
Carl
Pompei
Executive Vice President & CFO
Technologies:
Robotics
