Award Data

A critical aspect of exoskeleton control that has to date introduced a performance limitation is the ability of the exoskeleton to recognize the intent of the operator so it can apply assistance to their desired motion. This intent recognition effort is typically solved using ad-hoc methods where subject matter experts make design decisions and tune transitions to identify intended maneuvers as re ...

This proposal is to develop a Handoff Training for Combat Casualty Care (HTC3) Framework.Training is the crux of the handoff problem today. Patient handoffs are a crucial part of casualty care, both in military and civilian environments; and today handoffs are being performed in less than optimal fashion, with ineffective communications accounting for 80% of the handoff errors. Our new HTC3 Framew ...

Surgical simulations aiming to support surgeon practices and medical education have attracted enormous research effort over the last two decades. However, the physical reality, especially on simulating aggregated tissue interaction, is still unsatisfactory. In this proposed work, an open source surgery simulation framework, SoFMIS, will be utilized and enhanced with tissue interaction models to a ...

In the setting of altitude-induced hypoxia, operator cognitive capacity degrades and can compromise both individual and team performance. This degradation is linked to falling brain energy (ATP) levels and an increased reliance on anaerobic energy production from glucose. Ketone bodies are the evolutionary alternative substrate to glucose for brain metabolic requirements; previous studies have sho ...

Makel Engineering, Inc. and Sandia National Laboratories propose to demonstrate an advanced multi-modal sensor system suitable for in-situ analysis of exhaled VOCs for pilots, divers and field patients. Our proposed system will combine a micro-gas chromatograph (GC) and miniature ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) for detection of trace amounts of exhaled breath VOCs with miniature solid state sensor ...

BaySpec Inc., in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, proposes to develop an innovative orthogonal sensor systemthat would be able to detect, identify and quantify the inorganic components of breathing mixes, (i.e., nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, helium, and water vapor), as well as individual detectable VOCs within the exhaled breath in real-time. The Phase I resear ...

As the carry and protective gear of the modern war fighter increases, the burden on the human body will necessarily increase. In our present TALOS MkIII project, we are developing lower body augmentation to preserve speed and agility while bearing this weight. Yet we cannot ignore the impact of this weight on the upper body: in this project we propose to develop an upper body exoskeleton with p ...

The goal of this STTR effort is to design a portable, multimodal, non-contact imaging system for burn depth diagnosis and tracking of wound healing. UC and Vanderbilt University will build upon our previous efforts demonstrated via porcine model studies to combine results from structural B-mode optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and functional data (pulse speckle imaging- PSI) to classify d ...

There is a lack of quantitative tools to accurately map tissue viability in a rapid and quantitative manner so a surgeon can properly excise tissue prior to grafting. Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) is an optical method that has been shown to be a reliable method for physiology assessment - particularly for burn depth. SFDI measures of tissue structure (scattering) and function (hemoglobi ...

Based on our success in developing the world first commercial high energy femtosecond fiber laser system and our leading proprietary technology development in ultrashort pulsed fiber laser material processing, PolarOnyx proposes, for the first time, a compact high energy fiber laser based smart wound healing tool to meet with the requirement of this DHP solicitation. It includes a high energy fs f ...