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Object Finder for a Retinal Prosthesis

Award Information
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Branch: National Institutes of Health
Contract: 1R44EY027650-01A1
Agency Tracking Number: R44EY027650
Amount: $224,991.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: W
Solicitation Number: PA16-302
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2016
Award Year: 2017
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2017-07-01
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2018-06-30
Small Business Information
1987 PRINCETON AVE
Saint Paul, MN 55105-1526
United States
DUNS: 621641237
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: Yes
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 KEVIN KRAMER
 (763) 576-6978
 kkramer@ame-corp.com
Business Contact
 SARA SEIFERT
Phone: (612) 803-6998
Email: sara.seifert@minnesotahealthsolutions.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

Project Summary Abstract
We propose to develop and evaluate the utility of advanced object recognition algorithms to control the
information provided to retinal prosthetic patients Retinal prostheses restore partial vision to people blinded by
outer retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa RP or macular degeneration The Argus II
retinal prosthesis system is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to elicit visual perception in
blind individuals with severe to profound retinitis pigmentosa The implanted epiretinal array provides a grid of
electrodes Electrical pulses at these sites stimulate the retinaandapos s remaining cells and result in the perception of
patterns of light in the brain Ordinary light and color information is difficult for wearers to effectively process in
many important tasks with the limited perceived spatial resolution Current compensation techniques in
reduced resolution systems apply enhancement magnification and panning of visible light imagery and these
techniques have utility to retinal implants However other information sources such as information provided
from image processing performed on the visible light imagery obtained by the prosthesis camera may more
naturally align to the limited resolution of retinal arrays and improve the utility of the system in important tasks
such as object finding The proposed project seeks to provide object recognition as a feature in a retinal
implant system Users will be able to direct an object recognition application to find a desired object in the field
of view of the head mounted camera and to direct the userandapos s view towards it through the presentation of a
recognizable icon A prototype system will be developed and evaluated in human subjects in phase I A full
system implementation and trial will be completed in phase II Project Narrative
The proposed project relates to the utilization object recognition in a retinal prosthetic Retinal prostheses aim
to help people who have lost their vision due to degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa or
macular degeneration to perceive shapes and movement to become more mobile or to perform other day to
day activities

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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