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Phase II
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3DEO, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: An Affordable Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine
Contact
14000 Van Ness Ave Ste C
Gardena, CA 90249–2942
NSF Award
1757478 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,999
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II Project aims to tackle the two greatest barriers to technology adoption associated with metal additive manufacturing (AM) - cost and quantities. Current metal AM platforms use expensive core components and consumable materials in high-priced machines that produce 99.9% dense parts. The proposed project calls into question the performance requirements that most American manufacturers have for industrial grade stainless steel parts. While these manufacturers require high performance, they cannot currently afford to take advantage of AM benefits due to the high capital expenditure, maintenance, and operating costs associated with current commercial technologies. This proposal re-examines the material performance, machine cost and reliability requirements necessary for a novel metal AM system to satisfy most American manufacturers' needs. In developing a low-cost AM alternative, the goal of the proposal is to allow an estimated over 50,000 American manufacturers to capitalize on the benefits of AM and simultaneously compete in an ultra-competitive, highly globalized manufacturing industry. In addition, procurement for low to medium volume order quantities (1000 - 20,000 pieces) is incredibly challenging with respect to high cost and long lead times. The proposed invention of a low-cost machine allows for never seen scalability in metal AM, allowing for smaller manufacturers to scale by taking advantage of meaningful order quantities and compete with the resources of large conglomerates. This research has broad implications in many industries and could be fundamentally enabling for the growth and prosperity of American manufacturing. The proposed project re-examines the need for high technology, high cost core components in currently available commercial metallic AM machines. Through an innovative deconstruction of the inkjet print head-based, binder jetting process, a method for producing metal end-use parts has been created. The 3DEO process is based on a novel combination of two low-tech and low cost, established technologies. The creation of a robust prototype with this novel method is a highly challenging, multi-faceted project involving key advances in materials science trough the development of a novel binder system compatible with the new process as well as a fundamental evaluation and improvement of material properties of the as-built parts. In addition, completely re-designed sintering cycles and a lengthy evaluation of shrinkage characteristics will be core challenges to overcome to achieve the tight tolerances manufacturing partners require. As such, these challenges will require tight cross-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful outcome. The goal of the proposed research is to fabricate powder metallurgy parts of adequate structural integrity to satisfy industrial end-use requirements. 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.
Errata
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase II: High-Resolution Shop Floor Video-Rate Surface Metrology System
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1556049 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,348,048
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and produce a robust, hand-held, video-rate three-dimensional surface metrology system with vertical and lateral resolution of several micrometers, in order to bridge a critical existing metrology gap for precision-machined surfaces. Many modern manufactured parts, such as turbine blades, drive shafts, orthopedics, and various additive manufactured components require in-situ metrology with high resolution for accurate characterization during manufacturing and/or maintenance operations. Current high-resolution surface measurement systems are slow, vibration-sensitive and laboratory-based and thus are impractical for everyday use by manufacturing technicians. Meanwhile, shop-floor inspection is often only visual, and thus qualitative rather than quantitative, leading both to rejections of acceptable components as well as potential acceptance of failing ones. The absence of high-precision, in-situ metrology has hindered manufacturers from applying real-time data analysis and closed-loop process controls that can improve yields and reduce manufacturing costs. This research program will yield a hand-held, easy-to-use, robust, and quantitative shop-floor measurement system, allowing manufacturers to improve lifetimes, performance, and yield as they rapidly assess the features under test and feed the results back to improve process control. During Phase I, a breadboard system was designed and implemented using a polarization-based fringe projection method and micropolarizer phase-mask technology to achieve vibration insensitive measurement in a compact package. This Phase II program leverages that research to design a video-rate, compact, robust and portable system for handheld surface measurements in shop-floor environments. This will first involve improvements to measurement resolution with an improved optical design and new self-calibrating measurement modes; new optical elements will lower noise artifacts caused by imperfections in the earlier design and to reduce system size. Once performance of the new design is verified, an ergonomic, compact, robust, wireless housing for the instrument must be created to enable shop-floor use; the system must handle drops of over one meter onto concrete, have useful battery life for extended field operations, be light enough to not fatigue users and have intuitive controls and feedback. A final, critically important development effort will create automated software routines for measurement, analysis, and system diagnostics to enable adoption by unskilled personnel in manufacturing environments. Lastly, extensive applications testing in the field will allow optimization of the system to handle a wide range of potential use cases and environments.
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APPLIED LIFESCIENCES & SYSTEMS POULTRY, INC.
SBIR Phase II: Innovative High Throughput Automated System for Individualized Poultry Vaccination and Recognition and Removal of Unhealthy Chicks
Contact
2804 Glen Burnie Dr
Raleigh, NC 27607–3009
NSF Award
1758659 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
02/01/2018 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has the potential to help enhance disease resistance in poultry and increase yields due to the delivery of only healthy, fully vaccinated chicks to farms. These healthier chicks will reduce the need for antibiotics in poultry, aiding to combat antimicrobial resistance. This technology has immediate applications in other food animal industries and fisheries, and allows for data capture on numbers of animals and types of treatments given. Broader applications would include any image capture and analysis that relies on analytics to identify target areas for delivery of substances to live animals or humans. This SBIR Phase II project will allow for the advancement and commercialization of imaging technologies for the use of screening and targeting live animals. This proposal brings innovation in the care of food animals allowing for producers to move away from flock health and focus on the care of individual animals. This will be a dramatic change for the poultry industry, but is necessary in the face of antibiotic removal to be able to improve the current vaccination efficiencies and screen chicks for health status. Individualized care is currently not possible due to the high throughput needed to keep pace with large scale commercial hatchery operation. The technical challenges this proposal will overcome include 1) the safe and effective handling of chicks in an automated system that can process 100,000 chicks per hour, 2) the development of imaging systems for health checks and target recognition, 3) the delivery of the appropriate dose of vaccine with the correct amount of agents (virus, bacteria, parasite, and other agents) while not damaging the agents during delivery, and 4) development of a system that is rugged and robust enough to survive in a hatchery environment.
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase II: High-yield Fermentation of Sugars to Levulinic Acid
Contact
2715 W Fort St
Seattle, WA 98199–1224
NSF Award
1256625 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$613,014
Start / end date
04/15/2013 – 09/30/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project focuses on the development of a high-yield fermentation route for the production of levulinic acid (LA). LA is one of the best-suited C5 building blocks for bio-refinery production due to higher value, broad applications, and likely quick adoption by the chemical industry. During Phase I, this project has designed and experimentally validated the concept of a novel fermentation pathway for the production of LA. The focus of this Phase II work will be to transition from this technical proof-of-concept to the development of a lab-scale fermentation process. The limiting enzymatic steps in the designed pathway will first be optimized to reach levels of activity consistent with the flux/yield required for economical production. Variants of the designed pathway incorporating the original and optimized enzymes will subsequently be cloned into suitable fermentation organism(s). Using computational and experimental metabolic engineering tools, knock-out and knock-down mutations will be performed to further optimize flux/yield in the pathway while optimizing for host cell growth. This work represents the first commercial application of enzyme design to rationally engineer novel metabolic pathway that do not have any natural counterpart, bringing us closer to the dream of designer cell factories. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the advancement of a U.S. green chemistry industry and to allow America to take the lead in the commercial production of a new renewable chemical building block. The lack of a high-yield alternative to costly thermo-chemical processes has been preventing widespread adoption of levulinic acid (LA). Because LA can be converted, chemically or biochemically, to synthetic rubber (through isoprene and butenes), bio-fuels (such as kerosene and HMF), polymers (for instance, nylons) and polymer additives (for changing polymer characteristics), the addressable market is in excess of $20B annually. When considered as the end product, LA trades at a considerable higher price than ethanol, the current product of most commercial bio-refineries, and thus can help diversify their product offering and considerably increase their margins.
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase II: A computational and experimental platform for the automated design of organisms used in the production of biochemicals
Contact
3421 Thorndyke Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119–0000
NSF Award
1456372 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,260,814
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a platform to rapidly design synthetic organisms to produce biochemicals, which will replace environmentally harmful, ecologically inefficient industrial chemical processes. The technology developed in this proposal will provide a competitive edge in the rapid engineering of synthetic organisms to produce biochemicals by fermentation that are currently produced from oil (reducing our CO2 emissions) or extracted from natural species (reducing our taxing load on existing ecosystems). This technology also has the potential to be used for the manufacture of drugs, and to engineer novel organisms to improve crop production and therefore help address the mounting challenges of providing food to a growing world population without tapping too much in Earth's resources. Commercially, the chemicals that will be enabled by application of the technology developed during the Phase I program open up billion dollar markets that are currently inaccessible to the chemical industry. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop a platform that combines computational enzyme design with systems biology to create a fully integrated system for the design and testing of novel cell factories for the production of bulk and fine chemicals. During the Phase I project, the company, in collaboration with the University of Washington, has successfully developed a high-performance software code to rapidly design novel metabolic pathways to produce any target chemical from central metabolism. In Phase II, the company will further advance the concept by (1) developing a high-performance pathway prioritization module to estimate each designed pathway yield and impact on organism metabolism in the context of whole-genome models and (2) use the software platform to design libraries of pathways for the production of a variety of specialty chemical targets that are commercially valuable and not known to be produced by fermentation at scale. Then, (3) using an experimental screening setup, the DNA for all the proposed pathways will be assembled screened at high-throughput for detectable production of the target chemicals.
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ATOM COMPUTING INC.
SBIR Phase II: Spatially Modulated Light For Trapping And Addressing Of Alkaline-Earth Neutral Atom Qubits
Contact
11250 SUN VALLEY DR
Oakland, CA 94605–5736
NSF Award
1951188 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
04/01/2020 – 03/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result from the development of a scalable, universal quantum computing platform. The range of applications are broad and will expand in parallel with the development of new quantum algorithms, with initial applications including molecular simulations for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, currently limited by the approximations necessary to make calculations tractable for classical computers. In order to perform these simulations at a scale useful for commercial applications, quantum computing must be significantly scaled. The proposed system will develop a new method to trap and control individual atoms for scaling of quantum computers. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop technology for parallel, high-fidelity single- and multi-qubit gates in neutral atom quantum computers. The technology will enable neutral atoms as a platform for scalable quantum computing technology with fault-tolerant capabilities. The proposed project includes: 1) development of systems to control atomic qubits in parallel; 2) a methodology to enact high-fidelity gates; and 3) development of necessary infrastructure for a cloud-accessed quantum computer. With a previously unrealized degree of coherent control to atomic systems, the proposed system will serve as an entirely novel tool to study many-body physics, enabling new quantum simulations of new phases of matter or high-energy physics. 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.
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ActivSignal, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer using Multiplex Protein Profiling
Contact
142 Marsh St.
Belmont, MA 02478–2133
NSF Award
2026113 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to improve clinical outcomes and quality-of-life for pancreatic cancer patients. Only 10% of pancreatic cancer survive five years after diagnosis because most cases are detected at later stages when clinical interventions are relatively ineffective. Earlier detection improves interventions, prevents unnecessary procedures arising from uncertain diagnosis, and leads to health system cost savings. Roughly 5 million individuals in the US are at higher risk, but there is no screening test available today for earlier stages, a surveillance market estimated at $3 B. This project will develop a diagnostic test for surveillance of people at high risk for developing pancreatic cancer, with methods potentially applicable to other types of cancer and other diseases. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance a technology using a small blood sample to detect the functional state of multiple biological signaling pathways known to participate in cancer inception and progression. This technology can analyze these low abundance proteins at a low cost suitable for a widely adopted surveillance test. A purpose-built bioinformatic system analyses and compares the bio-signature identified by the assay across many individuals. This Phase II project will optimize the panel of protein targets in the assay to detect high-performing differential bio-signatures for early stages of the disease, and it will enhance the machine-learning-based matching methodology. 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.
Errata
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Aerosol Devices Inc.
SBIR Phase II: New devices Bioaerosol Sampler for Accurate, Time-Resolved Characterization of Viable Microbes and their Genomes
Contact
430 N. College Ave, Ste 430
Fort Collins, CO 80524–2675
NSF Award
1853240 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$898,347
Start / end date
07/01/2019 – 06/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide general commercial access to a new generation of affordable, high-efficiency aerosol samplers that will primarily be used in the Industrial Hygiene and Indoor Air Quality market. The collection technology in these new instruments is unique in that it captures, concentrates and preserves airborne microbes in the same physical state they exist as they are suspended in the air we breathe- a tremendous breakthrough for forensic aerosol analysis. This work optimizes a novel collection method that chronologically resolves air samples into a portable compact platform, which ensures purity, minimizes handling and is safe for mail. The sample output is delivered in small, sterile medical grade disposable plastics that are compatible with a broad range of users' analytical needs whether it be the military, health care, atmospheric researchers or indoor air quality sector. This instrumentation is portable, and requires no filters or chemical additions; it rapidly condenses airborne microbes out of ambient air by manipulating humidity, offering a reliable way to assess microbiological air pollution-indoors or out. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to optimize the design of condensation growth-based bioaerosol samplers for commercial validation, rapid manufacture and high-quality reproduction. The accurate assessment of airborne biological agents remains a tremendous scientific and practical challenge. The intellectual merit of this work lies in finally overcoming the technical barriers posed by conventional air sampling equipment, which require extensive sampling time and significantly compromises the very information military, medical and building science professionals need: what is the identity, distribution and abundance of airborne microbes. This team will use the latest forensic genetic sequencing technology to isolate the detection limits of this new collection equipment for common airborne pathogens and allergens. The objective is to validate these new filterless aerosol recovery instruments in controlled laboratory experiments, with a broad range of common pathogenic bioaerosols. The team will demonstrate how the sample preservation benefits of this technology, can be realized for commercial benefit in monitoring high-density indoor environments, including health care settings and public schools. Operating this new equipment in occupied indoor spaces, we anticipate collecting bioaerosol in excess of forensic detection limits in less than 30 minutes, while maintaining exceptional sample fidelity. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Alchemie Solutions, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Game-Based Learning for Organic Chemistry Using Mechanisms
Contact
4735 Walnut Lake Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301–1328
NSF Award
1659983 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$858,827
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project answers the call that science students go beyond memorizing facts to understand content on a deeper, conceptual level. In chemistry, this goal is particularly difficult to achieve because the underlying concepts describe the behaviors of particles that are not directly observable to students. College instructors are also under added pressure to transform their teaching methods to help ensure student retention and success. In the subject area of organic chemistry, this transformation is even more important, due to the relatively high fail-rate in the course, especially for under-represented minorities and first generation students. The mobile learning tools and data collection platform in this project would help to solve both of these issues with an innovative method for intuitive learning and assessment which helps to make molecules and reactions come alive with game-based mobile applications. The game apps are playable by students of all ages, so the concepts of organic chemistry, as well as other science courses, become familiar and accessible as early as middle school. The broader vision is to open the pipeline for students to progress into STEM careers which have been difficult to reach in the past. This project makes the theoretical touchable for organic chemistry students by building mobile game-based learning tools based on mechanisms, a key underlying concept used to teaching the course. This project will produce the Mechanisms suite of game apps, and bring an intuitive, tactile interface to learning chemistry. The research and development of this phase of the project will expand the user interaction model from Phase I to multiple modules of content for students. The data from the mobile learning tools will be synthesized with machine learning techniques to create an adaptive method to ensure the applications provide the appropriate level of challenge to the student learner. Clinical and longitudinal efficacy studies will be part of the research effort as the game modules are developed and released. The data platform will be optimized to integrate with multiple learning management systems and to be readily expandable to subjects beyond organic chemistry. The dashboard of the platform will allow both instructors and students to access the data and inform learning processes to achieve greater comprehension and success in the course. Commercialization will be achieved through direct-to-student downloads, subscriptions of the data platform by institutions, and licensing the technology to courseware providers.
Errata
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Addenda
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Alligant Scientific, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Plug-and-play intelligent charging hardware and software that increases safety, performance and life of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries
Contact
640 Plaza Dr Ste 120
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129–2399
NSF Award
1951242 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$698,255
Start / end date
04/15/2020 – 03/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to enable greater electric vehicle use; furthermore, the technology’s potential to double battery life will reduce the environmental impact of disposed batteries. This project accelerates electric car adoption by enabling use of 100% of battery operating ranges and maximize usable energy capacity, increasing ongoing driving ranges by 50-100x. This project is a key enabler for expected growth in the global lithium-ion battery market (expected to grow to $68 B by 2022) and the annual hybrid and electric car market (forecast to exceed 10 million vehicles annually by 2025). This SBIR Phase II project proposes to optimize the technology for battery fast charge and capacity retention targets. Battery performance advancements are most often limited by chemistry and materials improvements to electrodes, electrolytes, or cell structure limiting the trade space (i.e., requiring power vs. energy tradeoffs). The proposed charging technology and associated software will selectively optimize cell design for various performance metrics by controlling electrode surface phenomena, such as lithium plating and dendrite formation, that otherwise cause permanent capacity loss during normal use and accelerate internal physical processes limiting charge rate. Technical tasks include: 1) Demonstration of performance improvements to commercial Li-Ion and fabricated Li-metal battery cells; 2) Adaptation of the process from small cells and modules to electric vehicle battery packs; 3) Development of refined sensing and feedback-based control algorithms using Predictive Learning (PL) and Machine Learning (ML) systems; 4) Verification and validation for Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and System on a Chip (SoC) formats. 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.
Errata
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Altaeros Energies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Ultra-light,modular wind turbine
Contact
28 Dane St.
Somerville, MA 02143–0000
NSF Award
1430989 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,240,679
Start / end date
10/01/2014 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop an ultra-light, modular wind turbine for use in buoyant airborne wind energy systems. Reduced turbine weight has a cascading effect on total airborne system mass, allowing a significantly smaller, lower cost buoyant structure to be used to access high altitude winds. At heights up to 2,000 feet winds are strong and consistent, allowing for the production of low-cost, reliable power at a broad array of sites. High altitude winds have over five times the energy potential of ground winds accessed by tower-mounted turbines, opening the potential for a major new renewable energy resource to be harnessed. In addition, the containerized deployment of airborne wind turbines has the potential to expand wind development to sites that are not feasible today, including sites that are remote or have weak ground-level winds. Overall, the technology holds the potential to significantly lower energy costs and improve reliability for remote industrial, community, and military customers and represents a major step forward in unlocking the abundant high-altitude wind resource to help in the global pursuit of greater adoption of renewable energy sources. This SBIR Phase II project will focus on reducing the total weight of the wind turbine system. Turbine weight is one of the most critical cost drivers of buoyant airborne wind energy systems. For each kilogram removed from the turbine, an additional kilogram can be removed from the inflatable shell and tethers, resulting in a significantly smaller and lower cost system. The lightest commercially available small- to medium-sized wind turbine weighs 31.1 kilograms per kilowatt of capacity, which is too heavy for an economically-viable airborne turbine. By incorporating a compact, modular architecture, a lightweight permanent magnet direct-drive (PMDD) generator and high-strength composite materials, the proposed Phase II research effort aims to double the power density of traditional medium size turbines, making the proposed system suitable for use in an airborne application, while maintaining a high level of reliability and cost performance.
Errata
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Antheia, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A complete bioprocess for medicinal plant opioids
Contact
1505 OBrien Dr. Ste B1
Menlo Park, CA 94025–5222
NSF Award
1758423 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,233,952
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a manufacturing platform for opioid medicines. Opioids enable physicians to provide compassionate care to patients suffering from acute or chronic disease and trauma. The need for opioid analgesics is even more salient for surgeons anticipating the post-operative recovery of their patients and planning for end-of-life care. However, opioids are highly addictive medicines, a property that has been exploited for commercial gain by certain players in the pharmaceutical industry. The impact of this project will be to deliver a technology that transforms the existing supply chain for opioids by removing the need to grow opium poppy as a drug crop. Instead of sourcing poppy materials from poppy-growing countries, this new technology will allow for complete production of opioids in a secure industrial facility located in the United States where federal agencies can provide oversight and regulation. Additionally, investment in this technology will enable the development of many more existing and experimental medicines derived from plants, including greatly improved opioids with improved efficacy and safety, and cardiovascular and chemotherapeutic therapies that will extend and enhance human lives. This SBIR Phase II project will develop a bioprocess for opioid active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). To date, the only commercially-competitive method for manufacturing opioids and related alkaloids is to extract these molecules from plants. However, Baker's yeast was recently engineered to biosynthesize opioids, which is a technological advance that could enable opioid production by fermentation. However, many technical hurdles remain in developing a reliable and cost-effective, commercially-viable production system based on existing strains. The objective of this Phase II project is to provide a complete demonstration and pilot-scale operation of an API bioprocess that is ready for industrial scale up. The research employs four approaches: 1) Further development of the engineered yeast strains, 2) scale up of fermentation from laboratory scale to pilot scale, 3) optimization of downstream recovery and purification, and 4) evaluation of the resulting products to establish their validity as drop-in-replacements for existing opioid APIs. The outcome will be a process validated at pilot scale and ready for technology transfer to a secure industrial facility that will make and sell into the opioids API market. This research will replace opium poppies with a modern bioprocess that resembles established, standardized pharmaceutical industry methods for antibiotic and biologic APIs. 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.
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Antora Energy, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Research and development of production-scale high-efficiency Thermal Photovoltaic (TPV) cells to enable ultra-low cost energy storage.
Contact
4385 SEDGE ST
Fremont, CA 94555–1159
NSF Award
1951284 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,234,779
Start / end date
06/01/2020 – 11/30/2023
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to generate inexpensive, reliable electricity through solar cells. As renewables such as wind and solar provide a new low-cost means of generating power domestically, energy storage systems capable of transforming these intermittent sources into dispatchable ones are increasingly commercially attractive. However, conventional energy storage technologies, such as advanced batteries, cannot provide the needed resiliency of on the length scale of days. Ultra-low-cost storage technologies, such as those based on thermal energy storage in earth-abundant materials, have the potential to address this large commercial opportunity. The proposed project will advance the development of a new type of heat engine to convert heat into electricity. The proposed project aims to move this thermophotovoltaic (TPV) heat engine from the lab to the market. The goal of this project is to develop large-scale and high-yield manufacturing of these cells with industrial equipment and large-area substrates. The proposed project will explore the cost-performance trade space toward the goal of high-volume production of PV material. 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.
Errata
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Arable Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Advanced Bioeconomic Forecasting Enabled by Next-Generation Crop Monitoring
Contact
40 N Tulane St
Princeton, NJ 08542–0000
NSF Award
1660146 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$765,954
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to empower farmers to capture a greater share of revenue from the marketing of their crops. Agriculture is a significant engine to the U.S. economy, and farming itself is vital to creating economically vibrant rural areas. Farmers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to capturing good prices from their crops because there are significant information asymmetries in the marketing supply chain. We have developed a combination of hardware and analytics that greatly improves crop forecasts at dramatically more accessible prices, which allows farmers and their trusted buyers to make more informed marketing decisions. Whereas improved agronomy could raise yields by 5-10%, improved marketing could raise revenue >25%, especially for high value crops. In addition to the narrow application of sensing hardware and analytics for forecasting, the data collected by our platform can also be used by growers to make decisions that improve operational performance of complex agribusinesses and improve the agronomy of the farm. These tools make it easier to compare performance of crops to improve yields and reduce resource costs. Together this technology continues to raise productivity and profitability per farmer. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project integrates a completely novel plant and weather sensing platform with analytics that synthesizes data into actionable forms that can drive agribusiness decisions. We have bundled a suite of capabilities into a single hardware unit that includes sensing, communications, GPS, mounting, and solar power, which dramatically reduces the cost and increases the simplicity of collecting agricultural data. These data are uniquely designed to monitor crop performance and its sensitivity to weather and management. Data synthesis is a critical pain point in transforming raw numbers into insights for growers to act upon. By creating an integrated hardware platform, the data is poised to provide useful advice that allow a farmer to act on emerging situations, anticipate upcoming events, and even predict the future. Our research objective here will be to generate probabilistic forecasts that use the unique data from our hardware to estimate key crop growth parameters and project forward for an operational yield forecast. This coupling between highly informative quantitative in-field data and sophisticated parameter estimation and forecast techniques could dramatically improve marketing decisions and help farmers capture better prices for their products.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase II: High-Throughput Agile Robotic Manufacturing System for Tile Mosaics
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1230364 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,305,998
Start / end date
10/01/2012 – 03/31/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will demonstrate a prototype of a high-throughput, agile, low-cost manufacturing system for tile mosaics. Mosaics have been a source of visual splendor for millennia, but they have always required arduous and painstaking hand assembly. Our Phase I proved the feasibility of a programmable, high-throughput robotic tile-assembly system to enhance the production of mosaic tilings. Phase II R&D will build upon Phase I success to further speed up, automate and scale the system, develop an effective agile manufacturing management system, and analyze the economic viability of robotic mosaic assembly for Phase III. We will accomplish this by enhancing the mechanical processes and reducing operator time - in addition to developing a productionflow information system. After Phase II system optimization, we will evaluate the commercial potential of the Artaic technology. The anticipated technical result will be providing a 5x faster manufacturing process with a 75% reduction in the price per square foot of customizable mosaic tilings produced. The intellectual merits of this SBIR project involve Artaic?s disruptive robotic technology, which transforms mosaic installation from its current, time-consuming manual labor processes to a rapid, robotically directed customizable process. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project expands the utilization of artisanal mosaic work while increasing the competitive advantage of U.S. manufacturing processes through increased automation and customization. Successful development of this technology will enable a breakthrough pricing structure that is 75% lower than the competition (based on manual and rudimentary automated processes), leading to broad market affordability and widespread commercial adoption. Our robotic system has the potential to revolutionize the $76B global tile industry, while creating numerous domestic job opportunities. Artaic expects that the 5x increase in manufacturing speed realized during Phase I will be maintained in Phase II during manufacturing scale-up without loss of placement accuracy. The increased understanding of robotic agile manufacturing-enabled mass customization processes will expand the scientific understanding of related robotic processes that utilize highthroughput flexible assemblies, such as for medical or pharmaceutical technologies, or for consumer products. In addition, classical mosaic techniques will become more accessible as an art form to all students, while undergraduate students will increase their understanding of STEM concepts through engineering courses utilizing this technology. Artists and designers will find the realization of their design work much more practical and affordable as a business enterprise.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase II: Computer-Aided Mosaic Design and Construction
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1152564 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,524,999
Start / end date
03/01/2012 – 11/30/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a computer-aided mosaic design and robotic assembly system for automation of a centuries-old manual process. Despite their prominence in art and architecture, mosaics are arduous to design and assemble. Labor-intensive methods have stubbornly resisted automation, adding considerable cost and delay to projects. Artaic's Phase I research proved feasibility of computer-aided design software to create renderings and digital blueprints of artisanal mosaics by introducing a streamlined, procedural workflow for tile layout that closely mimicked the workflow of mosaic artists, and did so over 10x faster than manual methods. The goal of the Phase II research is to demonstrate the speed, effectiveness, utility, and artistic quality of this mosaic design and robotic assembly system. The key Phase II objectives are to: (1) demonstrate a prototype artisanal mosaic design system and; (2) demonstrate a robotic mosaic production system, that will be: (3) validated for accuracy, speed, and quality through user assessment, and; (4) evaluated for economic and commercial potential. Anticipated technical results will enable a revolutionary advancement from manual to automated processes in mosaic design and production, comparable to the displacement of film by digital camera technology. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in art, design, construction, and architecture. Software and robotic automation will lower the cost of mosaics and increase its traditional societal impact of adorning public, commercial, and residential spaces. Artists, designers, and builders will have a significantly faster method to produce artisanal mosaics without the high cost and time associated with manual design and production. The efficiencies made possible by this proposed computer-aided mosaic design and manufacturing system will enable Artaic to expand into the global multi-billion dollar tile market and develop a domestic workforce to compete against global manufacturers of handcrafted mosaic artwork. Additionally, the computational demands of the rendering algorithms developed during Phase II will give impetus to further development of advanced GPUs and CPUs -- with companies such as Intel, Nvidia, and AMD providing solutions for increasingly more advanced rendering algorithms. Perhaps the most significant societal benefit from the development of this technology is its potential to make artisanal mosaic design and production accessible and affordable to the general public, and because this research enables any Photoshop artist to become a mosaic artist, it also hold significant promise as an educational tool in our nation's schools.
Errata
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Arytha Biosciences, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Manufacturing of Red Blood Cell Membrane-Coated Nanoparticles for detoxification
Contact
11575 Sorrento Valley Road
San Diego, CA 92121–1963
NSF Award
1456104 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$766,717
Start / end date
04/01/2015 – 12/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is enabling the large-scale manufacturing of a red blood cell membrane coated nanoparticle platform, which was previously demonstrated to be capable of absorbing and neutralizing a wide array of hemolytic pathogenic factors, such as bacterial toxins, animal venoms, and auto-reactive immunoglobulin. Comprised entirely of biocompatible and biodegradable materials and coated by cell membranes derived from natural red blood cells, the nanoparticles are able to circulate for an extended period of time in the circulation. Their biomimetic exterior allows them to serve as a decoy to scavenge virulence factors that attack cell membranes. The nanoformulation may be applied against multiple pressing and unmet medical needs, including animal envenoming, autoimmune hemolytic diseases, and bacterial infections. Successful development of the manufacturing process also has broader impact in the field of nanofabrication and nanomedicine development. The proposed project will enable the red blood cell membrane-coated nanoparticles to be manufactured efficiently and reliably at a large scale toward clinical translation. To ensure that the manufactured nanoformulations will have the optimal size, uniformity, biological activity, and performance, advanced fluidics, filtration, microscopy, and particle tracking techniques will be applied for precision nanoparticle preparation and characterization. Specifically, the proposed research activity will focus on the synthesis of uniform polymeric nanoparticles with consistent physicochemical properties, derivation of purified and undisrupted red blood cell membranes, and reliable cell membrane coating over the nanoparticle substrates. The resulting nanoparticles will be thoroughly examined to iteratively improve the preparation process. Optimized manufacturing protocol will be developed for large-scale production of high quality nanoformulations following good manufacturing practices (GMP). The project will facilitate the bench-to-bedside transition of the novel biomimetic nanoparticle platform, which has significant implications in addressing the many major diseases involving protein toxins.
Errata
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Astrapi Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Spiral Polynomial Division Multiplexing
Contact
100 Crescent Court
Dallas, TX 75201–2112
NSF Award
1738453 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$708,803
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it addresses the bandwidth crisis, the problem of transmitting an exponentially growing amount of data through a fixed amount of increasingly congested spectrum. The bandwidth crisis limits economic growth by constraining communication, and also poses very serious challenges for national defense and disaster response. Making better use of limited spectrum is therefore of high societal and commercial importance. This project will study a new approach, called spiral modulation, for achieving much more spectrally efficient communication than previously thought possible and thereby directly addressing the bandwidth crisis. Commercially, this could facilitate much more rapid data transfer, enhancing existing business applications and enabling new ones. Spiral modulation is applicable to any form of electromagnetic communication, whether wireless or wire-based. It could lead to commercialization across a wide range of communication sectors including but not limited to wireless, mobile internet, unmanned vehicles, automotive, aviation, and Internet of Things. It is a dual use technology with both civilian and defense applications. Ultimately, spiral modulation could become the core technology for the worldwide telecommunications industry. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project applies new mathematics to the problem of encoding information into waveforms for telecommunication. In current digital communication, information is transmitted using symbol waveforms constructed from sinusoids which have constant amplitude over each symbol period. This approach is known to produce a sharp upper bound on the highest spectral efficiency that can be achieved. By instead constructing symbol waveforms from sinusoidal waveforms with continuously-varying amplitude, spiral modulation bypasses the theoretical limitation on spectral efficiency. Building on prior Phase I research, this project will build an end-to-end hardware prototype to establish the implementation path and performance characteristics of spiral modulation. The research will progress in stages from waveform design and spectral efficiency measurement experiments, through end-to-end radio design in software, the hardware prototype development and documentation of best practices. It is anticipated that this research will show significant spectral efficiency advantages over existing signal modulation techniques. Other possible advantages for spiral modulation may also appear, such as greater tolerance for interference and phase distortion.
Errata
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Astrileux Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Novel Technologies to Enable High Volume, Extreme Ultraviolet Manufacturing of Integrated Circuits
Contact
4225 Executive Sq Ste 490
La Jolla, CA 92037–8411
NSF Award
1457418 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,148,154
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project are to accelerate the arrival of next generation computing technology creating faster, smaller more powerful mobile devices, renewing the expected technological pace of development set by Moore's law, and to enable global access to next generation electronics. The technology developed here will enable new extreme ultraviolet lithography in semiconductor manufacturing. The developments will promote learning, understanding and capability in commercialization and scalability of nanotechnology engineering. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to evaluate the feasibility of new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technologies which enable high volume manufacture of Integrated Circuits at 14nm and smaller. Currently capital equipment manufacturers are facing significant challenges in meeting the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors requirements for high volume manufacturing of integrated circuit chips. This has caused severe ramifications to chipmakers on the success of next generation IC manufacturing and fabrication facility costs. Successful results from the work proposed would represent notable progress in high volume manufacturing using EUV capital equipment. The intellectual merit of this proposed work forms the basis of new state of the art industry architecture designed for volume manufacturing; a pursuit that would subsequently encourage new markets and applications using next generation technology overcoming cost challenges in high volume manufacturing processes.
Errata
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Axalume Inc.
SBIR Phase II: High-performance, tunable silicon laser arrays designed for mass production
Contact
16132 Cayenne Creek Rd.
San Diego, CA 92127–3708
NSF Award
1927082 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$774,518
Start / end date
09/15/2019 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is demonstrate new lasers for advanced communication and sensing applications. The proposed work includes the design, simulation, and testing of new lasers to meet rapidly-growing high-speed data center optical communication and emerging automotive laser range-finding requirements. The proposed project activities will include the design, simulation, and experimental verification of hybrid, external-cavity silicon-based optical sources to meet rapidly-growing high-speed datacenter optical communication and emerging automotive laser range-finding requirements. The project will demonstrate that a flexible electronic-photonic integration process can be created to enable dense integration of silicon-photonic and silicon-electronic circuits, independent of specific foundry or fabrication production limitations. This process can be used to develop arrays of high-performance, low-noise, and widely-tunable lasers for advanced optical communication and sensing applications. The proposed project will address existing laser mode-control issues and reduce back-reflection issues. The result will be silicon-photonic lasers suitable for commercial production that will demonstrate industry-leading semiconductor laser capabilities including low-noise, narrow-linewidth, and wide tunability in single and multi-laser chipsets. 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.
Errata
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Azimuth1, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Envimetric - Soil and water contamination predictive modeling tools
Contact
501 Church St NE
Vienna, VA 22180–4711
NSF Award
1831137 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project is a significant reduction in the cost and time to remove hazardous contaminants from the soils and groundwater impacting communities. Properties observed from thousands of contaminated sites serve as inputs to a computerized mathematical model of the site, forecasting the most likely shape and depth of a contaminant plume. This machine learning model gives remediation planners access to a fast delineation of volume to be remediated as well as the uncertainty of the modeled estimate. This saves time and money searching for these contaminants that are deep underground and in groundwater. This Phase II project will expand on the Phase I prototype, creating an operational product capable of reaching the needs of environmental engineers and scientists around the globe, providing the stimulus to cut remediation time and cost in half. 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.
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Azitra Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Re-engineered skin bacteria as a novel topical drug delivery system
Contact
400 Farmington Ave
Farmington, CT 06032–1913
NSF Award
1853071 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$719,727
Start / end date
04/01/2019 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project aims to develop a novel engineered microbiome as a potential therapeutic for a rare skin disease called Netherton syndrome. Netherton syndrome (NS) is a rare, severe skin disease with high mortality and few treatment options. This proposal aims to develop a new therapeutic for this disease, a microbe-based protein delivery system of LEKTI, the missing protein responsible for NS symptoms. At the end of this project, a candidate live biotherapeutic product candidate (LETKI-secreting strain of S. epidermidis) will be nominated and the Company will have sufficient data with which to proceed into formal preclinical studies and subsequent human testing. This proposed product will have the potential to address thousands of patients in the U.S., and the broader proof-of-principle of this microbe-based technology offers significant potential to treat millions of patients living with skin conditions. This offers significant advances in innovation in addition to broad commercial potential. This project aims to develop a novel therapeutic candidate composed of an engineered strain of S. epidermidis that secretes LEKTI protein to the skin for the treatment of Netherton syndrome (NS). NS is a rare but severe autosomal recessive disease that affects the skin, hair, and immune system. NS is caused by mutations in in the SPINK5 gene encoding the serine protease inhibitor lymphoepithelial Kazal-type related inhibitor (LEKTI), which contains 15 serine protease inhibitory domains. The goal of this Phase II project is to demonstrate a proof-of-concept therapeutic for NS: an engineered commensal microbe that delivers discrete domains of LETKI to the skin. The proposed Phase II research plan will establish critical criteria for nominating a potential live biotherapeutic product (LBP) candidate composed LEKTI-secreting S. epidermidis. This research will perform key activities in preclinical development of an LBP: identify an optimal sequence of LEKTI; develop analytical methods for detecting LEKTI secreted from an engineered strain of S. epidermidis; and develop analytical methods for measuring biodistribution and adsorption of LEKTI secreted by S. epidermidis in a human in vitro model. 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.
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BADVR, INC.
SBIR Phase II: Novel Platform for Visualizing Big Data in Virtual Reality
Contact
4505 Glencoe Ave
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292–6372
NSF Award
2025890 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be a fundamental advancement in the way people see, understand, and work with geospatial data. The proposed research will commercialize immersive analytics technology across the telecom, Internet of Things (IoT), and transportation industries, all of which use outdated 2D mapping tools. This technology can also improve visualization of data regarding environmental changes, health crises, and other changing situations. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project fuses augmented reality and virtual reality with artificial intelligence to address data visualization pain points in the telecom sector. Like the buildings they inhabit, wireless signals exist in three dimensions and are difficult to represent through traditional 2D charts and graphs. The objective of this research is to develop a an immersive analytics platform where users literally step inside their geodata and manipulate it in real time. 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.
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Bay Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Guided Positioning System for Ultrasound
Contact
1479 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103–3734
NSF Award
1556103 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,376,062
Start / end date
04/15/2016 – 03/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be in the field of healthcare. The United States spends approximately $9,000 per person per year on healthcare. Ultrasound medical imaging is a medical imaging technology that could lower costs by providing an alternative to higher-cost imaging techniques. The technology created during this Phase II project is expected to increase the quality, value, and accessibility of medical ultrasound, which would in turn reduce medical imaging costs in the US healthcare system. Furthermore, the company's technology is expected to bring ultrasound to more clinical settings and improve system-wide efficiencies in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The technology also has commercial potential in the international market, with $5.8B spent annually on medical ultrasound devices worldwide. Finally, by improving the utility of ultrasound, the technology will lead to improved patient care and may ultimately save lives. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop deep learning technology for ultrasound imaging in medicine. Ultrasound imaging has numerous benefits including real-time image acquisition, non-invasive scanning, low-cost devices, and no known side-effects (it is non-ionizing). However, variability in quality has encumbered its adoption and utility. As a result, more expensive imaging is typically utilized, often exposing patients to ionizing radiation. Our objective is to develop, improve, and test machine learning techniques, based on deep learning, to improve ultrasound acquisition and interpretation. We expect this project will create novel technologies that make ultrasound easier to use and improve the quality of ultrasound examinations. The end result will improve the quality, value, and accessibility of medical ultrasound examinations, will result in cost savings to the healthcare system, will produce improvements in patient care, and will support a sustainable business opportunity.
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Bay Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Guided Positioning System for Ultrasound
Contact
1479 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103–3734
NSF Award
1556103 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,376,062
Start / end date
04/15/2016 – 03/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be in the field of healthcare. The United States spends approximately $9,000 per person per year on healthcare. Ultrasound medical imaging is a medical imaging technology that could lower costs by providing an alternative to higher-cost imaging techniques. The technology created during this Phase II project is expected to increase the quality, value, and accessibility of medical ultrasound, which would in turn reduce medical imaging costs in the US healthcare system. Furthermore, the company's technology is expected to bring ultrasound to more clinical settings and improve system-wide efficiencies in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The technology also has commercial potential in the international market, with $5.8B spent annually on medical ultrasound devices worldwide. Finally, by improving the utility of ultrasound, the technology will lead to improved patient care and may ultimately save lives. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop deep learning technology for ultrasound imaging in medicine. Ultrasound imaging has numerous benefits including real-time image acquisition, non-invasive scanning, low-cost devices, and no known side-effects (it is non-ionizing). However, variability in quality has encumbered its adoption and utility. As a result, more expensive imaging is typically utilized, often exposing patients to ionizing radiation. Our objective is to develop, improve, and test machine learning techniques, based on deep learning, to improve ultrasound acquisition and interpretation. We expect this project will create novel technologies that make ultrasound easier to use and improve the quality of ultrasound examinations. The end result will improve the quality, value, and accessibility of medical ultrasound examinations, will result in cost savings to the healthcare system, will produce improvements in patient care, and will support a sustainable business opportunity.
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Big Blue Technologies LLC
STTR Phase II: Continuous Production and Collection of Magnesium via Carbothermal Reduction
Contact
6710 W 112TH PL
Westminster, CO 80020–3040
NSF Award
1738536 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 11/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase II project stems from addressing the problem of embedded energy in the manufacture of magnesium metal for use in vehicle light-weighting. Improving fuel economy by incorporation of the lightest structural metal, magnesium, does not save on total lifecycle energy consumed if the magnesium was produced using conventional methods. The most energy efficient and economical production method is known is a process technology that was commercially viable during World War II but not at any other time in history. The project innovation reinvestigates and reinvents this dated process, discovering the reasons for technical and economic failure. Domestic magnesium production using state-of-the-art energy-efficient practices will lead to opportunity and growth for downstream manufacturers that support a wide range of military, industrial, and consumer products such as car parts, electronic devices, titanium and steel production, and canned beverages. The economic and environmental benefits of the innovation in the long term will be ever more prescient given the unprecedented rise in use of magnesium metal over the past 100 years. This innovation creates a clean and economic route to magnesium production, helping to reinvigorate light metals industries within the U.S. The intellectual merit of this project is derived from a new paradigm in the condensation of magnesium metal gas produced by carbothermal reduction of magnesium oxide. Previously, shock cooling through a meta-stable temperature range was employed, generating pyrophoric powders that are dangerous and difficult to handle. This Phase II research uses both rapid cooling and controlled heterogeneous condensation for the formation of robust, oxidation resistance magnesium condensate. This process is executed in a novel and continuous condenser for high metal throughput. This effort is also made possible through the development of a reduction reactor technology that operates under milder conditions than previously used while maintaining high production rates. Total plant energy consumption will be at least 50% less than the dominant incumbent process. The Phase II project will result in a scaled ore-to-ingot pilot facility for the manufacture of magnesium metal as a raw material into manufacturing processes. Product quality, process feasibility, and proven scale-up will be demonstrated.
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BioHybrid Solutions LLC
SBIR Phase II: High-Throughput Combinatorial Polymer Bioconjugates Synthesis and Application in Biocatalysis
Contact
320 William Pitt Way
Pittsburgh, PA 15238–1329
NSF Award
1927021 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$742,796
Start / end date
08/15/2019 – 07/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project includes advancement of the field of white biotechnology, which utilizes enzymes to create valuable industrial products. As biological molecules, enzymes are more difficult to manipulate than conventional chemicals and often need more extensive development before they can be adapted to industrial or pharmaceutical manufacturing. This SBIR project will demonstrate how enzymes' performance can be improved using stabilization with special synthetic materials known as polymers. Enzymes are characterized by precise, unique structure and function, which is in turn essential for their role in catalysis of complex chemical reactions. Synthetic polymers, on the other hand, despite being less precisely structured, can be rationally designed to withstand or respond to chemical, thermal or biological conditions. The synergistic fusion of enzymes and synthetic polymers results in an advanced enzyme with improved chemical properties, leading to new manufacturing processes for valuable products such as chemicals, biofuels, and pharmaceuticals; these processes should require less energy, utilize fewer hazardous reagents, and generate less waste. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop a combinatorial synthesis device that can feed high-throughput screening of enzyme-polymer conjugates with desired properties (for instance, temperature, pH- or organic solvent stability). To date, only low-throughput synthesis and characterization methods have been applied to the preparation of enzyme-polymer conjugates, limiting development to only few types of polymer modification per protein and depending on stochastic guesswork to select the variants tested. Thus, in order to fully benefit from the diverse set of polymers currently available on the market, it is important to develop methods to scale the identification of optimally performing enzyme-polymer conjugates. This will be achieved through combination of high-throughput synthesis of enzyme-polymer conjugates and high-throughput screening of attained properties. The target application of the proposed research is focused on pharmaceutical biocatalysis. Application of a high-throughput method will not only result in faster research and development cycles, but also will accelerate our development of fundamental knowledge of identifying protein properties that can be achieved through polymer modification, thereby establishing this method for industrial applications. 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.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Biomolecular Detection of microRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1230440 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$516,000
Start / end date
09/01/2012 – 08/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project examines high throughput methods to quantify intacellular microRNA (miRNA) concentrations in cells that have shown to be associated with normal physiological processes, as well as diseases, including cancer. Currently there are no rapid, quantitative methods available to measure miRNA expression in living cells or tumor tissue. All current in vitro approaches require extensive preparation involving extraction, reverse transcription of miRNA into cDNA and amplification. These methods are not only time consuming, but require that the low abundance miRNA be several fold greater than background to give a meaningful result. To meet the demand for a diagnostic/prognostic tool, development of a biomolecular detection device is proposed based on a single electron transistor to bind and measure the concentration of miRNAs. This will provide a researcher or clinician an accurate profile to make proper clinical assessments. Bringing this device to market will provide scientists with direct information on intracellular miRNA levels, enhancing predictions of miRNAs that are essential for tumor maintenance or metastasis, and creating new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. The broader impact of this project will be to enhance current diagnostic and prognostic tools for early detection of disease. Today, early cancer detection and treatment offers the best outcome for patients. This has driven the search for effective diagnostics. The identification of a universal tumor specific epitope or marker has remained elusive. While many types of serological and serum markers have included enzymes, proteins, hormones, mucin, and blood group substances, at this time there are no effective diagnostic tests for cancer that are highly specific, sensitive, economical and rapid. This deficiency means that many cases of malignancy go undetected long past the time of effective treatment. The goal of this research is to bring a device to market for the research market and a device that can examine miRNA profiles from patient samples immediately in a hospital or clinical setting. The current size of the in vitro diagnostic market was over $40 billion in 2008. Unique diagnostic kits developed from this technology will likely fulfill an unmet market opportunity with the potential to exceed $100 million in the first 3 - 5 years.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Improved in Vivo Delivery of SiRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
0923854 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$802,117
Start / end date
08/01/2009 – 06/30/2013
Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop technologies that optimize the use of RNA interference (RNAi) in animals. RNAi is an invaluable tool for characterizing gene function and is a promising candidate for gene therapy. The use of RNAi in tissue culture is well developed but is of limited use in experimental animals. RNAi agents must enter cells to exert their effects but this has proven to be challenging in animals. The current lack of such technologies is holding back the majority of important RNAi animal experiments. To open this bottleneck, kits and reagents will be developed based on Bioo Scientific?s Targeted Transport Technology (T3). Easy-to-use RNAi delivery products will be manufactured, validated and commercialized for use in animal experiments. The broader impacts of this research are twofold. First, researchers will gain ready access to products that greatly simplify the use of RNAi in animals, thereby, stimulating a burst of validation experiments in animals to try to replicate prior results derived from tissue culture experiments. Animals are more complex than their tissue culture counterparts and it is uncertain that results can be duplicated in an animal. Second, T3 has the potential to be used for the therapeutic delivery of RNAi agents. In sum, this project will propel the validation of tissue culture results via T3 enabled animal experimentation, leading to a better understanding of cellular pathways, the identification of novel drug targets, and the potential to deliver RNAi agents as drugs.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase II: High-throughput Small RNA Sequencing
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1431020 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,999
Start / end date
11/15/2014 – 04/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the development of a technology to accurately measure small RNA expression. This is an enabling life science research tool. Small RNAs are ubiquitous gene regulators found in the body. Products of the same microRNA gene that vary in length by one or two nucleotides may be involved in a host of diseases, including cancer. The value for developing a method to measure the true profile of microRNAs in a sample would be immense for the research community studying transcriptional regulation, and would open the doors to those interested in drug development and diagnostics. The goal of this proposal is to develop a library preparation kit for non-biased small RNA libraries for Next Generation sequencing. These kits will increase the quality and rate at which global microRNA profiles may be determined for research and clinical applications. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop next generation sequencing technology for small RNA more quantitative and less biased. High throughput sequencing has transformed the landscape of genomic research with its ability to produce gigabases of data in a single run. This has enabled researchers to perform genome wide and high depth sequencing studies that would normally not be possible. Despite this capacity, amplification artifacts introduced during polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays increase the chance of duplicate reads and uneven distribution of read coverage. Accurate profiling using deep sequencing also has been undermined by biases with over- or under-represented microRNAs. The presence of these biases significantly limits the incredible sensitivity and accuracy made possible by next generation sequencing. The goal of this proposal is to develop novel bias-reducing technology for making small RNA libraries. The proposed kits and protocols will increase the rate at which global microRNA profiles can be determined, and between-sample and within-sample differences (as well as newly discovered small RNAs) can be subsequently validated. This product will result in a major shift in the way small RNA sequencing is performed, and will pave the way for the discovery of new small RNAs.
Errata
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Addenda
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Bioxytech Retina, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Non-Invasive Retinal Oximetry for Detecting Diabetic Retinopathy prior to Structural Damage
Contact
408 Anita Ave
Belmont, CA 94002–2011
NSF Award
1853245 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$791,540
Start / end date
03/01/2019 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project demonstrates and clinically validates a novel, non-invasive imaging technology to detect diabetic retinopathy before structural damage occurs. Diabetic retinopathy is among the leading causes of vision loss in the world. This devastating complication of both type I and II diabetes results in structural damage to the sensitive vasculature of the retina. Once structural damage is inflicted, it is difficult, if not impossible, to ameliorate it. Small changes in the retinal vasculature's oxygen saturation have been shown to be a reliable indicator of diabetic retinopathy before structural damage occurs. Since there is no clinical non-invasive technology capable of detecting these small functional changes, a major need exists for new retinal oximetry technologies. Diabetic retinopathy affects 200 million people worldwide. The American Diabetes Association reports that the cost of diabetes in the US in 2012 was $245 billion, including $69 billion in reduced productivity and $176 billion in medical costs. Since 40% of diabetics are anticipated to develop diabetic retinopathy, the estimated economic cost of diabetic retinopathy is $98 billion annually. By mitigating the occurrence of diabetic retinopathy, this technology will help reduce the cost of diabetic retinopathy treatment, its overall economic burden, and help save the vision of millions of people around the world. The primary technical innovation behind the proposed technology is its use of a novel physics-based model to overcome the challenges of high-resolution retinal imaging. These challenges include the multi-layered structure of the retina, absorbance dynamics, and the need to produce an image in one snapshot to reduce motion artifacts. Compared with existing methods based on structural imaging, the successful outcome of this project will become a commercial technology-of-choice for ophthalmologists around the world, enabling cost-effective detection of early stage diabetic retinopathy or pre-retinopathy. The development of the technology proceeds through iterative optimization between laboratory and real-use environments to generate robust, validated data. Specifically, in Phase II, the research objectives of the project are pursued in two parallel tracks: 1) refinement of the core imaging system, and 2) validation using model and human subjects in a clinical environment. The outcome of this project will be an easy-to-use, reliable diagnostic imaging and monitoring technology with proven clinical utility in detecting the onset of diabetic retinopathy based on functional properties, before structural damage has occurred in the patient. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Blue River Technology Inc
SBIR Phase II: Use of Machine Learning Techniques for Robust Crop and Weed Detection in Agricultural Fields
Contact
575 N Pastoria Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94085–2916
NSF Award
1256596 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$999,998
Start / end date
04/15/2013 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further develop a novel computer vision based plant identification system for commercialization in agricultural weed control. This system will provide a cost competitive alternative to chemical herbicides, a global $20B market. Existing computer vision based approaches can segment a 'splotch' of green vegetation from a brown background but are unable to provide the selectivity and precision necessary for mechanized, automated weeding. This project's objective is to create software algorithms that match the capability of the human eye and brain to quickly and reliably classify plants into crops and weeds in real-time. The project team will build a computer vision algorithm based on a hierarchical classifier. This classifier will utilize a field customized support vector machine (SVM) that uses point-of-interest rather than shape-based methods, a novel approach to visual object identification. The result of this research will be the creation of an algorithm integrated into an automated weeding system. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is significant, as the development of an alternative to chemical intensive agricultural weed control will impact technological understanding, create commercial opportunity, and positively impact society. Technologically, the project will advance the fields of computer vision and machine learning through development of a real-time, automated plant identification system based on point-of-interest and SVMs. Commercially, the system will offer conventional farmers an effective and chemical-free method to eliminate weeds, and it will offer organic farmers the first truly precise organic weed control method. The addressable market for weed control in food production is estimated to be $4B in the U.S. The system's ability to eliminate the use of chemical herbicides has a profound societal effect. U.S. farmers apply over 250M pounds of herbicide annually on corn and soybeans alone, with many unintended and detrimental side effects. Chemical concentrations in rivers, lakes and groundwater are rising, and the prevalence of herbicide resistant weeds is growing exponentially. An alternative to these chemicals limits society's exposure while protecting environmental integrity.
Errata
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Addenda
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Bluefin Lab, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Semi-Automated Sports Video Search
Contact
21 Cutter Ave
Somerville, MA 02144–0000
NSF Award
0923926 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$997,550
Start / end date
08/15/2009 – 07/31/2012
Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project objective is to commercialize a novel technology for indexing video. The company's approach automatically integrates information from speech, text, and video through algorithms that generate rich semantic indexes for video. The Phase I results show that this approach can be incorporated into a system that indexes video with high accuracy and at a fraction of the cost of currently used methods. Further, during the Phase I research, the company has identified a large and growing consumer market (sports video) in which the technology can be applied. The technical objectives of the Phase II proposal focus on working with such partners to roll out initial Bluefin-powered applications, such as content-based search and video-enriched fantasy sports. Such applications are currently not feasible because of the low accuracy of automated indexing methods and the high cost of manual approaches to indexing video. Millions of hours of new video content are coming online every month, feeding an exploding demand and reshaping the nature of the Internet. Just as text-oriented search engines were necessary to empower users to find what they needed during the first phase of the text-centric Internet, a new generation of technology will be necessary to organize and effectively find content in the fast-approaching video-dominated era of the Internet. Bluefin Lab is pioneering a new approach to video organization and search by commercializing cross-modal algorithms developed in Academe. While this differentiated technology can be leveraged in several target markets, the company's initial focus is on sports media where it will power a unique experience for video search, video-enhanced fantasy sports, and other video-centric applications.
Errata
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Boston Materials, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Leveraging Z-axis Milled Fiber to Enhance the Performance, Economics and Sustainability of Carbon Fiber for High-Volume Applications
Contact
23 Crosby Drive
Bedford, MA 01730–1423
NSF Award
1951183 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,250,000
Start / end date
04/01/2020 – 09/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the development of a high-performance, economic, and sustainable carbon fiber material and associated processing technology for consumer electronics, aircraft interiors, and mass market automobiles. In current processes, roughly 30% of carbon fiber is typically scrapped during manufacturing. By 2024, an estimated 50,000 metric tons of virgin carbon fiber will be scrapped and disposed in landfills. The proposed technology will extract value from scrapped fiber and prevent disposal, offering up to 25% cost reduction compared with carbon fiber products commercially available today. This technology creates higher usage and new opportunities for this advanced material. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will support the development of a high-performance composite that utilizes low-cost and sustainable milled carbon fiber. An industrial roll-to-roll production process will be used to compound virgin carbon fiber with milled fiber. These reclaimed fibers are oriented in the Z-axis using a proprietary technology adapted from an industrial process originally developed to make thermoset products. The proposed project will develop a market-ready thermoplastic product with dense Z-axis reinforcement while retaining key in-plane properties. This new thermoplastic product will be targeted towards translation to high-volume consumer electronics, aircraft interiors, and automotive applications. 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.
Errata
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Branch Technology LLC
SBIR Phase II: Additive Manufacturing in Construction
Contact
100 Cherokee Blvd
Chattanooga, TN 37405–3878
NSF Award
1632267 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,399,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is in support of Branch Technology's novel Additive Manufacturing (AM) process that combines 3D printing technology and conventional construction materials to enable a new way to create buildings. The construction market in the US is approximately 8% of GDP. Any portion of the market that could be enhanced would have a large impact in the US economy. To that end, Branch is creating a process similar to building found in the natural world. In the formation of natural systems, material is the most expensive commodity; a structure is derived by the efficient use of material, but shape is free to be created in almost any form. Branch can approach this efficiency with additive manufacturing, where form is created and material is deposited only when needed and little waste is created. At the core of Branch's method of AM-based construction are three key developments: a three-dimensional freeform structure (the cellular matrix or lattice) which serves as a scaffold for other materials, a robotically- controlled extrusion mechanism by which the cellular matrix is produced, and the algorithms necessary to control the robot for successful production. The proof of concept for this process and more have already been demonstrated by Branch in Phase I of this grant. The technical objectives for Phase II focus on improving the procedures and technology already created. The focus areas for this phase are algorithm development, hardware improvements, the application of finishing materials, code compliance testing, and material science experiments. Algorithm development consists of refining and creating the software necessary to extrude the printed matrix and support a client base. Hardware improvements are necessary to improve the speed and efficiency of the process to create a commercially viable workflow. This research will necessitate the purchase of extra hardware for experimentation. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) testing for load bearing capacity is necessary to enter the market and provide code compliant construction. Experimentation in the application of finished materials to the 3D printed lattice such as spray foam and concrete are vital to the realization of complete buildings.
Errata
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BriteSeed, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Label-free imaging for real-time, intraoperative blood vessel visualization
Contact
4660 N Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640–4510
NSF Award
1660240 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,250,969
Start / end date
05/15/2017 – 04/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a novel, intraoperative imaging technology to address the problem of inadvertent cuts to vasculature during minimally invasive surgeries. More than 17% of patients who undergo these types of in-patient surgeries suffer from an intraoperative bleeding event. When a vessel is injured, there is a higher probability of hospital borne infection due to the loss of blood, and the added cost of care per patient increases by thousands of dollars due to corrective action and extended length of stay for the patient. The risk of vascular injury is compounded by risk factors, such as obesity, which limit the surgeon's ability to visualize and navigate vasculature. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify and assess hidden vasculature in real time. The proposed technology helps identify blood vessel before a cut is made. Importantly, this system will be designed for seamless integration into a suite of surgical instruments for multiple applications. Long term, the company will provide surgeons with the preeminent imaging platform to view, assess, and characterize a range of vessels (i.e. arteries/veins, ureters and bile ducts) in real-time for improved surgical guidance and outcomes. The proposed project will develop a novel blood vessel detection and visualization platform using low-cost optical imaging sensors and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The proposed technology will provide visual and quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time that can supplement a surgeon's technique. This system will be simple, cost-effective, easy to employ, and highly accurate. Traditionally, the avoidance of blood vessels during minimally invasive surgery is accomplished by visualization or costly intraoperative imaging. The proposed technology will use pulsatile light absorption characteristics of blood vessels to provide quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time, supplementing a surgeon's technique. This project will also add significant value to the body of research conducted in the areas of signal processing and image analysis. In addition, the proposed technology will remove the risk of data loss due to artifacts in general and motion artifacts in particular. The proposed technology will be validated ex vivo and in vivo using a porcine animal model.
Errata
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CACTUS MEDICAL,LLC
SBIR Phase II: Finalized Design, Performance and Safety Testing of SmartOto, A Handheld Device for Detection of Otitis Media
Contact
2062 BUSINESS CNTR DR STE 250
Irvine, CA 92612–1147
NSF Award
2025870 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to improve diagnosis of pediatric otitis media (ear infection). Otitis media is the leading cause of unnecessary antibiotic use in children and the second most common pediatric physician appointment. It is estimated that more than 90% of children will suffer at least one case of otitis media before age 5. Despite its prevalence, there may be less than 60% diagnostic accuracy in primary care where the vast majority of cases are seen. Current clinical diagnostics have proven inadequate to address over-prescription of antibiotics and unnecessary specialist and surgical referrals. Otitis media is typically diagnosed using an otoscope to view the tympanic membrane (eardrum) and assess visual signs of an infection. Otoscope designs have changed little since the 1800’s. This SBIR Phase II project advances a novel device that integrates clinical standard otoscopy with a novel technique to non-invasively assess ear health using light in real time and with 98% accuracy. This new otoscope has the potential to create a new standard of care in diagnosis and management of otitis media, and stands to save billions in direct healthcare costs through more accurate diagnosis. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance translation of a device providing clinicians with an objective, real-time indicator of ear health during standard otoscopy. At the push of a button, the LED driven measurement will provide an instantaneous, accurate indication of the presence or absence of middle ear effusion (MEE) – the most sensitive and specific indicator of acute otitis media per established clinical guidelines. This project will meet the desired technical specifications of sufficiently sensitive visualization capabilities and reducing measurement time from 1.4 seconds to less than 300 milliseconds. This project will also: 1) Optimize manufacturability and assembly; 2) Develop a standard automated calibration system; and 3) Conduct standard electronic, photobiologic, and biocompatibility testing for safety and regulatory purposes. 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.
Errata
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CIRCLEIN, INC.
SBIR Phase II: The Smart Study Recommendations Engine
Contact
12020 SWALLOW FALLS CT
Silver Spring, MD 20904–7818
NSF Award
1951222 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$631,874
Start / end date
10/01/2020 – 09/30/2022
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project may improve student achievement. Within U.S. higher education institutions, $47 billion per year is spent on academic support for roughly 22 million students. When a child struggles after a lecture ends, help has historically been delivered by tutors and homework hotlines; Those avenues can be inadequate in closing learning gaps for students after they exit the classroom. The Smart Study Recommendations Engine is expected to further democratize homework assistance and help with studies outside the classroom. As a peer to peer platform, the technology may shrink the cost of personalized homework and out of classroom assistance, enabling students to proceed at their own time and pace. This platform seeks to especially impact students from economically- or socially-challenged backgrounds. The goal of the project is to help make academic success more attainable, common, and inclusive for all students everywhere. The technology is initially being deployed in U.S. colleges and universities, with the goal of achieving a global impact. This Small Business Innovation Phase II project harvests data from internet study resources, analyzes the resources to surface predictive insights, and automatically delivers wide-ranging, peer-reviewed, personalized study materials to help students close learning gaps, without requiring the students to perform complex internet searches. The project will also provide students with the ability to connect with capable peers who can provide additional support by listening to their issues and providing deeper subject clarity. The company is using machine learning as the underlying technology to enable the Smart Study Recommendations Engine. 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.
Errata
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Camras Vision, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Adjustable Eye Pressure Control within an External Shunt
Contact
PO Box 12076
Rtp, NC 27709–2076
NSF Award
1555923 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,365,805
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 11/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project allows for a more effective glaucoma treatment by adjusting eye pressure based on disease progression for each patient. In 2015, the US glaucoma market is estimated to be over $2 billion and our addressable market, glaucoma surgical therapies, is estimated to be $534M. The incidence for glaucoma increases with age, and as the baby boomer population gets older, there will be a growing need for glaucoma treatments. To treat glaucoma, patients undergo lifelong drug regimens, multiple laser procedures, and invasive surgical procedures. However, even with all these treatment options glaucoma patients still go blind from glaucoma. The proposed novel design and approach to glaucoma will personalize the treatment for patients and remove the need for numerous and costly procedures. Most importantly, the personalization of glaucoma therapy will optimize visual protection for every patient. The proposed project will validate the safety and efficacy of a glaucoma drainage device to adjust and set pressure in the eye. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and is only treatable by reducing eye pressure. Surgical treatments are unpredictable with suboptimal success rates based primarily on the choice of drainage site. The proposed novel device drains to a new area of the eye to avoid the complications and unpredictability associated with the current glaucoma surgeries. The device also can provide the first-ever personalized treatment for millions of glaucoma sufferers by fine-tuning pressure based on the needs of the patient throughout his or her lifetime. Phase I/IB studies have shown feasibility of the device with an adjustable component. However, its efficacy and safety have yet to be fully investigated. Therefore, in this Phase II research grant, we will optimize the device for safety and efficacy and perform the necessary preclinical testing according to FDA standards to further develop the product.
Errata
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Care Progress, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Leveraging Health Information Technology to Improve Communication Between Cancer Patients and Providers
Contact
7315 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814–3202
NSF Award
1534685 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,024,282
Start / end date
09/15/2015 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to improve outcomes for patients in cancer treatment. Such patients often suffer from side effects of cancer treatment, such as dehydration and nausea. By enhancing communication between providers and patients, the project seeks to better manage such symptoms and thereby improve outcomes for patients, including lower readmission and emergency department visits and associated costs for Medicare, Medicaid and private payors. The project will enhance scientific and technological understanding by creating a knowledge base of symptoms patients are experiencing. If we are successful we will be able to improve cancer treatment and lower costs in the United States at a time when the number of cancer patients is projected to increase significantly. These benefits are likely to create strong commercial demand for our product from hospitals, Accountable Care Organizations and outpatient cancer centers, which are increasingly under pressure by legislation and private payors to reduce treatment costs. The proposed project seeks to address the problem of poor communication between providers and cancer patients (which is partially responsible for extremely high readmission and emergency department visits) who are experiencing nausea, dehydration, neutropenia and other side effects. The project seeks to obtain patient symptoms and report them to providers for potential earlier intervention and outcome improvement. The methods to be employed include assembling an expert panel, creating software and then conducting a feasibility trial. Key goals include demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining patient symptoms and that providers find the information useful and actionable
Errata
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Chirp Microsystems
SBIR Phase II: Ultrasonic 3D Rangefinding for Mobile Gesture Recognition
Contact
1452 Portland Ave.
Albany, CA 94706–1453
NSF Award
1456376 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,470,999
Start / end date
04/01/2015 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes the development of an ultralow-power ultrasonic three-dimensional (3D) rangefinder system for mobile gesture recognition. The proposed 3D rangefinder uses an array of tiny piezoelectric ultrasound transducers which are built on a silicon wafer using microfabrication techniques. Custom electronics are used to control the transducers and the system emits sound into the air and receives echoes from objects in front of the transducer array. The proposed ultrasonic 3D rangefinder has the potential to be small and low-power enough to be left on continuously, giving devices such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable electronic devices a way to sense physical objects in the surrounding environment. Based on the smartphone market alone, the potential market size for this device is over one billion units per year. Mobile contextual awareness will enable 3D interaction with smartphones and tablets, facilitating rich user interfaces for applications such as gaming and hands-free control in automobiles. Looking beyond the smartphone and tablet market, the proposed rangefinder will feature size and power advantages that will permit integration into centimeter-sized devices which are too small to support a touchscreen. During Phase II, the major technical goals of this project are to transfer the ultrasound transducer manufacturing from a university laboratory to a commercial production facility, to develop a custom integrated circuit for signal processing, and to develop engineering prototypes. In Phase I, micromachined ultrasound transducers having a novel structure designed to improve manufacturability were developed and a demonstration prototype was built using signal processing algorithms running on a personal computer. In Phase II, the ultrasound transducers will be manufactured in a commercial facility for the first time and signal processing algorithms will be realized on a custom mixed-signal integrated circuit. A prototype package for the transducer and integrated circuit chips will be developed and detailed acoustic testing of the packaged prototypes will be conducted.
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ClearFlame Engines, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Development of a Stoichiometric, Direct-Injected, Soot-Free Engine for Heavy-Duty Applications
Contact
6520 Double Eagle Drive #527
Woodridge, IL 60517–1582
NSF Award
1853114 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$747,192
Start / end date
04/01/2019 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
Diesel engines remain critical to global economies, but are under threat from increasingly-stringent emissions regulations. Many alternatives, like spark-ignition and electric vehicles, sacrifice some of the performance or range benefits of Diesel-style operation. This creates a market need for technologies that can maintain Diesel engine performance while remaining decoupled from the dirty emissions of Diesel fuel. This proposal centers on the development of the ?ClearFlame Combustion System? (CFCS): a novel combustion process that enables Diesel-style engines to combust low-carbon alternative fuels like ethanol and methanol without sacrificing the power possible with traditional Diesel combustion. Further, the sootless nature of alternative fuels such as methanol and ethanol obviates the need for a Diesel particulate filter, and enables stoichiometric air-fuel ratios to eliminate the need for selective catalytic reduction of NOx (smog). The engine technology has the potential to alter the dynamics of any market dominated by Diesel engines (including heavy-duty transportation, agriculture, rail, and power generation) and can be licensed to, or jointly developed with, OEMs for simple integration into their existing product lines. Phase I results have shown a 30% increase in engine torque at increased efficiency, while engine-out soot emissions are more than 100x lower than that of Diesel engines, falling under the 2010 EPA regulation limit without aftertreatment. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will continue development of the CFCS. The Phase I results showed that three critical CFCS subsystems?engine insulation, alcohol direct injection, and a combustion chamber optimized for stoichiometric combustion with exhaust gas load control?could be developed and integrated to achieve a previously unattainable combination of strong performance and low emissions. This Phase II effort will further advance these key components and demonstrate the benefits of the CFCS on a commercial engine platform, using CFD modeling and engine experiments to show the advantages of the CFCS compared to the Diesel baseline. The goal is to show how the CFCS enables a multi-cylinder heavy-duty engine to simultaneously improve power density by 30% at no loss of efficiency, while also achieving sootless stoichiometric exhaust conditions that are compatible with low-cost and highly-effective three-way catalysis (the same system that enables gasoline and natural gas engines to be much cleaner than Diesel). A Phase II prototype demonstration would realize a longtime industry goal of integrating three-way catalysis with a Diesel-style engine, allowing Diesel-style engines to achieve the emissions profile of the cleanest alternatives (like natural gas). 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.
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Clerio Vision, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Refractive correction using non-invasive laser-induced refractive index change
Contact
312 Susquehanna Rd
Rochester, NY 14618–2940
NSF Award
1738506 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,250,000
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project enables the development of the next generation of contact lenses for vision correction based on a novel photomodification technique called "LIRIC (Laser Induced Refractive Index Change)." More than 2.3 billion people world-wide suffer from refractive error in their visual system, while over 500 million have inadequate access to refractive correction. Glasses are an option for refractive correction, however there can be practical limitations and even social stigma associated with wearing glasses, particularly among adolescents. Meanwhile vision correction with contact lenses is limited to lenses whose optical prescription is determined by their thickness profile. This has negative consequences for visual quality, on-eye stability and corneal health. The research represents a fundamental shift in how vision correction is applied because it alters the refractive index of an optical material, enabling previously unavailable visual correctors in thin, stable contact lenses. LIRIC uses a high repetition rate, femtosecond laser to micro-modify the local medium to produce custom refractive corrections in hydrogels, and in living cornea. LIRIC works by accumulating localized refractive index (RI) changes in an ocular material to create a refractive lateral gradient index lens. Changing the refractive index using LIRIC instead of the surface shape can lead to several fundamental advances for vision correction, with profound implications for vision care: 1) contact lenses can be manufactured specifically for patient fit and stability with the refractive correction decoupled from the lens shape; 2) difficult and irregular refractive corrections (i.e. for irregular astigmatism, presbyopia, and higher order aberrations) could be written more easily and with better spatial resolution than with existing methods; 3) multifocal and diffractive optical designs can be utilized for presbyopic and macular degenerative corrections. Patients viewing through LIRIC lenses, created in Phase I, had visual performance (visual acuity and contrast sensitivity) on par with a control lens. The objective of the Phase II work is to demonstrate that LIRIC works in contact lenses at process speeds necessary for commercial manufacturing. The goal of this work is to demonstrate that a 6.5 mm optical zone can be successfully processed in <15 seconds. To effectively do so, the LIRIC process has to achieve more than 1 wave of phase change (at 555 nm wavelength) at laser scanning velocities in excess of 10 meter/second.
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Clerio Vision, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Refractive correction using non-invasive laser-induced refractive index change
Contact
312 Susquehanna Rd
Rochester, NY 14618–2940
NSF Award
1738506 – STTR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,250,000
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project enables the development of the next generation of contact lenses for vision correction based on a novel photomodification technique called "LIRIC (Laser Induced Refractive Index Change)." More than 2.3 billion people world-wide suffer from refractive error in their visual system, while over 500 million have inadequate access to refractive correction. Glasses are an option for refractive correction, however there can be practical limitations and even social stigma associated with wearing glasses, particularly among adolescents. Meanwhile vision correction with contact lenses is limited to lenses whose optical prescription is determined by their thickness profile. This has negative consequences for visual quality, on-eye stability and corneal health. The research represents a fundamental shift in how vision correction is applied because it alters the refractive index of an optical material, enabling previously unavailable visual correctors in thin, stable contact lenses. LIRIC uses a high repetition rate, femtosecond laser to micro-modify the local medium to produce custom refractive corrections in hydrogels, and in living cornea. LIRIC works by accumulating localized refractive index (RI) changes in an ocular material to create a refractive lateral gradient index lens. Changing the refractive index using LIRIC instead of the surface shape can lead to several fundamental advances for vision correction, with profound implications for vision care: 1) contact lenses can be manufactured specifically for patient fit and stability with the refractive correction decoupled from the lens shape; 2) difficult and irregular refractive corrections (i.e. for irregular astigmatism, presbyopia, and higher order aberrations) could be written more easily and with better spatial resolution than with existing methods; 3) multifocal and diffractive optical designs can be utilized for presbyopic and macular degenerative corrections. Patients viewing through LIRIC lenses, created in Phase I, had visual performance (visual acuity and contrast sensitivity) on par with a control lens. The objective of the Phase II work is to demonstrate that LIRIC works in contact lenses at process speeds necessary for commercial manufacturing. The goal of this work is to demonstrate that a 6.5 mm optical zone can be successfully processed in <15 seconds. To effectively do so, the LIRIC process has to achieve more than 1 wave of phase change (at 555 nm wavelength) at laser scanning velocities in excess of 10 meter/second.
Errata
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Addenda
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ConsortiEX, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Development of a Track-and-Trace Medication Barcoded Label
Contact
1000 N Water St
Milwaukee, WI 53202–6669
NSF Award
1660080 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,276,000
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is aimed at improving healthcare patient outcomes, potentially saving lives, and decreasing healthcare costs. The Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 set stricter manufacturing standards on sterile injectable compounded medications that have closed many third party suppliers, thus creating shortages and higher prices. In response, the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists expects 40% of the US market, 2000 hospitals, by 2018 to receive insourced compounds. Hospitals that insource hope to decrease their costs and improve patient safety with higher quality product. Today, insourcing hospitals often have multiple information systems and use paper records cobbling together how a compound is made and to whom it has been administered. When an ingredient recall occurs, hospitals spend hundreds of man-hours identifying the problem source and affected patients. To prevent further patient risks speed is demanded. This SBIR Phase I project will provide hospitals the capability of an end-to-end quality management that will track every production process step and tracing medications to patients. Hospitals will be able to prevent patients from receiving recalled medications and identify quality production compromises thus improving patient outcomes and potentially saving lives. The proposed project is a novel medication barcoded label encryption technology compatible with existing hospital scanners to provide track and trace capabilities of intravenous medication compounds. Key objectives include both patient specific and anticipatory workflows with labels, a Passive Auditing management system for compounding quality control, and an innovation to improve operating room environment medication barcode scanning compliance. Today, healthcare providers utilize multiple barcoded label technologies with minimal embedded medication data across disparate systems. Medication labels could be the link across these systems for ingredient traceability. However, existing solutions are inadequate to meet 2013 legislative traceability mandates. The project invention will encrypt serialization fields within the barcoded label connecting a specific medication to its production data, and eventually to the patient. Compounding process data, such as ingredients, environmental conditions, and production instructions, will be connected to individual medication labels and stored in the patient?s electronic record. When an ingredient is recalled or questionable process identified, an extraction algorithm will pull the encrypted data from the EHR and will be connected to production data. Success of this project will be label readability by existing hospital scanners and retrieval of the serialized data from the EHR
Errata
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Addenda
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Construction Robotics, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Semi-Automated Masonry (SAM) Robotic System
Contact
3966 Kinder Lane
Jamesville, NY 13078–9664
NSF Award
1330154 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,455,234
Start / end date
08/01/2013 – 04/30/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on the development of a commercially-viable robotic Semi-Automated Masonry (SAM) system. This SAM system will revolutionize the construction industry by significantly increasing the efficiency and throughput of brick wall construction using automation. The SAM system will be leased or sold to masonry contractors. The core technology being developed incorporates proprietary sensing, control systems, and mortar dispensing to achieve computer aided design (CAD)-driven, highly accurate automated bricklaying capability. The Phase II project will focus on developing and integrating key technical components of the system. The main technical objectives for the Phase II grant are to (1) fully integrate a mortar pumping and measurement system, (2) achieve brick placement accuracy during all jobsite conditions, (3) develop CAD to brick mapping software, and (4) to prepare the product for commercial viability. In addition, we will perform a number of site demonstrations to prove commercial viability. This project will stretch the bounds of commercial robotics as well as expand the scope of possibilities across the construction industry. Many new technologies will continue to be developed during the Phase II project in order to progress from prototyping to testing, and eventually commercial readiness. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is a technology to revolutionize the masonry construction industry. The SAM robotic system will provide many significant societal benefits including more predictable and reliable work, less physical demand on masons, lower costs and more design flexibility for the use of brick. By reducing the physical demands on the mason and increasing the use of technology, it will provide significant health benefits, effectively increasing the work life of older masons and attracting younger masons to the industry. Brick-based construction represents a significant portion of the global and U.S. economies, with over $20 billion spent on all domestic masonry work, and over $5 billion spent on commercial brick masonry alone. The significant increase in efficiency provided by this SAM system will make brick masonry more affordable. This could potentially lead to growth of the brick industry, resulting in many environmental and customer benefits such as energy and resource conservation. Through commercialization of the world's first robotic Semi-Automated masonry system, this project will help to expand the capability of an industry and revitalize the masonry trade.
Errata
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Addenda
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Couragion Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Career Literacy & Advocacy
Contact
649 Marion Street
Denver, CO 80218–3431
NSF Award
1660021 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
This project will improve the awareness and perception of careers that require science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competencies. Advocacy is a critical component of career readiness, yet current advocates (parents, guardians, educators, or members of the community) are often not in the position to inform students of potential career options. Career and workforce readiness programs are resource constrained, don't meet the needs of differing learning styles, have inherent bias, and are largely focused on compliance over student competency building. Many underrepresented youths who would otherwise succeed in STEM are often deterred by a lack of role models. If youth understood the opportunities, they could pursue academic pathways to amass skills that better prepare them to enter the workforce. Furthermore, educators need professional learning experiences and access to insights about their students in order to improve STEM teaching and learning. Helping individuals select rewarding and suitable degrees, training, and careers will increase the likelihood of higher job retention. As more individuals are inspired to pursue and stay in STEM, taxpayers will benefit from increased innovation which in turn will provide tax dollars to invest in such things as healthcare, national security, education, or humanitarian assistance. The project will address technical challenges of amassing and distributing massive amounts of 3rd party STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) resource data (both structured and unstructured), developing an information management system for educators and families, developing adaptive learning skill modules, advancing a second generation smart recommendation engine based on big data, machine learning and predictive modeling techniques, and performing database mining and creating data visualizations to derive meaningful workforce development insights. In addition, the project will involve controlled experiments and usability tests whereby a large amount of anonymized and aggregated student data and business/education entity feedback will be collected. The ultimate goals of the R&D and experiments are to validate that the resulting application, predictive models, information management practices, advocacy networks, and data visualizations have the desired outcome of boosting immediate and near-term student outcomes regarding STEM career intentions and actions.
Errata
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Addenda
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CueThink
SBIR Phase II: Development of a Media-Rich, Game-Based Social Learning Platform for Improving Math Process Skills
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1353623 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$908,645
Start / end date
04/01/2014 – 07/31/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project proposal refines and scales the project's initial platform for improving mathematics problem solving. Math classrooms today spend most of their time practicing procedures and rarely spend time engaged in deep study of mathematical concepts. In addition, by the time students reach middle school, a number of them have either developed math anxiety or are not adequately challenged. This mobile collaborative platform supports process-driven, student led solutions. Students can create, curate and evaluate multimedia vignettes of their own thinking process. In Phase 2, the team will continue to refine the product, targeting students in Grade 5-12. It will also build a multi-faceted dashboard to help educators customize content, create learning pathways and determine student strengths and weaknesses. In addition, the company intends to extend the product to support English Language Learners and students with learning difficulties. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project offers tremendous promise for changing math education and engagement both in and out of the classroom. This platform will help students develop confidence and skills in solving complex problems, refine their math communication and improve their meta-cognition through the review of other students' work and equip teachers with tangible data about growth measures. This enables the company to address multiple markets starting with the $1.6 billion 5-12 market segment and subsequently addressing several adjacent market segments that are growing rapidly. The team brings a strong and diverse mix of educational, technical and business skills that will be critical to successful commercialization of the proposed math education innovation.
Errata
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CueThink
SBIR Phase II: An embedded and in-context professional learning platform for math problem-solving instruction
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1660216 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,287,318
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This project proposes to develop an innovative approach to improve and sustain math educators' problem solving teaching skills. Despite the expectations placed on math teachers by the Common Core State Standards, most are insufficiently prepared to teach students how to become critical thinkers. Much of this problem is due to limited pedagogical skills of teachers in providing adequate problem solving instruction and supports on top of teachers' own limited problem solving skills. This project remedies this with its integrated modules and powerful analytics engine that suggests learning pathways for both expert and novice teachers. They anchor their research in National Council of Teacher's of Mathematics Principles to Action. It will help teachers develop confidence and skills in planning and evaluating their lessons, as well as understanding student misconceptions and intervening in a timely manner. Teachers who approach problem solving with confidence inspire students to approach difficult math tasks the same way. This has great implications for how many students will continue to enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs. In addition, the project sets the stage for educators to develop 21st Century skills including critical thinking, communication and collaboration - essential job skills for the young minds they mentor. This effort refines and scales up their product, which is a web and mobile application that works seamlessly in conjunction with our current student-facing platform, to provide teachers with timely supports for improving students' problem-solving skills and math communication. This project will deliver professional development continuously and in-context using virtual peers, rich rubrics, interactive tools and actionable data. The analytics engine leverages adaptive learning models in order to build robust modules. The Data Collector Layer will contain interfaces for users to get recommendations, receive user feedback and provide other analysis reports. The Analytics Core Layer will be implemented using a collection of machine learning algorithms. The Service Layer will calculate recommendations based on user profile, user feedback, pre-stored best practices and other use cases. The Persistence Layer will store and get calculated data to recommendation engine's own database. The company plans to conduct several formative evaluations during the course of the project, as well as two pilot studies at the end of each year with a control and experiment group. The results will enable them to determine the effectiveness of ongoing, just-in-time supports for improving teachers' skills and confidence inside and outside the classroom.
Errata
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Addenda
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CycloPure, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: High-Affinity Cyclodextrin Polymers for Point-of-Use Filtration Products
Contact
171 Saxony Road, #208
Encinitas, CA 92024–0000
NSF Award
1831206 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$725,665
Start / end date
09/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide a solution to the problem of drinking water contamination by developing an advanced adsorbent for point-of-use/home filtration applications. Micropollutants, pharmaceutical residues, pesticides, industrial chemicals and other organic compounds present in water resources at trace concentrations of one part per billion and less, are recognized as a major factor of contamination. Consumers around the world no longer trust the safety of their drinking water due to the presence of micropollutants and other contaminants. These compounds are pervasive and can present toxicity at trace concentrations. As a result, consumers have significantly increased the non-sustainable use of plastic bottled water, now a $260 billion market. Current point-of-use filtration products are primarily designed to improve taste and odor, and are generally ineffective in removing micropollutants. CycloPure's technology has been developed specifically to target and remove micropollutants from water. This project focuses on the further development of the company's cyclodextrin adsorbent to improve the effectiveness of point-of-use filters. This material can be used as a drop-in replacement without changes in filter design. CycloPure's materials will allow households to safely use readily available tap water. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to identify strategies to develop a suitable form factor to incorporate CycloPure's high-affinity cyclodextrin adsorbent into point-of-use filters. The company's adsorbent is formed by reacting cyclodextrins, which are derived from corn starch, with readily available monomers in a single step process. During the Phase I period of this project, scalable reaction conditions were identified for production of the adsorbent in powder form. Flow-through applications, such as gravity filters, frequently require granular particles to achieve desired flow rates. Early activities will focus on the preparation of the adsorbent in granular form to demonstrate scalability and retention of removal performance similar to powder form. Thereafter, column studies will be performed in order to assess the removal performance of granular media under flow-through conditions at environmentally relevant micropollutant concentrations. Following identification of adsorption characteristics and appropriate flow conditions, a prototype point-of-use filter will be constructed and tested for the removal of micropollutants from tap water using advanced analytical techniques, including a combination of target and non-target screening approaches. 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.
Errata
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CytoVale, Inc
SBIR Phase II: A Cell Analysis Platform for Low-cost, Rapid Diagnosis of Sepsis Using Microfluidic Technologies
Contact
384 Oyster Point Blvd
South San Francisco, CA 94080–1967
NSF Award
1431033 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,419,607
Start / end date
12/01/2014 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in detecting sepsis early in its course, before end organ damage when it is most treatable. Sepsis, an uncontrolled systemic response to local infection by bacteria or fungi, is responsible for more deaths than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined and is associated with ~$17B in annual U.S. healthcare expenditures. We anticipate that providing emergency department physicians with an earlier diagnostic will profoundly influence clinical outcomes (currently ~40% mortality), costs (>$22,000/case), and the quality of life for survivors and their families. Accumulating evidence connects systemic immune activation ? a key process in sepsis ? with single-cell architectural changes that are mechanically measured by high-speed mechanical phenotyping technology. This technology is well-suited for adult sepsis screening in the emergency department (market size of $1.5B) due to: (1) the functional analysis of cell state the mechanical measurement provides, (2) its high achievable throughput and therefore statistical accuracy, (3) exceedingly short turnaround time, (4) low cost of goods, and (5) the clinically-actionable information it provides. Beyond the adult sepsis screening market, several additional indications include neonatal sepsis, bladder cancer detection, academic research tools, and drug development. The proposed project brings an innovative new class of biomarkers to bear on a problem that has been intractable with current biomarkers. Briefly, the physical properties of cells have been known to be important for decades, but only with the advent of breakthrough microfluidic technology have we been able to measure these parameters in a high-throughput manner capable of diagnosing disease. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award will be used to develop and validate innovative sample preparation and image analysis modules for a sepsis screening technology as well as performance of proof-of-concept clinical studies that would be a flagship offering in using biomechanical biomarkers to diagnose disease. The technical objectives are designed to improve sensitivity to white blood cells, activated during sepsis, by microfluidic automation of sample preparation and optimization of the microscopic imaging optics. In addition to preparing the test for practical implementation in the emergency department, the test will be validated with a proof-of-concept clinical study, and a clinical scoring system will be devised.
Errata
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DeepScale, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Energy-Efficient Perception for Autonomous Road Vehicles
Contact
1232 Royal Crest Dr
San Jose, CA 95131–2912
NSF Award
1758546 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
04/01/2018 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to allow more consumers to make use of assisted and autonomous driving systems in automobiles. Fully Autonomous Vehicles (AV) will reduce traffic collisions and enable humans to spend less time driving and more time on productive activities. Commercially deploying AVs requires a number of key technologies including sensing, perceptual systems, motion planning, and actuation. Our discussions with leaders and decisionmakers at automotive companies have shown that the development of robust, accurate, and energy-efficient perception systems is a major technical obstacle to creating mass-producible autonomous road vehicles. Of particular interest to automakers is scaling down the computational requirements of perceptual systems while preserving high levels of accuracy and robustness. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will use deep learning to create perception systems that are (a) scalable across different computational platforms and (b) scalable across smaller or larger sensor sets. Specifically, the company will develop scalable systems from small compute platforms (used for Highly Automated Driving) to somewhat larger compute platforms (used for Fully Automated Driving). Further, the company will develop perceptual systems that scale from few sensors to many sensors. The goal is to "do more with less," advancing the pareto-optimal frontier of efficiency-accuracy and price-accuracy tradeoffs. The company has already engaged with automotive OEMs and suppliers to develop partnerships and to define metrics for success in this endeavor. 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.
Errata
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Diligent Droids, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Mobile Manipulation Hospital Service Robots
Contact
2418 Spring Ln PO Box 5017
Austin, TX 78703–4480
NSF Award
1738375 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,199,909
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 07/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project on hospital service robots is improving the quality of care in hospital systems that are under increased pressure to provide high-quality patient-centric care while functioning as profitable businesses. Hospitals face a shortage of qualified nurses and high rates of nurse turnover. Nurses play a critical role in communicating care plans, educating patients, and guarding against medical errors. The amount of time they spend in direct care activities is a key determinant of patient satisfaction, better patient outcomes, fewer errors, and shorter lengths of stay. In the face of nursing shortages across the U.S., it is increasingly important to have nurses performing at the 'top of their license'. Reducing the amount of time they spend on non-nursing tasks is crucial to this goal. Automation could address these challenges and labor shortage by allowing clinical staff to focus on providing skilled care. The proposed project aims to develop technology that is general-purpose enough to transfer to other markets, such as long term care facilities and, eventually, individual consumers. Robots that perform assistive tasks in homes could increase the feasibility of independent living for many older adults. The proposed project will establish the technical and commercial feasibility of developing hospital service robots that act as assistants on acute care units, enabling nurses to spend more time at the bedside with patients. This project will make technical advances along three dimensions: the ability of the proposed robot to autonomously navigate within nursing units and across the hospital (navigation capabilities); to easily adapt its manipulation skills to specific tasks and to physical characteristics of a particular hospital/unit (adaptive learning of manipulation skills); and to work alongside humans in a socially acceptable manner, including appropriate navigation in crowded hallways, speech, and eye gaze behaviors that communicate the robot's intentions (socially intelligent interoperability). The team intends to collaborate closely with a single partner hospital to iteratively improve the reliability and robustness of the artificial intelligence software suite developed with NSF funding and to deploy production-quality versions of the three core competencies. The final 6 months will involve a long-term deployment, with the robot autonomously working on an acute care unit of the partner hospital. The impact of the robot on unit staff and workflows will be documented, with the ultimate goal of developing a service robot that hospital staff view as a competent member of the care team.
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Dimensional Energy Inc.
STTR Phase II: HI-LIGHT - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO2 to Hydrocarbons
Contact
107 Penny Ln
Ithaca, NY 14850–6273
NSF Award
1831166 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$734,607
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR Phase II project will result in significant economic activity through the utilization of waste carbon dioxide. The photo-catalytic reactors funded in the project will lead to novel methods to chemically store energy from the sun. Each year, human activity releases 38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dimensional Energy envisions a future in which we can utilize this carbon dioxide as a feedstock for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediaries by harnessing the power of the sun. This STTR Phase II project proposes to develop HI-Light - a photo-thermo-catalytic reactor platform technology that enables the conversion of CO2 and water to synthesis gas at a rate significantly greater than the state of the art. The unique feature of the technology is that it uses embedded optical waveguides to evenly distribute light within the reactor, increasing the efficacy of the catalyst and ultimately the productivity of the system. In Phase I a fully functional integrated prototype reactor was constructed, demonstrating continuous operation, and showing productivity in terms of the grams of hydrocarbon produced per gram of catalyst per hour more than 10x greater than the state of the art. The approach solves the two major roadblocks in photo-conversion of CO2: (1) the semiconductor catalysts can only use photons with energies greater than their bandgap, which is a small fraction of those present in sunlight and (2) a large fraction of the catalyst material in these reactors is under-utilized due to sub-optimal light and reactant delivery. Our unique reactor uses a patented, multi-scale approach to enhance light and reagent transport directly to the reaction site and makes use of traditionally unused photons to provide heat and enhance reaction efficiency. 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.
Errata
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Dimensional Energy Inc.
STTR Phase II: HI-LIGHT - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO2 to Hydrocarbons
Contact
107 Penny Ln
Ithaca, NY 14850–6273
NSF Award
1831166 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$734,607
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR Phase II project will result in significant economic activity through the utilization of waste carbon dioxide. The photo-catalytic reactors funded in the project will lead to novel methods to chemically store energy from the sun. Each year, human activity releases 38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dimensional Energy envisions a future in which we can utilize this carbon dioxide as a feedstock for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediaries by harnessing the power of the sun. This STTR Phase II project proposes to develop HI-Light - a photo-thermo-catalytic reactor platform technology that enables the conversion of CO2 and water to synthesis gas at a rate significantly greater than the state of the art. The unique feature of the technology is that it uses embedded optical waveguides to evenly distribute light within the reactor, increasing the efficacy of the catalyst and ultimately the productivity of the system. In Phase I a fully functional integrated prototype reactor was constructed, demonstrating continuous operation, and showing productivity in terms of the grams of hydrocarbon produced per gram of catalyst per hour more than 10x greater than the state of the art. The approach solves the two major roadblocks in photo-conversion of CO2: (1) the semiconductor catalysts can only use photons with energies greater than their bandgap, which is a small fraction of those present in sunlight and (2) a large fraction of the catalyst material in these reactors is under-utilized due to sub-optimal light and reactant delivery. Our unique reactor uses a patented, multi-scale approach to enhance light and reagent transport directly to the reaction site and makes use of traditionally unused photons to provide heat and enhance reaction efficiency. 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.
Errata
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Dimensional Energy Inc.
STTR Phase II: HI-LIGHT - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO2 to Hydrocarbons
Contact
107 Penny Ln
Ithaca, NY 14850–6273
NSF Award
1831166 – STTR Phase II
Award amount to date
$880,184
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this STTR Phase II project will result in significant economic activity through the utilization of waste carbon dioxide. The photo-catalytic reactors funded in the project will lead to novel methods to chemically store energy from the sun. Each year, human activity releases 38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dimensional Energy envisions a future in which we can utilize this carbon dioxide as a feedstock for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediaries by harnessing the power of the sun. This STTR Phase II project proposes to develop HI-Light - a photo-thermo-catalytic reactor platform technology that enables the conversion of CO2 and water to synthesis gas at a rate significantly greater than the state of the art. The unique feature of the technology is that it uses embedded optical waveguides to evenly distribute light within the reactor, increasing the efficacy of the catalyst and ultimately the productivity of the system. In Phase I a fully functional integrated prototype reactor was constructed, demonstrating continuous operation, and showing productivity in terms of the grams of hydrocarbon produced per gram of catalyst per hour more than 10x greater than the state of the art. The approach solves the two major roadblocks in photo-conversion of CO2: (1) the semiconductor catalysts can only use photons with energies greater than their bandgap, which is a small fraction of those present in sunlight and (2) a large fraction of the catalyst material in these reactors is under-utilized due to sub-optimal light and reactant delivery. Our unique reactor uses a patented, multi-scale approach to enhance light and reagent transport directly to the reaction site and makes use of traditionally unused photons to provide heat and enhance reaction efficiency. 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.
Errata
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DropWise Technologies Corp.
SBIR Phase II: Anti-fouling surface modifications for purification membranes
Contact
1035 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02210–2384
NSF Award
1660225 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$724,037
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address the challenge of fouling on membranes used in biopharmaceutical processing. The successful application of this coating would enable increase in the membrane lifetime and product yield of various production streams as less of the valuable compounds remain trapped in the membrane. This can increase production capacity for life-saving medicines, reduce production costs and, in certain cases, enable continuous biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Furthermore, functionalization of membranes currently involve significant quantities of environmentally harmful solvents, which may be leachable during usage of the membrane. This issue is avoided in the current project by utilizing initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) process which does not require any solvent. This coating technology can also be extended to other systems including wastewater purification, food & beverage production, industrial separations, and medical devices that rely on a similar functionalization. The objective of Phase II will be to demonstrate a commercially viable manufacturing process to produce surface modifications within porous membranes using the iCVD process. Previous work in this subject has focused on top-coats on the top surfaces of reverse osmosis membranes, but the chemistries utilized have never before been demonstrated within interior structures of the membrane filters. During the Phase II work, the performance of the coatings will be optimized by using existing deposition equipment to tune the coating chemistry and process conditions to maximize the flux and throughput by minimizing protein fouling. The other main technical goal of the work will be to translate the current batch process into a continuous roll-to-roll process that is amenable to large-scale manufacturing. The outcome of this study will be a proven coating chemistry that is effective and durable in the membrane application, and an optimized manufacturing process capable of being implemented within current standards of membrane manufacturing.
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ENERGYXCHAIN, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Transforming Complex Utility Transaction Management
Contact
13515 SERENITY ST
Huntersville, NC 28078–6569
NSF Award
1951161 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$786,315
Start / end date
05/01/2020 – 04/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is empowering the 68 million U.S. natural gas consumers and their transaction managers and partners to access transaction status in real time, enjoy continuous control of their transactions, settle transactions in time scales less than the industry’s current monthly accounting cycle, and enjoy heightened levels of security. The United States natural gas industry has operated in its present physical form for more than a century, and over the past four decades the industry has evolved through various policy and regulatory actions to open transaction participation to thousands of parties. In other industries, the past two decades have introduced digital capabilities that share transaction information and automate select functions, but these developments have not enjoyed infusion in natural gas transaction management processes. The proposed solution will serve as a platform for industry innovation by multiple parties, reducing transaction cost and increasing speed. This innovation will have applications in other industries characterized by complex, multi-party transactions. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to advance blockchain innovations and related technologies to transform complex natural gas utility transaction management processes across production, transmission, distribution and consumption functions. The proposed solution will accelerate the development of third-generation smart contracting frameworks with user-friendly/interactive human-machine-interfaces (HMI) and predictive and interactive smart contracting functionalities based on artificial intelligence, and with advanced cybersecurity measures. 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.
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase II: Using Mycelium as a Matrix For Binding Natural Fibers And Core Filler Materials in Sustainable Composites
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
1152476 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,047,588
Start / end date
04/01/2012 – 03/31/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further quantify the mechanical performance of mycological bio-composites that address the automotive and structural core industries, while concurrently scaling and demonstrating material production. The engineered composites market continues to grow steadily because of the high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios of these systems, as compared to conventional engineering materials. Engineered woods are ubiquitous in the construction and furniture industries, but due to domestic indoor air quality regulations (Toxic Substances Control Act), these materials are being phased out or are forced to use expensive formaldehyde-free adhesives. Similarly, the automotive industry is under regulatory pressure in Europe to find alternatives to fire-retardant foams that cannot be recycled due to inorganic filling agents. The technical results from the Phase I effort have demonstrated bio-composite materials which can compete both economically, and on mechanical performance, with the aforementioned competitors, while meeting these legislative demands. A preliminary cost analysis based on the process economics of our existing production facilities projects retail costs 45% and 35% below the current state-of-the-art in the automotive and furniture industries, respectively. We will work with key industry partners to meet performance metrics and demonstrate quality pilot production. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project would be a customizable bio-composite for a broad range of markets, including automotive, transportation, architectural, furniture, sports, and recreation. These materials are truly sustainable, since both the laminates and cores used in the sandwich structure consist of renewable materials. They also require significantly less energy to make than other biocompatible composites, because the material is grown instead of synthesized, and the material is completely compostable at the end of life. The outcome of the proposed development and demonstration will ensure that the bio-composite properties meet the requirements for the target markets. Furthermore, over the course of this grant, and in cooperation with Rensselaer and Union College, we will demonstrate and scale the best manufacturing processes to a pilot stage capable of manufacturing high volumes of quality product. Since these materials leverage regional lignocellulosic byproducts from domestic agriculture and industry, a regional manufacturing model is presently being pursued to reduce transportation and feedstock costs. This will not only bring additional value to U.S. agricultural markets, but will spur rural economic development through domestic manufacturing. Finally, these advanced biological materials represent a new paradigm in manufacturing, offering safe, biodegradable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based alternatives.
Errata
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Ecovative Design LLC
SBIR Phase II: Method of Disinfecting Precursor Materials using Plant Essential Oils for a New Material Technology
Contact
70 Cohoes Avenue
Troy, NY 12183–1518
NSF Award
1058285 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$961,372
Start / end date
03/01/2011 – 02/28/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to further develop, and demonstrate at scale, a biological disinfection process that has exhibited superior microbial inactivation to steam pasteurization at a lower cost. This process leverages dilute concentrations (0.5-0.875% by volume) of plant-derived phenols and aldehydes to inactivate lower level fungi and bacteria found on agricultural byproducts (seed husks and hulls). The application focus for this demonstration is a novel material technology that converts lignocellulosic waste into a high performance, low cost replacement for synthetics (plastics and foams) using a filamentous fungus. This biological disinfection process can reduce process energy consumption by 83% and system capital expense by upwards of 50%. This project will fully quantify the efficacy of this disinfection process at scale (production volumes) as well as analyze the integration of this technique into a mycological material production facility that is presently addressing the protective packaging industry. Batch and continuous systems will be explored, and a comprehensive economic model will be developed based on the results. The mycological materials that are produced under this demonstration will be compared with materials fabricated with the existing pasteurization system, and samples will be evaluated by customers to ensure product adoption. High-embodied energy disinfection processes, autoclave sterilization or pasteurization, are ubiquitous within industries such as agriculture, food processing, and biotechnology. These methodologies are implemented to reduce or remove background bioburden (bacteria, yeast, mold) that can be detrimental to downstream processes due to contamination. Mycological materials production represents such a process since raw material contamination results in product loss and added labor. The plant essential oil (PEO) disinfection technique was proven under the Phase I research to offer a comparable process time to steam pasteurization and superior disinfection efficacy; thus this technology could serve as a drop-in replacement in some industrial applications. This process minimizes capital equipment and operations costs due a reduction in system complexity and energy consumption. In regards to the production of mycological products, this disinfection process bolsters the process robustness by extending contaminate inactivation periods which promotes rapid mycelium colonization or a reduction in incubation time. Therefore new market opportunities for mycological materials can be addressed while further supporting the business case for regional manufacturing using domestic agricultural waste as raw materials. Finally, the benefits obtained from this novel disinfection process permit an accelerated deployment and development of turnkey production systems to displace synthetic materials.
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Edify Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Empowering Music Learning Through Composition on Mobile Devices
Contact
1232 Detroit St.
Denver, CO 80206–3330
NSF Award
1660072 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$927,999
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 05/31/2019
Abstract
This project will address the need for accessible, creative music education. Over 90% of Americans believe music education is valuable, but very few people ever learn enough to create their own music. Instrument lessons are a great way for some beginners to learn about music; however, instrument lessons are expensive and difficult, and focus on performance and technique at the expense of creativity. This project uses a simple audiovisual composition interface to empower music learners to create their own original music on mobile devices from the very beginning of their music education. By combining this intuitive composition interface with data tracking and analysis, this project creates the opportunity to provide music makers with personalized, adaptive feedback as they compose. Currently, $3 billion are spent each year in the United States on instrument lessons, even though they are unaffordable for many potential customers. By leveraging the proliferation of mobile devices worldwide, this project will deliver an accessible, low-cost digital music education option, creating a new market that includes customers who are currently priced out. Expanding participation in creative music education will increase the quantity and quality of music composed worldwide, while also building a sustainable, revenue-generating business and creating new jobs. Through data-driven agile software development, this project will address the need for accessible music education through the creation of a technology platform that delivers adaptive learning to musical beginners. Because the platform upon which this project is built is already empowering the creation of thousands of songs each week and collecting usage data from live users, this project is uniquely positioned to tackle the complex problem of providing algorithmic feedback on creative work at scale. Research and development will proceed in four stages: (1) expanding internal tools to allow for direct analysis of the thousands of songs being created on the platform each week; (2) developing an algorithmic approach to analyzing songs and reporting the results to users; (3) applying analysis to match users with relevant communities and collaborators; and (4) implementing adaptive learning approaches to help users more effectively learn to create music. This staged development process will result in an innovative and highly differentiated technology that enables beginners with no musical experience to compose their own music, and uses data to actively support their individual needs as they learn.
Errata
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase II: In-Home Rehabilitation System for Post Stroke Patients
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0924037 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,024,000
Start / end date
08/01/2009 – 09/30/2013
Abstract
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project proposes to create an in-home gait training device that allows a post-stroke patient to undergo rehabilitation with little or no assistance. Approximately 500,000 Americans survive a stroke each year. Miraculously, most stroke survivors can relearn skills, such as walking, that are lost when part of the brain is damaged. They can relearn walking most effectively if they are aided in making the correct motions by a machine or a physical therapist while attempting to walk. This training is expensive and requires the patient to make regular visits to a stroke center or qualified physical therapy center. Berkeley Bionics proposes to create a lightweight robotic exoskeleton which cradles a patient?s lower extremities and torso, and maneuvers their rehabilitating limbs for them. The broader impacts of this research are immense. These devices could move most post-stroke rehabilitation out of the clinical setting thereby reducing labor costs dramatically. The gait training exoskeletons will be wearable, very unobtrusive, and allow patients to maneuver in the real world. Patients would therefore be able to wear such devices for most of the day, thus remaining mobile and gaining the therapeutic effects of physical therapy over the course of a day, rather than just a short session. Furthermore, creating such a device will also give clinicians an alternative to the wheelchair to assist patients who are unable to recover adequate mobility to function in their daily lives. This could potentially reduce unhealthy effects of wheelchair use for millions.
Errata
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Assist Device for Reducing the Risk of Back Injuries among Workers
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
0956801 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$500,000
Start / end date
02/01/2010 – 07/31/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project proposes will study the technology barriers associated with creating exoskeleton assist devices for workers in distribution centers and automobile assembly plants. By using these devices, workers can dramatically reduce the load in the vertebrae of the lower back when maneuvering parts and boxes. The assist device will take the majority of the load off of the user?s body. Such collaboration between humans and machines has the benefit of the intellectual advantage of humans coupled with the strength advantage of machines. The proposed project involves the University of California at Berkeley as research partner, General Motors Corporation, and the U.S. Postal Service. The end goal is a reduction in back injuries in the workplace which are considered by OSHA the nation?s number one workplace safety problem. The broader impacts of this research are reduced worker?s compensation insurance costs, reduced disability payments, increased worker productivity, and the ability for workers to keep working into their older years. Furthermore, these new devices will open an entirely new market which will serve an important role in establishing the United States as the number one player in the emerging field of bionics. Additionally, establishing this market for exoskeletons will enable the development of other exoskeleton markets which include military exoskeletons for carrying backpack and body armor loads, rescue worker exoskeletons, stair climbing exoskeletons for urban firefighters, and wild-land firefighter exoskeletons. The potential impacts to worker safety and American quality of life are large and diverse.
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Ekso Bionics, Inc.
STTR Phase II: Integrated Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthetic System
Contact
1414 Harbour Way South
Richmond, CA 94804–3628
NSF Award
1026872 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,032,000
Start / end date
09/15/2010 – 02/28/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project proposes the development of an integrated powered knee-ankle prosthesis. The objective of this proposal is to investigate the use of integrated powered knee and ankle joints in trans-femoral prostheses that use sensory information from the ground and the wearer. The hypothesis is that a prosthesis with actively powered knee and ankle joints will significantly enhance the mobility of trans-femoral amputees while walking on level grounds, as well as stairs and slopes. The inability to deliver power to prosthetic systems has significantly impaired their ability to restore many locomotive functions. This proposal will derive a set of guidelines on design and control of an integrated powered knee and ankle prosthetic system which will improve locomotion function such as walking up stairs, walking up slopes, running, jumping, and as hypothesized in this proposal, even level walking. The proposed work will result in new theoretical frameworks for control and sensory systems, and the design of such systems. Major intellectual contributions will include the design of power systems; development of the sensory system to obtain information from the ground and from the user; the development of a control framework for the interactive control of prostheses; and the development of adaptive and robust controllers for impedance modulation during locomotion. This project intends to create principles that provide significantly greater functional capabilities for above-knee amputees. Specifically, our work will enable more natural, stable, and adaptable prostheses. These research elements in this proposal will also form a foundation for powered orthotic systems. Additional significant benefits of this work include fostering a broader awareness and increased sensitivity of young engineers and educational institutions to disability issues. Limb loss is also afflicting a growing number of military personnel serving in recent conflicts, as well as a far larger number of veterans from previous wars. The recent Middle East conflicts have resulted in a number of young amputees, many of whom still shoulder the responsibility of raising families and anticipate a working life ahead of them. The integrated knee-ankle prosthetic proposed here will have a direct impact on the mobility of the trans-femoral amputees and their quality of life, and most likely alleviate the long-term consequences related to musculoskeletal health.
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Elidah, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Novel Treatment for Stress Urinary Incontinence
Contact
810 Main St. Ste C
Monroe, CT 06468–2809
NSF Award
1630203 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 04/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the expedited development of a novel non-surgical medical device and therapeutic treatment for the approximately 1 in 3 women over the age of 30 who suffer from urinary incontinence, two thirds of whom, in part due to notable deficiencies of available solutions, elect to live without treatment while their symptoms progressively worsen. Urinary incontinence, although a very private concern, has far-reaching physical, psychological, social, and economic implications. For example, urinary incontinence has been found to reduce health-related quality of life measures on par with depression, incontinence is the number one reason for admittance into nursing homes, and the annual cost to the US healthcare system is estimated at $25 billion. Through design and validation activities this project will demonstrate the functionality of a wearable device that provides discreet, comfortable, easy-to-use therapy for female stress urinary incontinence. The technological understanding gained through this work lays the groundwork for subsequent commercialization of an FDA cleared product that will enhance the lives of tens of millions of American women. The proposed project provides a new framework for wearable therapeutics by enabling the patient to treat incontinence via discreet surface electrical stimulation without interruption to daily activity. Current non-surgical care often involves electrical stimulation via intravaginal probe, a treatment most woman are not willing to adopt or maintain. This project builds on successful Phase I feasibility work in which a contiguous array of cutaneous electrodes placed proximate the perineal tissue to deliver sufficient electrical muscle stimulation to promote pelvic floor toning were shown to maintain this efficacy under conditions associated with continuous wear. The Phase II project goal is to develop an incontinence specific electrical muscle stimulator to function with the electrode array. The system architecture will enable manipulation of the therapeutic waveform to support future multi-armed clinical studies designed to test the efficacy of various treatment regimens. The system will also track treatment frequency, duration and intensity to provide information to clinical researchers. Activity will include design, prototype fabrication, performance testing, human factors assessments, iteration and electrical safety validation. Refinements to the electrode array are also anticipated. The project will deliver a device suitable for future evaluation a human clinical studies, FDA clearance and product commercialization.
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Emergy LLC
SBIR Phase II: Sustainable alternative protein cultivation from fungal mycelium for human consumption
Contact
973 5th st
Boulder, CO 80302–7120
NSF Award
1926981 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,250,000
Start / end date
08/01/2019 – 07/31/2023
Abstract
The broader impact and commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is a new source of human-grade protein that it can be produced at an estimated half the price of wholesale chicken and 2000 times higher protein yields per acre compared to soy with a fraction of the input requirements. The new protein addresses pain points in industry of potential allergens, amino acid composition, poor flavor and texture, and limited processability. If successfully commercialized, Emergy's potential impact is the ability to provide high quality protein to millions of people at 50% the price of animal protein, while saving the world greenhouse gas emissions, all with a significantly reduced land footprint. This SBIR Phase II proposes to use the efficiencies of biological organisms to produce high quality, economical, and sustainable protein for human consumption. To achieve this goal, Emergy grows filamentous fungi biomass as a human-grade protein source. The fungal biomass has one of the highest protein contents of any raw source available on the market (60% by weight) and is one of the only complete proteins. Emergy has developed fermentation parameters and used directed evolution to produce a fungal process/strain that provides several inherent advantages over traditional protein production methods. Advantages of production include, low resource requirements, high yields, safe and toxin free, and low unit costs. While this process has been demonstrated at the benchtop level, the technical hurdles include scaling production to industrial systems while maintaining the proper texture and quality. Emergy Labs plans on executing these goals by optimizing growth conditions in scaled bioreactors, defining industrial operating parameters, designing and proving a scalable manufacturing process, and demonstrating commercially relevant scale. 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.
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Enable Biosciences Inc
SBIR Phase II: Development of an ultrasensitive, high-throughput autoantibody discovery platform using agglutination-PCR
Contact
675 Sharon Park Drive, Suite 202
Menlo Park, CA 94025–6908
NSF Award
1758698 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be to develop a platform technology for detecting autoantibody markers for research and clinical diagnostics. Precision medicine requires the development of more powerful bioanalytic technologies to diagnose disease and direct targeted therapies. This platform uses a ligation-based DNA barcoding technology for improved antibody detection with increased analytical sensitivity and multiplex power to detect more at the most clinically useful time. Additionally, as a solution-phase assay, it is able to detect numerous clinically-relevant autoantibodies that are refractory to common techniques like ELISA. This platform has the potential to accelerate the development of lifesaving diagnostics across a broad spectrum of human diseases. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to develop the first solution-phase, ultrasensitive and multiplex antibody assay platform for the early detection, monitoring and treatment of human diseases. The Antibody Detection by Agglutination-PCR (ADAP) platform represents a major advancement in multiplex immunoassay testing. Many current multiplex technologies, such as microarrays and bead-based arrays, scale poorly due to cross-analyte interference, and lack the analytical sensitivity to detect crippling diseases at the most favorable time. The Phase I results showed the expanded and validated ADAP technology for the ultrasensitive and multiplex detection of antibody biomarkers. The Phase II objectives are: 1) Validation of the multiplex ADAP assay for clinical diagnostics serving autoimmune connective tissue diseases, thyroid disorders and celiac diseases; 2) High-throughput automation of multiplex ADAP assay technology for clinical diagnostics; 3) Manufacturing of assay reagents and establishment of quality control standards; and 4) Demonstration of the applicability of multiplex ADAP for a broader set of antibodies. The intellectual merit of this project resides in the achievement of 10,000x increased sensitivity, and 20-30% increased specificity at multiplex while having the option to use existing PCR reader platforms to help keep lab capital costs low. 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.
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Endectra, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Novel Solid-State Cerenkov Detector for Portable and Wearable Neutron Radiation Sensors
Contact
U-M Venture Accelerator
Ann Arbor, MI 48109–5001
NSF Award
1632467 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,658
Start / end date
08/15/2016 – 01/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the potential to bring a disruptive neutron detector technology to market, filling an urgent demonstrated need for real time, portable and wearable radiation detectors. Successful commercialization of the innovative Cerenkov BoroSilicate Glass (CBSG) technology will serve a broad customer base in the nuclear detection and verification industry. Market research indicates large scale potential, in the billions of dollars. This market is currently well served with gamma ray and x-ray detection devices, but the capabilities for portable and wearable neutron detectors are not as well established. The proposed technology will close this gap and is anticipated to have a very broad impact. The Cerenkov detector technology can also be transformative in enabling new kinds of directional arrays for neutron imaging and portal detectors, helping to make the nation's borders more secure against illicit nuclear materials and providing improved tools for nuclear safeguards and verification. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to commercialize an innovative neutron detector module based 100% on solid-state technology. The overall objective of the project is to build on the successful Cerenkov BoroSilicate Glass (CBSG) detector prototyping in Phase I/IB to develop a small, low cost, modular neutron detector which can be integrated with existing gamma detector technologies to 1) form a comprehensive, scalable, networked solution to the problem of Special Nuclear Material detection; 2) enable inexpensive in-house and third party integration of neutron detection technology into radioisotope identification devices and personal radiation dosimeters; and 3) allow for further testing and advanced product development relating to directional neutron detector networks, direct fast neutron detectors, and neutron spectroscopy. The research objectives include a thorough quantitative assessment of the detector front-end material response to neutron radiation and evaluation of its optoelectronic characteristics. In particular, in collaboration with a specialty glass manufacturer, the isotopic composition of glass front-end will be optimized for fast neutron detection. The anticipated result is a novel and disruptive neutron detection approach.
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FAS HOLDINGS GROUP
STTR Phase II: Scalable fabrication of stable perovskite solar panels using slot-die coating technique
Contact
10480 MARKISON RD
Dallas, TX 75238–1650
NSF Award
1927020 – STTR Phase II
Award amount to date
$708,030
Start / end date
04/15/2020 – 03/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project is to advance the development of new low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells. This process uses abundant natural resources as the raw material, using a novel technology to make parts that can be printed on plastic foils to significantly reduce manufacturing and installation costs. This project will develop advanced manufacturing technology for the solar cell industry. This STTR Phase II project proposes to develop a reliable, reproducible, and cost-effective upscaling of perovskite photovoltaic (PV) devices using an industry-proven slot-die coating technique, to ultimately produce flexible and rigid, highly efficient perovskite solar cells (PSC). The efficiency of perovskite solar cells has surged to over 22% in recent research and now rivals that of CdTe, and Si-based solar panels. Most research lab perovskite solar cell devices are fabricated via spin casting and have a device area of less 1 sq. cm. Despite the progress of perovskite solar cell technology, three fundamental issues need to be addressed for commercialization: device lifetime, controllable perovskite deposition, and improved manufacturing, especially in the area of scalability. This project's objectives are to: 1) produce a hybrid perovskite (HP) slot-die deposition solution for large solar panels sized 600-1200 mm and beyond, 2) build slot-die coating solution for perovskite-silicon tandem photovoltaic cells, and 3) conduct modeling and reliability studies to optimize the system. 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.
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FOLIA WATER, INC.
SBIR Phase II: Affordable point-of-use water disinfection through mass-produced nano-silver embedded paper filters
Contact
1401 FORBES AVE STE 302
Pittsburgh, PA 15219–5152
NSF Award
1951210 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$899,999
Start / end date
04/15/2020 – 06/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impacts of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the research and development of an antimicrobial nanoparticle filter paper for low-cost point-of-use water purification. The proposed project will develop an antimicrobial paper water purifier, packaged like a coffee filter, to be distributed through retail channels. This project will offer safe water to many communities throughout the world. This SBIR Phase II project will advance the development of a process using large-scale paper machinery and similar reel-to-reel processes to manufacture low-cost nano-metal functionalized materials, such as nanosilver filter paper. Phase II objectives include: (i) optimize the process to reduce materials and other costs, increase flow rate, and maintain high-quality performance, (ii) demonstrate a more robust filter system by mitigation of water chemical and microbiology variability through improved formulation and formal determination of product shelf-life, (iii) demonstrate production at pilot and industrial speeds and output levels, while validating a non-destructive quality control program, and (iv) integrate third-party product safety certification tests. 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.
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FORCAST ORTHOPEDICS INC
SBIR Phase II: Antibiotic-Dispensing Spacer for Improved Periprosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) Treatment
Contact
6224 TREVARTON DR
Longmont, CO 80503–9095
NSF Award
2025352 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$999,923
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will help total knee replacement patients who have a joint infection. Periprosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) is a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection of a total joint replacement. Beyond immediate treatment, infections can develop years later from unrelated injuries, increasing PJI incidence as older patients opt for replacement joints. Roughly 15.6 million people in the US currently use a replacement joint, and without improved treatment, PJI will represent an estimated $2.2 billion annual US healthcare burden by 2023. The current standard of care treatment cannot generate sufficiently high antibiotic concentrations within the joint over enough time to eradicate bacterial biofilms on the implant and tissue, the known cause of persistent infection. This project will advance a proprietary implantable drug delivery system to easily generate and maintain an antibiotic concentration in the joint sufficient to eradicate biofilm and resolve an infection with less surgical trauma, easier patient recovery and lower healthcare cost than the current standard of care provides. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance translation of a novel implantable drug delivery system with an externally worn controller that communicates through skin to a simple implant comprising a pump and reservoir. When therapy is complete the pump can be left in place with no requirement to remove it, avoiding additional surgery common with current implantable pump technology. This project advances the development of the implant and controller to generate prototypes for thorough testing, including efficacy evaluation for biofilm eradication within a simulated environment. 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.
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Feasible, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Electrochemical Acoustic Tools for the Analysis of Batteries
Contact
1890 Arch St.
Berkeley, CA 94709–1307
NSF Award
1831080 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,449,999
Start / end date
09/01/2018 – 11/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be in helping batteries exceed the quality, performance, and safety demands of mass-market electric vehicles, renewable energy generation, and next-generation consumer electronic devices. The need for high-performance batteries is accelerating, and as batteries grow in energy density, size, and production volumes, so will the issues that persist with quality. Unless these issues are addressed, they will continue to have major implications for the performance, safety, and adoption of these important technologies. The challenge is that outside of R&D labs, the industry relies on essentially the same basic data as when batteries were first invented: voltage, current, and temperature. As a result, at commercial scales, only a small percentage of batteries are inspected in a meaningful way, with methods that only provide indirect information about physical condition. This Phase 2 project is focused on developing a new platform for production-level battery inspection that directly probes the physical condition of batteries with a high testing throughput. This could lead to better decisions in manufacturing environments and could decrease system costs, increase capacity and operational lifetime, and accelerate the scale-up of promising new materials. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project addresses the need for a physical mode of inspection in battery production environments that is capable of screening every cell with high fidelity. Currently, inspection in production-level environments are limited to electrical measurements and X-rays. Electrical methods provide only indirect and cell-averaged information about physical condition, and X-rays are not practically able to detect the distribution of electrolyte within batteries nor the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer (both of which strongly affect long-term reliability, performance, and safety of batteries). This Phase 2 project aims to develop a platform that utilizes sound-based methods to inspect batteries in production-environments. This will involve developing a scaled, automated hardware system as well as software and computational methods for processing and analyzing the acoustic signals. The Phase 2 project will also include various testing and validation efforts to assess the ability of acoustic analysis to both directly determine the performance quality and reliability of cells beyond beginning of life capacity and resistance, as well as to improve the performance of strings of cells and modules. 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.
Errata
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GRO BIOSCIENCES INC
SBIR Phase II: Synthetic biology platform for production of stabilized high-value proteins
Contact
131 FULLER ST UNIT 3
Brookline, MA 02446–5711
NSF Award
2024671 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 04/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to help patients living with diabetes. The disease accounts for 12% of deaths in the US and patients face major lifestyle changes. Most patients transition to insulin replacement therapy, which carries a complex dosing schedule that, if not followed closely, can leave patients in dangerous states of glucose dysregulation. More than 50 million diabetics currently use basal insulin analogs designed for longer activity than human insulin. The convenience and improved safety of these analogs has led to widespread adoption and a global market surpassing $10B. However, all current basal insulins require daily injections, a dosing burden that leads to poor treatment adherence, leaving patients vulnerable to dangerous fluctuations in blood glucose. The modified insulin described in this Phase II project is intended to provide the stability necessary to achieve once-weekly dosing. Relaxing the injection schedule should dramatically improve compliance and safety for patients; furthermore, the solution can be delivered at lower cost. The project uses a scalable in vivo protein production platform to produce long-acting insulin analogs for the diabetes market. The project utilizes the platform’s unique capability to site-specifically install non-standard amino acids into proteins, and to produce the modified proteins at scale. By replacing key bond-forming amino acids in insulin with non-standard amino acids that form stronger bonds, the modified insulins can achieve the stability necessary to support once-weekly dosing. The research objectives are to: produce sufficient quantities of variants of this insulin analog to support an experimental program, demonstrate improved stability of the variants over wild-type insulin in cell-based assays, and demonstrate sufficiently prolongated pharmacodynamics of the insulin analogs in an animal study to support once-weekly dosing. Potential outcomes include the first insulin analog capable of filling a major clinical and commercial need for affordable, safe insulin analogs with relaxed dosing schedules. Further, the work provides technical validation of a novel protein production platform. 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.
Errata
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Ginkgo BioWorks
SBIR Phase II: Novel Proteolysis-based Tools for Metabolic Engineering
Contact
27 Drydock Ave Floor 8
Boston, MA 02210–2413
NSF Award
1256446 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,314,964
Start / end date
04/15/2013 – 09/30/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project aims to engineer microbes for the cost-effective production of specialty chemicals. Currently, engineered microbial strains bear mutations that increase the production of chemicals of interest by inhibiting the cell's ability to produce off pathway chemicals. These "loss-of-function" mutations are critical as they effectively channel the cell's metabolic flux toward the product of interest. This both boosts the production efficiency and eases downstream purification by eliminating the accumulation of undesirable but chemically-similar contaminants. Unfortunately, these mutations may also decrease the fitness of the cells and, as a result, the growth media must be supplemented with costly nutrients. Technical research herein will assess the feasibility of applying novel regulated proteolysis technology to simultaneously direct maximal metabolic flux toward the target chemical of interest while avoiding the need to supplement the growth media. If successful, this technology would provide a great cost savings and enable fermentative production to be applied more broadly in the production of specialty chemicals. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to provide a stable and cost-effective fermentative production route to a specialty chemical. Fermentative production of chemicals offers many advantages over traditional petrochemical or extraction-based production processes. Petrochemical production maintains the nation?s reliance on an unsustainable feedstock (oil) and also leads to national security issues as the US is largely dependent on foreign oil sources. Chemical production via extraction from plant materials also has ecological challenges. The process often uses toxic solvents, and may rely on unsustainable farming practices for many plants that are not traditional food crops. Engineered microbes fermented on sugar feedstock produced using high-efficiency agricultural practices offer a stable alternative for producing specialty chemicals, both in terms of supply and price.
Errata
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Glauconix Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Development of a High-Throughput Drug Screening System for Eye Diseases
Contact
251 Fuller Road
Albany, NY 12203–3640
NSF Award
1660131 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$909,979
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 12/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is the development of a drug screening system that will accelerate drug discovery for several eye diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular edema. This technology will fulfill unmet needs of small and large biopharmaceutical companies engaged in drug discovery for various eye diseases by reducing development cost, expediting preclinical research, and increasing the chances of clinical success. From the socio-economic standpoint, this technology will result in the development of more effective ocular drugs that will decrease eye disease treatment cost. Furthermore, this model will facilitate more rapid development of technologies for the diagnosis of glaucoma and new surgical techniques in the management of this disease. Overall, this screening system will accelerate the development of medications for eye diseases, enhancing the quality of life for millions of people. This SBIR Phase II project will address the lack of effective models for testing targeted glaucoma therapeutics and additional ocular diseases. Currently, none of the available glaucoma medications target the eye tissue responsible for this disease due to absence of clinically relevant testing platform that incorporates this particular eye tissue. Presently, animal or human cadaver eyes are used to study and test the effects of medications on such tissue, however, these preparations are cumbersome and expensive. The proposed work will be the first-of-its-kind to engineer physiologically-relevant 3D human eye tissues utilizing novel cell culture methods along with microfabrication techniques and a microfluidic system. These 3D tissues will facilitate the development of disease-relevant in vitro model systems for understanding not only glaucoma but also diabetic retinopathy and macular edema pathology. This tool will help increase the success rate of glaucoma and ocular vasculature-related medications at later stages of drug development pipeline.
Errata
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Glyscend INC
SBIR Phase II: Orally-dosed Intestinal Coating for the Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Inspired from Bariatric Surgery
Contact
1812 Ashland Avenue
Baltimore, MD 02120–5150
NSF Award
1738372 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,199,998
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 06/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the healthcare needs of the 27 million Americans and 300 million patients globally suffering with type 2 diabetes (T2D). These patients are desperate for a safe treatment that reestablishes glycemic control to augment or replace current management strategies such as metformin and insulin, which only slow the progression of the disease. This proposal provides a unique approach to T2D based on an orally delivered intestinal coating that mimics the beneficial metabolic effects of bariatric surgery. The potential commercial impact of this novel treatment is highly significant as the total estimated cost of diabetes management in the US is upwards of $245 billion, and rising. Overall, an astounding 1 in 5 US health care dollars is used for the care of people with diabetes. Therefore, major insurers are very interested in the reimbursement of alternative approaches for treating T2D, thereby lessening the national cost burden. The proposed project supports the further development of an entirely novel treatment for T2D based on new insights from bariatric surgery. The medical community has recently recognized that certain bariatric procedures involving duodenal exclusion confer profound and immediate benefits in glucose tolerance. Sleeve-type medical devices have provided clinical validation for this approach, but such devices are invasive and not currently approved due to safety issues. The investigators propose a non-invasive and safe orally-delivered intestinal coating which is expected to provide the same effect as surgery and implanted sleeves, but requires neither a specialist nor sedation. This proposal describes in-vitro and in-vivo experiments that build on positive results of the Phase I project, and drive the company towards human clinical trials. Specific Aim-1 is to optimize the active lead compound through evaluation of a limited number of rational structural variations. Specific Aim 2 is to demonstrate the dose-dependent efficacy and safety of lead formulations in a chronic diabetic animal model. Consultation with leading endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, and material scientists has guided the selection of the materials and methods of this proposal. Completion of the studies outlined in the NSF SBIR Phase II proposal will accelerate clinical translation, bringing this novel treatment closer to patients in need.
Errata
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GridBridge, Inc
SBIR Phase II: A Highly Efficient GridBridge Grid Energy Router for Grid Modernization
Contact
1009 Capability Drive, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606–3901
NSF Award
1430911 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,639,703
Start / end date
09/01/2014 – 02/28/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a cornerstone for reliable electricity and a modernized grid able to evolve alongside emerging customer demands. Reliable electricity is key component of an industrialized market, critical for the information age, and an enabler for non-industrialized regions evolution and eventual world economic contribution. The societal benefit therefore of GridBridge's commercially feasible Grid Energy Router is colossal, as it is the step-function change required to truly orchestrate a grid to match this era. This project will enable numerous hindered technologies and scientific understanding related to energy storage, photovoltaic and other renewable generation, as well as electric vehicles and their correlated fast chargers. Energy savings are also a monumental aspect and are expected to be in the trillions of dollars. Society needs electricity to maintain civilization and an updated grid is imperative for supplying that electricity to an evolved consumer base. GridBridge?s Grid Energy Router will be the crucial component for the modernized grid an enabler for numerous complementary technologies. GridBridge's GER will eventually replace millions of installed legacy grid technologies throughout the world. Furthermore, the continued GridBridge-ERC relationship establishes FREEDM ERC's commercialization ecosystem, which includes 200 diverse students. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project combines various research aspects to commercialize the company?s third breakthrough product for electric utilities, the Grid Energy Router (GER). GridBridge?s Grid Energy Router will be cornerstone for an evolved grid that can integrate renewables and storage, offer dynamic efficiency gains, and intelligently route power. Although there has been early work with power electronics merely focusing in the area of high-voltage conversion, the approaches thus far limit commercialization and manufacturability. GridBridge will combine over three years of company market research and utility voice of the customer, a unique product roadmap, and cutting edge research in the areas of feature implementation and voltage conversion. Keeping in mind the end market, electric utility requirements have been incorporated: highly efficient, cost-competitive, manufacturable within a specific market window, and scalable both to high power and high voltage. This project facilitates a cost-effective and electrically-efficient product design ready for industrialization and ultimately grid integration, while simultaneously incorporating valuable features that justify utility expenditure and meet a market window of need.
Errata
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GrokStyle Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Innovative visual search and similarity for decor, apparel, and style
Contact
450 Townsend St. Suite 207
San Francisco, CA 94107–1510
NSF Award
1738489 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$747,959
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop visual search for product recognition in the furniture and home décor vertical. Text-based searches have revolutionized the ability of people to complete tasks more quickly and efficiently as they are able to find the information they desire in an organized, compiled, and logical manner. Visual search provides the next level of disruption in search capabilities by allowing users to find information even more rapidly and accurately by using images. The deep learning-based software being developed will allow consumers to find products they are interested in, and co-purchase related products, quickly. Further, users will be more engaged through exposure to designer photographs of products (inspirational photography). By helping customers find exactly what they are looking for in a timely manner, user engagement and productivity will be increased. Further, related style-based recommendations will increase purchasing overall. Increased spending stimulates economic growth by increasing taxable revenue by retailers, and through increased sales taxes generated from the purchases. This Small Business Innovative Research Phase II project seeks to develop a visual search engine that is poised to disrupt retail and ecommerce by switching the focus from text-based to visual search-based exploration. The platform initially targets interior décor and furniture where deep learning techniques are trained to recognize products across a wide range of conditions. In Phase II, the software deep learning architectures will be generalized to enable a broader range of products, and to allow customers more control over design decisions and choices. A client-facing REST API will allow retailers, designers, and media companies to programmatically access functionality of the platform, and build their own user interfaces and apps on top of the deep learning technology. Lastly, it is proposed to develop a white-label app that can be customized for individual retailers who want to distribute this visual search capability to their customers. Achieving these objectives will create state-of-the-art performance in visual search for applications in interior design, apparel search, real estate search, and product look-up.
Errata
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Ground Fluor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: PET Radiotracer Synthesis
Contact
2124 Y St. Flat 101
Lincoln, NE 68503–2495
NSF Award
1353246 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,361,310
Start / end date
04/15/2014 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project develops positron emission tomography (PET) imaging products to manage neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. PET is now a key diagnostic and management tool in oncology, and compounds labeled with [18F]-fluoride provide optimal signal to noise ratios and resolution in medical imaging applications. Ground Fluor Pharmaceuticals (GFP) developed proprietary single-step fluorination technology that allows [18F]-labeled medicines to be prepared efficiently from cyclotron-produced [18F]-fluoride. Under this Phase II research project GFP will apply its new technology to produce the imaging agent 6- [18F]fluoro-L-DOPA (FDOPA), a compound useful in diagnosing Parkinson's disease and in cancer imaging, that is not currently readily available because of the difficulty in its production. GFP will scale-up and manufacture pharmaceutical grade ALPDOPA (GFP's precursor to FDOPA) under pharmaceutical cGMP conditions, and offer this material for research studies and for clinical imaging. GFP will develop an FDA drug master file and will provide technical and regulatory assistance to cyclotron pharmacy customers adopting GFP's technology for commercial production of FDOPA. In addition to helping to bring this valuable imaging agent to market, GFP will assist academic and pharmaceutical research groups in the development of new [18F]- fluorinated imaging products. The broader impact/commercial potential is to expand the scope and utility of PET as medical diagnostic tool, thereby improving treatment and management of serious medical problems. Although [18F]-fluoride possesses, perhaps, the most advantageous properties for imaging, is relatively inexpensive, and is widely available, it is difficult to incorporate into medicines for imaging. GFP has developed a general enabling technology that uses the relatively inexpensive and widely available form of [18F]-fluoride to create new molecular imaging agents to advance personalized medicine. This technology, and the compounds it creates, will provide the physician with new opportunities to diagnose, assess, and more efficiently treat unmet medical needs. The manufacturing technology developed here is a broad platform applicable to the preparation of a wide range of new imaging agents. The commercial potential of PET imaging is significant; the worldwide market for PET is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2015.
Errata
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Grow Plastics LLC
SBIR Phase II: High performance biodegradable sandwich core structures
Contact
7734 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98115–4336
NSF Award
1738543 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,332,499
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be the development and demonstration of a new manufacturing technology for lightweight bio-based plastics. Plastic produced from plant materials can have lower environmental impact than petroleum-based plastics, but price and performance issues have limited their adoption. In Phase I, Grow Plastics demonstrated the ability to produce lightweight, low cost, thermally stable 100% bio-based packaging products. In Phase II, Grow Plastics will continue the development of its products while also working to develop a full-scale manufacturing line. The goal of the technology is to replace billions of pounds of petroleum-based plastic with a lower density plastic requiring half as much material, which is made from plants. This SBIR Phase II research project proposes to continue the development of a new manufacturing process for layered structures in biomaterials. Grow Plastics has demonstrated the ability to generate novel, high-performance layered cellular structures in biopolymers in a new manufacturing process using new machinery. The challenge in Phase II will be to continue the development in materials from Phase I while also scaling the technology to industrial scale. Materials science and manufacturing techniques will include polymer blending, solid state foaming, and thermal crystallization of polymer blends. Analysis techniques will include tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry, thermo mechanical analysis, and evaluation of final product properties.
Errata
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Guiding Technologies Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Using Data Mining to Optimally Customize Therapy for Individuals with Autism
Contact
1500 JFK Blvd Suite 1825 2 Penn
Philadelphia, PA 19102–1710
NSF Award
1632257 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$932,657
Start / end date
08/01/2016 – 07/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will revolutionize the treatment of individuals with autism. One of every sixty-eight US children has autism (over 1.1 million). The estimated cost of providing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to those who could benefit is $7.5 billion dollars annually. Societal impacts include: 1) more individuals with autism across the globe will receive treatment regimens that will enable them to live more fulfilled lives and reach their full potential; 2) families whose children are good candidates for treatment and receive it will experience reduced stress and better family life; and 3) the additional lifetime cost of not effectively treating children with autism, which is approximately ten-fold the cost of treatment, will be reduced. Because high-quality, contextually rich ABA performance data will be collected for the first time, efforts to apply data analytics will contribute in two important ways: a) patterns may be discerned across individuals with autism to better understand variations in autism and create therapies to target these differences; b) expansion of the frontiers of data mining to provide guidance in real time will contribute to a number of areas within and beyond ABA therapy. The proposed project will optimize therapy outcomes for individuals with autism by transforming agent-based guiding technology into an adaptive and intelligent ABA therapy assistant for supervisors and instructors. The project pushes the boundaries in providing cost-effective, adaptable, intelligent, real-time guidance and data-collection support to instructors that integrates naturally into the instructional process and is easy to learn and use. ABA therapy experts, supervisors and instructors will verify the analyses and resulting guidance incorporated into the technology. Advanced theories of usability engineering, including some developed by the project team, will be used to build interfaces that supervisors and instructors can intuit without the need for learning new concepts and syntax. The project will utilize the collected logs from multiple sessions with multiple therapy recipients and multiple therapy providers to uncover hidden patterns and assist supervisors in selecting appropriate therapy steps personalized for the individual with autism. The project will build on a large body of recent work in visualization, machine learning on temporal predictive modeling and sequential pattern mining, including some of the previous results of the project team. Special attention will be paid to the recent work in educational data mining and intelligent tutoring.
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HealthMyne, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Minable, Quantitative Imaging Platform for Evidence-Based Medicine within Oncology
Contact
918, Deming Way, 3rd Floor
Madison, WI 53717–1945
NSF Award
1456353 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,176,541
Start / end date
04/01/2015 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to significantly improve the care of cancer patients by providing an integrated platform for clinical data and image analytics to their care providers for better clinical decision making. Tight integration of clinical data with radiology images will enable evidence-based approaches to be used by care providers in oncology. The tools being developed in this project will enable accelerated transition of comprehensive data-driven cancer research into clinical practice for decision making related to diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Recent trends, such as wide adoption of electronic medical records and radiological images and availability of powerful computing at reasonable prices have made it possible to improve the prognostic and diagnostic power of data, in particular imaging data analysis in healthcare. The integrated analytics platform being developed will streamline treatment monitoring by imaging and reduce diagnostic errors; hence increasing the quality to cancer care. The proposed project aims to develop an integrated, minable, clinical and imaging data analytics platform for oncology. The platform combines recent advances in data mining, context search, image segmentation and deformable registration into an imaging system deployed at the point of care. The diagnostic potential of clinical and image data will be enhanced by the ability to compare lesion characteristics of the current case to a large repository of lesions from other studies with known diagnosis. The proposed search tool will generate patient cohorts with a given set of diagnosis and treatment conditions and present the related images to the diagnostician. Additional technology will locate and track tumors and provide detailed characterization such as size, shape, location and texture with detailed analytics. A large, minable database of segmented tumors and detailed metrics will advance research into identifying ?imaging biomarkers?. The embedded imaging platform will allow clinicians to access these decision support tools across a wide spectrum of devices from powerful personal computers to tablets and other mobile devices.
Errata
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Hummingbird Nano, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Innovative Platform Technology for Rapid Three Dimensional Fabrication of Capillary Electrophoresis Chips: Phase II Proposal
Contact
1500 Bull Lea Rd. #9
Lexington, KY 40511–1268
NSF Award
1555996 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,406,123
Start / end date
04/01/2016 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in developing a novel method of manufacturing micro sized parts in three-dimensions without layers at high volume. With no parting lines, the technology represents a significant advancement over current state of the art molding and 3D technologies for certain applications. As this represents an entirely new field of research, not merely an extension of solid freeform fabrication (SFF) techniques, it opens and enables wide research areas in engineering and chemical disciplines. More imminent is using the technology to create capillary electrophoresis (CE) chips that vastly reduce the amount of reagents, provide previously unattainable properties, and at a significantly lower price. By doing so, the technology will accelerate and broaden the adoption of microfluidics which are currently used in applications such as forensics, genomics, drug making, drug analysis, clinical diagnostics, biosensors, and environmental testing, among countless others. This project automates and expands a novel platform technology to manufacture high resolution micro parts. The technology is focused on a unique and inexpensive method to fabricate microfluidic channels and wells, which form the basis of all microfluidic chips. The objectives for Phase II are to: 1) Expand the versatility of the system by inclusion to the platform system of fiber optic cables, temperature control capillaries, microfluidic design of static mixer and expansion of molding materials, 2) Design and construct a pilot automation system to increase control and reduce variability, 3) Test the automation system, 4) Test chips produced via the automated system and test additional versatility components from (1), and 5) Continue to commercialize the products. The technological outcome is an automated system with expanded versatility that will center on the construction of capillary electrophoresis chips, with the objective of making the system on that can manufacture a wide variety of microfluidic chips.
Errata
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ILANS, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: LookingBus: Improving Public Transportation Services for the Blind
Contact
2416 Stone Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105–2541
NSF Award
1926652 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$736,553
Start / end date
10/01/2019 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop an industry-ready service to improve public transportation for riders with disabilities, specifically visual impairments. The LookingBus technology helps drivers accommodate the needs of certain riders, while limiting distractions from their primary roles of driving safely. Individuals with visual impairments depend heavily on public transit as an essential service for daily life, social activities, and employment. However, they often face challenges with (1) finding the correct bus stop, (2) determining which bus to board, and (3) departing the bus at the right stop. By developing an advanced notification service for alerting bus drivers, LookingBus will address the societal and market needs to mitigate these challenges. The product will promote independent, confident use of public transportation for riders with visual impairments, which may also promote a greater opportunity to pursue and maintain employment. The proposed project will further develop and commercialize LookingBus, an industry-ready service to enhance public transportation experience for riders with disabilities, such as visual impairments. LookingBus provides an advanced notification system alerting drivers about riders at upcoming stops and their planned destinations. The proposed system will integrate a beacon at the bus stop with a display on the bus connected to an app on the user's mobile phone. This assures that riders with disabilities can safely utilize fixed-route public transportation. 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.
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IOTAS, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Automated Pairing and Provisioning
Contact
2547 NE 16th Ave
Portland, OR 97212–4231
NSF Award
1655520 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$727,647
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be focusing on automatic pairing and provisioning of Internet of Things (IoT) for the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry, to help them increase revenue potential by digitizing their apartments. It is estimated that the Smart Home Automation industry will reach $71B by 2018. If installation and setup of IoT devices could be automated and simplified then the MFH industry could roll out Smart Apartments quickly and in large scale. Being able to gather data and insights on buildings could lead to increased revenue from more efficient use of labor and materials and through better management of energy. It also gives them the opportunity to create new revenue streams from software and services targeted at the data output. The MFH industry can also get insights on their entire building portfolio versus a single building and more efficiently manage their entire portfolio. The MFH industry implementing Smart Home Automation technology has huge societal benefits by integrating with smart grids and utility demand response programs. The potential energy savings of 18M Smart Apartments could be hundred thousand gigawatt hours or $7.3B in savings. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to enable the deployment of a scalable and maintainable infrastructure through the use of mechanisms including automatic pairing, tiered authentication, and network isolation in low cost, resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The problem with existing IoT pairing methods is that they are targeted at Single-Family-Home deployments and the number of nodes that needs to be paired are relatively minimal. However, this is not a scalable model when trying to address the needs of the Multi-Family-Home (MFH) industry. In the multi-family dwelling, the sheer density of nodes creates new problems. The technical challenge that remains for this phase is to ensure that all the devices will easily pair and to differentiate the nodes so that they authenticate and provision to the right apartment in a dense, RF noisy environment. Developing a cost effective, scalable solution for this high-density scenario is a key component to fulfilling the value proposition of mass deployment in the Multi-Family-Home industry. The anticipated result of this project is to solve the issue of pairing large quantities of end nodes and authenticating them appropriately to the correct apartment.
Errata
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Imagen Energy, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Extremely Compact, High Efficiency, Integrated Converter and Energy Storage System
Contact
15230 W. Woodland Dr.
New Berlin, WI 53151–1915
NSF Award
1831221 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$752,227
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to enable vast deployment of energy storage to increase installation of renewable energy for reduced pollution and greenhouse gases, to improve energy security, and to improve energy efficiency and safety. The project will realize a dramatic reduction in cost and size of Energy Storage Systems (ESS) that will allow penetration of ESS into markets served by fossil fuels. One key market is grid ancillary services which includes Frequency Regulation (FR) that regulates grid frequency and stability. With the potential of this project, the FR market for battery based ESS is expected to grow from $100M/yr to over $4B/yr. This project has the societal benefits of replacing fossil fuel based ?peaker? plants that are commonly used to perform FR, with clean Li-ion battery based ESS. Furthermore, by providing lower cost FR capability for the grid, the project will enable grid penetration of more renewable energy, which requires additional FR capability. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a highly compact integrated modular inverter/energy storage system to revolutionize deployment of energy storage system for grid, micro-grid, energy efficiency, and energy reliability support. The development effort proposed here includes an advanced energy storage system consisting of an extremely compact 150kW high frequency 3-level inverter, an integrated 100kWhr compact Li-ion battery system, proprietary battery management systems and internet communications capability. This will provide a highly integrated and scalable 150kW Energy Storage System with an integrated battery string inverter with 60% reduced system cost and 10X reduced size that will open new markets for energy storage and renewable energy. The project will develop key technology innovations which work together with advanced Li-ion batteries to form a revolutionary new product. These innovations include: high frequency 3-level inverter with innovative high frequency control and output filter to achieve >10X reduction in volume; a novel topology that integrates inverters into each cell string and eliminates many components resulting in 60% system cost reduction; a modular and scalable design that is fault tolerant and allows easy optimization for multiple system uses. 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.
Errata
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Imprint Energy, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Integration of Custom, Printable Batteries in Robotic Technologies
Contact
1320 Harbor Bay Parkway
Alameda, CA 94502–0000
NSF Award
1256631 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,128,850
Start / end date
03/15/2013 – 05/31/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase II project will expand the performance of a novel zinc battery chemistry which leverages a high conductivity polymer electrolyte, and further characterize the battery system to increase its commercial attractiveness to interested customers and partners, particularly for small portable and flexible electronics applications. The novel zinc battery chemistry is an ultrathin, flexible and rechargeable battery technology. This battery chemistry utilizes an air-stable, earth-abundant, robust, and non-lithium materials set that is manufacturable by print-based processing and is scalable to large dimensions with sheet or web manufacturing. The goals of this project are to increase understanding of this new battery chemistry, demonstrate and characterize its unique flexibility, scale the technology to pilot-level manufacturing, and improve its commercially relevant performance properties. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project are diverse. They include the establishment of new battery chemistry and manufacturing paradigm which can be disruptive to markets requiring novel device functionality and form factors. This technology also allows for significant reduction of the cost and environmental impact of batteries for growing and potentially ubiquitous application. Lastly, this new approach to battery manufacturing presents the opportunity to repurpose the printing industry to produce next generation batteries. Despite considerable prior work in the field of batteries, there is a large mismatch between available battery technologies and the performance, form factor, cost, and manufacturing requirements needed to serve as a platform battery system to power flexible and wearable electronics, robotics, sensors, energy harvesters, displays, and wireless electronics. The novel battery technology being developed in this project can alleviate these constraints and potentially revolutionize the portable electronic market to achieve new form factors, capabilities, and spur adoption into new application areas.
Errata
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Addenda
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InsightFinder Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Providing Automatic System Anomaly Management Software as a Service for Dynamic Complex Computing Infrastructures
Contact
154 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013–3141
NSF Award
1660219 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,260,000
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to greatly improve the robustness and diagnosability of many computing infrastructures including both public and private computing clouds. The proposed technology will significantly reduce the occurrence of performance degradation and service downtime in cloud computing infrastructures, which can attract more users to adopt cloud computing technology and thus benefit society as a whole, which depends increasingly on cloud technology. The project will also advance the state of the art in cloud system reliability research by putting research results into real world use. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will transform system anomaly management for dynamic complex computing infrastructures. The novelty of the company's solution lies in three unique features: 1) predictive: the solution can raise advance alerts before a serious service outage occurs; 2) self-learning: the solution automatically infers alert conditions and performs automatic root cause analysis using machine learning algorithms; 3) adaptive: the technology adapts to dynamic systems. The proposed research will produce novel and practical anomaly prediction and diagnosis solutions that will be validated in real world computing infrastructures. Specifically, the project consists of three thrusts: 1) adaptive learning in dynamic environments; 2) real-time feature extraction and pattern recognition over system metric and log data; and 3) full stack root cause analysis. During the project the company will implement its software products and carry out case studies with prospective customers on real world computing infrastructures.
Errata
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Intentionet, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Proactive Network Configuration Analysis
Contact
16625 Redmond Way Ste M241
Redmond, WA 98052–4444
NSF Award
1738555 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,249,999
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project stems from technology for automatic network configuration analysis. As ever more devices connect to the Internet and rich services move to the "cloud," both the complexity of computer networks and their reliability requirements are rapidly escalating. It is no wonder that network outages and security breaches are common. Yet another side effect of this complexity, which does not make the headlines but is equally damaging, is that network engineers are understandably fearful of making configuration changes, so networks are unable to evolve at a speed that keeps up with changing business needs. The technology developed in this project will enable network engineers to validate correctness, security, and performance properties of their networks proactively, before errors reach the running network. This technology has the potential to improve the robustness of critical network infrastructure that is widely relied upon, to prevent unauthorized access to resources, and to increase the pace of innovation. The project will also provide insights into the largest "pain points" in modern networks and develop design and analysis techniques to address them. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project further develops the Batfish network configuration analysis technology. Interactions with pilot customers as well as many interviews with potential customers identified the needs of the marketplace and how the Batfish technology can best be adapted to meet those needs. As a result, the specific goal of this project is to seamlessly aid network engineers in validating network behavior during the policy design phase. Drawing inspiration from how software is developed today, the company will extend Batfish to support continuous integration of network configurations and develop a series of analyses that can find errors in network configurations with minimal input from the network engineers. The anticipated outcome of these research thrusts is a technology that allows network engineers to easily understand and gain confidence in their proposed network designs and to iterate these designs more quickly. The project will be driven by continued interactions with several pilot customers.
Errata
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JEEVA WIRELESS INC
SBIR Phase II: Passive Radio for the Internet of Things
Contact
4000 Mason Road Ste 300
Seattle, WA 98195–0001
NSF Award
1758699 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$759,996
Start / end date
02/01/2018 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to develop low-power, low-cost and small form factor wireless connectivity solutions, facilitating the deployment of inexpensive and long-lived wireless sensors and devices for a diverse set of applications. For instance, it is infeasible to place conventional sensors or wireless connectivity on low-cost or disposable items due to the high cost and short battery life of wireless communication devices. With the successful completion of this project, items ranging from consumer packaged goods to medical consumables and pill bottles could be connected to the Internet. Brands and manufacturers could gain previously inaccessible market and product insights based on the way products are used, while consumers could enjoy benefits ranging from new services and features (such as automated product reordering) to better-designed products which more closely fit their needs. By enabling new use cases for wireless connectivity, this technology can prompt innovation across many industries. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project introduces a new long-range backscatter-based communication technology based on Chirp Spread Spectrum, a wireless protocol which can be detected at extremely low signal levels. The low-power wireless system prior to this project is comprised of three elements: A passive backscatter-based radio, a first gateway device which provides an illumination signal, and a second gateway device which receives the resulting backscattered data and forwards data to the Internet. In this project, the passive backscatter-based radio will be implemented in an integrated circuit form, realizing the low power and low cost possible with this technology. The two gateway devices will be combined into one full-duplex radio device, to address the needs of the majority of deployment scenarios. Techniques to localize the backscatter radios within the field of the gateway device will be explored. Finally, security challenges will be addressed and the system will undergo extensive evaluation and testing.
Errata
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KANDRA LABS INC
SBIR Phase II: Zulip threaded group chat
Contact
235 Berry St Ste 306
San Francisco, CA 94158–1629
NSF Award
1831273 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result from group chat technology that enables knowledge workers to collaborate more effectively than ever before. It is the first tool built that empowers users to efficiently carry out both real-time and asynchronous conversations in the same system, with each user reading only those conversations that are important to him or her. In particular, the technology empowers teams to make decisions in virtual meetings that take place asynchronously over periods of hours or days. This is in contrast with existing group chat technology, where conversations usually end as soon as someone starts talking about something else. This ability to conduct long running, virtual meetings is invaluable for large teams that need to coordinate work across different locations and time zones. Large, distributed teams are fast becoming the norm for how organizations operate, as instant communication and globalization make such teams the workforce of the future. Coordinating the efforts of such teams is a huge pain point for companies, and this technology is a leap in the state of the art in this space. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has three major research objectives: scaling the technology to teams of 10,000+ people; faithfully translating the user experience to mobile devices; and developing techniques for serving the needs of diverse deployments large and small. For scalability, one major area is "presence", telling each user who else is currently online. Presence data naturally grows with the number of pairs of users, therefore much faster than the number of users, and the company will need to develop algorithms to focus presence on significant connections between users. Among the unique challenges on mobile, the often-limited Internet connectivity demands algorithms that remember data previously fetched from the server to avoid asking for it again, carefully balanced with getting needed updates to never show out-of-date information to the user; the immediacy required for a great chat experience makes both horns of this dilemma especially sharp. Serving diverse deployments demands techniques for making software updates routine and seamless, a practice recently popularized in browsers and mobile apps but rarely accomplished to date in distributing server applications such as that described here. 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.
Errata
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Killer Snails, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Learning From Nature: Marine Educational Games With Big IDEAS (Innovative Differentiated Educational Assessments in Science)
Contact
3203 Beverley Road
Brooklyn, NY 11226–5519
NSF Award
1660065 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$929,999
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project will develop an easy to use real-time formative assessment tool for educators that will be uniquely aligned to each student and deployed via a virtual reality learning game that uses venomous marine snails as a conduit for exploring scientific issues in nature. The USA is currently ranked 52nd in the world in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This is detrimental intellectually and economically to the future of American society. Recent studies indicate it is not what is taught, but how it is taught that enhances student-learning abilities, particularly as it pertains to STEM. As a result, this project is driven by the research objectives to understand how children learn specific science content and why certain game elements are better suited to convey scientific material. The outcome of this project is a proprietary multi-tiered formative assessment tool that can measure real time student learning of novel STEM content obtained through a virtual reality learning game experience. This project will enable teachers to nimbly tailor future instruction with individualized student learning goals. Commercialization of the products created in this project will transform scientific learning and measurable engagement in educational games for social and economic benefit to meet the NSF?s mission of supporting education initiatives that improve the lives of U.S. Citizens, and generate income for tax revenue and jobs via the employment of software designers, educators and scientists. The proprietary technology developed in this SBIR Phase II will be a first-of-its-kind assessment dashboard that will link virtual reality and web-based learning environments with formative assessment to fuel instruction and deepen learning. This project will build proprietary assessment tools into online and virtual reality games which continuously engage users in the process of scientific inquiry and discovery using novel formative assessments customized to each player. The proprietary assessment dashboard allows teachers and players to measure their progress in real-time and identify opportunities to enhance their STEM learning. Using Unity as the platform, player actions and decisions will be met with tailored formative assessments and ongoing feedback throughout game play. This feedback helps teachers delineate where their students are along their learning progressions and fuels further instruction. The novel approach of this assessment dashboard transforms qualitative and quantitative learning and has the potential to significantly enhance student engagement and commitment to scientific inquiry to support emerging science changemakers. The research objective of the player/teacher dashboard is to align feedback on student learning during game play with dynamic quantitative and qualitative formative assessment that create a seamless demonstration of knowledge acquisition while providing teachers with multiple opportunities to engage learners in deeper and more meaningful levels of inquiry before, during, and after gameplay. The products generated from this project are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) program to ensure the content is of the highest caliber and distribution is to a large global customer base. The anticipated results from exposing teachers and students to this project will be increased competencies in STEM, which will transform players into lifelong learners and enhance engagement in STEM fields and careers.
Errata
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Kytopen Corp
SBIR Phase II: An Automated Platform for Rapid Discovery in Cell Biology
Contact
501 Massachusetts Avenue 3rd FL
Cambridge, MA 02139–4018
NSF Award
1853194 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$748,461
Start / end date
03/01/2019 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a fast, efficient, and scalable cell engineering technology that is easily automated through integration with liquid handling robots. Currently, there is a bottleneck in the process of cell engineering, especially in the engineering of cells for discovery of new therapeutics. The field of delivery of genetic or other material to cells has not kept pace with advancements in genetic modification and high-throughput screening technologies. The proposed platform will offer an alternative to the time-consuming and labor-intensive methods of transfection including lentiviral transduction and cuvette-based electroporation, which are difficult to automate. Applications of cell engineering technology range from fundamental research in cell physiology to the discovery of new targets for cellular therapies. The platform will allow scientists and clinicians to more rapidly and reliably engineer immune and other cells for discovery of new therapeutic targets and therapeutics. The intellectual merit of this SBIR Phase II project will be to develop a scalable, automated, non-viral cell engineering platform with the potential to operate up to 10,000 times faster than conventional electroporation using high-throughput liquid handling. Using the core cell engineering technology developed in Phase I, the goal is to develop an automated protocol for gene transfection on a liquid handling robot compatible with 96 or 384 well plate technology. The first objective is to demonstrate the manufacturability of cell engineering devices for high-throughput cell engineering. Preliminary work in this area has shown that these devices can be injection molded, thus reducing cost while increasing the potential for production at scale. In the Phase II project, injection molded prototypes of the cell engineering devices will be developed to prove manufacturability and determine the cost to manufacture at scale (millions of parts per year). Second, there are several supplemental systems that must be integrated with a liquid handling apparatus to enable the proposed high-throughput cell engineering. Supplemental systems include a power source and power distribution manifold that interacts with each sample of the 96 or 384 well array. In this project, these systems will be integrated with the cell engineering devices and automated liquid handling robot. Third, the integrated system will be used to generate a large library of primary human T cell variants as proof-of-concept to demonstrate the potential for high-throughput cell engineering for therapeutic target discovery. 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.
Errata
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LUNEWAVE INC.
SBIR Phase II: Novel Radar Using 3D Printed Luneburg Lens for Autonomous Transportation
Contact
4991 N. Fort Verde Trl.
Tucson, AZ 85750–5903
NSF Award
1758547 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,377,495
Start / end date
04/01/2018 – 09/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be that this research will address the resolution and detection range requirements of autonomous driving in complex environments such as urban scenarios. The next major revolution of transportation is undoubtedly autonomous driving, which will increase safety, mobility and productivity. Fully autonomous transportation may eliminate human error, the leading cause of traffic accidents, and could also lead to reduced traffic congestion, higher energy efficiency, and enhanced mobility for the aging and disabled population. The proposed advanced sensing system with intelligent algorithms is expected to help enable and advance the autonomous driving revolution. The proposed effort will also have great commercial impact. The global market size of autonomous sensors is expected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2018 to $11.9 billion in 2023, with the radar-based sensor segment representing $2.9 billion in 2023. In addition, the expected research outcome may lead to advancements in a number of important market sectors including wireless communications, sensing, mobile internet, assistive technology, and additive manufacturing. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project aims to realize a 3D-printed Luneburg lens-based high performance automotive radar for autonomous driving. Existing automotive radars do not have enough distance detection, field of view, and angular resolution for classifying and locating dense targets, which is critical for achieving fully autonomous driving. As a result, current autonomous driving tests utilize LiDAR ((Light Detection And Ranging) systems which are more expensive and less reliable than radar especially under adverse weather conditions such as rain, snow, fog, and smoke. Compared to conventional manufacturing techniques, this project utilizes 3D printing, which is convenient, fast, inexpensive and capable of implementing millimeter wave Luneburg lenses. Based on the Luneburg lens?s ability to form multiple beams with high gain and broad bandwidth, a novel automotive radar will be designed by mounting radar detectors around the lens. Moreover, with the wide bandwidth and natural beam forming capabilities of the Luneburg lens, an adaptive sensing approach is proposed to improve the scanning efficiency and avoid interference from nearby or intruder radar systems. With these proposed approaches, the objective is to achieve a high performance and high value millimeter-wave sensing system suitable for autonomous transportation applications. 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.
Errata
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LambdaVision, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Design and Optimization of a Biocompatible Protein-Based Retinal Implant for the Treatment of End-Stage Retinal Degeneration
Contact
400 Farmington Ave
Farmington, CT 06032–1913
NSF Award
1632465 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,037,071
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 12/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop and commercialize a high resolution, protein-based retinal implant intended to restore vision to the millions of patients blinded by retinal degenerative diseases, particularly retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. These currently incurable and blinding diseases affect between 30-50 million people worldwide, and lead to a loss of independence for the individual, as well as an increased burden on their caregivers. While improved quality of life is the most vital outcome of this technology, reduction of medical costs of treating chronic retinal degeneration and limiting time with doctors will also be of benefit to the broad healthcare field. The work outlined in this SBIR proposal also has the potential to significantly impact our understanding of retinal degenerative diseases, which will help in developing better and more effective treatments for a number of ophthalmic indications. The subretinal implant under development provides the framework for the next generation of high-resolution retinal prosthetics, while offering a cost-effective solution to vision restoration, and will help these patients regain independence and thus improve their quality of life. The proposed project will expand on the data collected from the in vivo surgical development and ex vivo efficacy studies supported by our Phase I/IB awards. First, a 40-animal rat study will be undertaken to further investigate the biocompatibility of the retinal implant. Second, previously developed surgical procedures will be refined in pigs to ensure reproducible and safe subretinal implantation. Third, a high-throughput in vitro assay will be designed to investigate a number of implant parameters, as well as the integrity and biostability of the retinal implant using retinal pigment epithelial cells. Additionally, medical device sealants will be investigated in this in vitro study, and the functional integrity of the implant will be measured using time-resolved absorption spectroscopy and an ion-sensitive detector, which is being developed specifically for this application. Lastly, this ion-sensitive detector will provide an opportunity to further measure the spatial sensitivity of the retinal implant with high resolution. These in vivo and in vitro studies are vital for the continued evaluation of biocompatibility, surgical feasibility, and efficacy of the implant. The results from these studies will further demonstrate the commercial viability of the technology under development.
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Lapovations, LLC
SBIR Phase II: AbGrab Laparoscopic Lifting Device
Contact
2746 N Hidden Springs Drive
Fayetteville, AR 72703–9203
NSF Award
2025984 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$999,429
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is a reduction in the negative effects of laparoscopies, procedures to enter the abdomen through a small incision. Over 15 million laparoscopies are performed worldwide each year, particularly gynecologists, who represent roughly half the surgeons performing these procedures in the U.S. The proposed procedure does not require surgeons to alter their surgical techniques and requires minimal training. It uses equipment already in the hospital. The benefits will include better surgical outcomes, decreased patient post-op pain, and increased surgeon and patient satisfaction. Furthermore, it can ultimately be used in other surgical interventions, such as pannus retention, wound management, and liposuction. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the need for a less invasive and more reliable method for lifting the abdominal wall during laparoscopic surgery. Current lifting techniques include manually grasping the abdominal wall and using invasive perforating towel clips. With manual grasp it can be difficult for the surgeon to maintain grip and proper elevation, especially with lean or obese patients. Alternatively, using perforating towel clips is invasive because the towel clips perforate the abdominal wall tissue to provide a handle by which to lift and elevate. The perforations can be a significant source of post-op discomfort and bruising for the patient. This project focuses on developing a medical device that uses suction to attach to and lift the abdominal wall more reliably than manual grasp and less invasively than perforating towel clips. 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.
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Leading Edge Crystal Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Development of a Continuous Doping and Feeding System for Controlling the Resistivity of Floating Silicon Method Silicon Wafers
Contact
98 Prospect Street
Somerville, MA 02143–4109
NSF Award
2024523 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$998,820
Start / end date
10/01/2020 – 09/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is improved global solar panel manufacturing. To date, conventional solar panel manufacturing technologies are still expensive, but the market, estimated at $40 B, offers significant potential. The proposed technology will simplify the manufacturing process at industrial scales. It will reduce all-in solar manufacturing costs by 25% and the overall capital intensity of solar manufacturing by almost 50%. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project enables a commercial pilot of a single crystal wafer manufacturing technology. This novel technology can produce drop-in silicon wafers for solar panels in one step at 50% lower cost than the incumbent seven-step wafer technology. The project will extend the current production capabilities from a few wafers per batch into continuous production consistent with industrial use. Tasks include developing the subsystems to continuously feed raw silicon feedstock into the machine and controlling material properties to critical specifications for long production runs. 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.
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Liberate Medical LLC
STTR Phase II: A Novel Abdominal Stimulator to Assist with Ventilator Weaning in Patients
Contact
6400 Westwind Way
Crestwood, KY 40014–6773
NSF Award
1632402 – STTR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,407,653
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project, in which a non-invasive respiratory muscle stimulation device and approach to weaning patients from mechanical ventilation will be developed, is a reduction in public health care expenditure and a reduction in morbidity for the half a million patients who have difficulty weaning from mechanical ventilation each year in the US. These patients suffer from an array of clinical complications (for example, pneumonia) and cost the US health care system $16 billion annually, a great deal of which is borne by Medicare and Medicaid. In addition, the current reimbursement landscape economically incentivizes hospitals to wean patients at the earliest possible time. The proposed innovation has the potential to positively benefit society by providing a solution to this serious healthcare problem. In addition, it promises to improve our scientific understanding of respiratory muscle physiology and mechanics in difficult to wean patients. It will also improve our technical understanding of non-invasive respiratory sensors and biofeedback algorithms for the purposes of electrical muscle stimulation. Finally, as demonstrated by the number and cost of difficult to wean patients, as well as current healthcare reimbursement policies, the proposed innovation has potential to results in a considerable commercial impact. The proposed project will develop a non-invasive electrical stimulator that automatically applies stimulation to the respiratory muscles in synchrony with a patient?s voluntary breathing pattern. This approach is expected to address the imbalance between respiratory muscle strength and respiratory muscle load - a major factor responsible for weaning difficulty - by assisting ventilation during weaning sessions and strengthening the breathing muscles that have become weakened as a result of mechanical ventilation. In Phase 1 a functional prototype was developed; clinical feasibility of the approach was also demonstrated. The Phase II proposal focuses on refining the stimulation algorithm to maximize its clinical effectiveness and on developing a novel stimulation electrode system so that the device can be quickly applied to patients. In addition, methods will be developed to interface the technology with a mechanical ventilator to expand its clinical application. Finally, a complete works-like, looks-like prototype will be developed that is designed to international standards and is safe for clinical testing. The work completed in this Phase of the project will enable a controlled clinical trial of the proposed approach and ultimately allow the device to gain FDA regulatory clearance.
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Litterati, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Building a Global Community to Crowdsource-Clean the Planet
Contact
131 Turvey Ct.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514–5260
NSF Award
1853170 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,117,996
Start / end date
04/01/2019 – 12/31/2021
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project focuses on litter - one of the world's most pervasive and toxic problems. To many, it's dirty, disgusting, and someone else's problem to solve. Unfortunately, we all suffer the consequences, as litter impacts our economy, degrades the environment, demoralizes community pride, kills wildlife, and poisons the food system. This project builds on the accomplishments of an SBIR Phase I project that developed a mobile technology empowering anyone to identify, map, and collect the world's litter, while simultaneously connecting to a broader community of associated brands, cities, schools. The company has integrated image recognition and machine learning algorithms into its software to advance the crowdsourcing of litter data and cleanup activities. This advancement will allow for the identification of litter even if the item is in a deep state of decay and decomposition. This project also aims to continue building the Global Database of Litter, a technology platform that integrates the company's litter taxonomic classification with other data sets including location, time, retail locations, and the watershed. This data provides great potential to improve municipal infrastructure, resource allocation, brand packaging redesign, and individual responsibility that promotes positive behavioral change. Like the National Science Foundation, this project aims to promote the progress of science and advance our national health, prosperity, and welfare. 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.
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Living Ink Technologies, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Engineering novel pigmented cyanobacteria for the use in the ink, printing and colorant industries
Contact
3185-A Rampart Road
Fort Collins, CO 80521–2025
NSF Award
1758587 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is developing a safe and sustainable ink for the global ink industry. Approximately nine billion pounds of ink is produced annually around the world. Currently, ink is predominantly made of petroleum or inorganic chemicals mined from the earth. For example, carbon black is commonly used in traditional ink, which is derived from petroleum, not biodegradable, and toxic for humans. To solve this problem, nature has produced a multitude of molecules capable of replacing pigments currently utilized in ink. While many organisms that produce these alternatives are slow growing and require energy sources like sugar, photosynthetic microbes, such as cyanobacteria, are capable of being engineered in an efficient manner to produce pigments in ink formulations that are safe, renewable, and 100% biodegradable. This ink will be used by businesses for printing packaging, marketing material, and other printed products. Developing and integrating these ink products will decrease significantly the overall detrimental impact of traditional inks on the environment, and more importantly, human health. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop sustainable ink formulations using cyanobacteria as feedstock for producing optically black pigments for printing inks. This project will also engineer cyanobacteria cells capable of generating cellular pigments for a color spectrum of cyan, magenta, and yellow. These colored cyanobacteria will act as pigments that replace mined pigments found in traditional ink formulations, such as carbon black and cadmium. This project is developing a unique process in which extraction of pigments/dyes is not necessary, thus saving energy and reducing cost. Using cyanobacteria cells as pigments creates a renewable source of biomass for bio-products, as these organisms leverage sunlight, carbon dioxide, wastewater and land otherwise unsuitable for conventional agriculture to rapidly generate biomass. In addition to the development of colorful renewable cyanobacteria strains, this project will focus on manufacturing thousands of pounds of ink products for testing and consumer use as well as testing the applicability of these natural pigments to act as colorants in the food and textile industries. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Looking Glass Ventures, LLC
SBIR Phase II: An End User Authoring Tool for Open and Intelligent Technology-Enhanced Assessments.
Contact
202 Sequoia Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306–1043
NSF Award
1758301 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$969,998
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II effort will create transformative open tools to enable affordable access at scale to high quality assessments (problems & questions) for foundational subjects in secondary and post-secondary education. The explosion of online student audiences, rapid growth of Open Educational Resources (OER), and the need to support individual learners are creating an unprecedented demand for digital assessments. Assessment authoring tools today are controlled by large organizations, require advanced skills and proprietary assessment delivery platforms with restrictive collaboration features. This inequity is particularly pronounced with respect to technology-enabled assessments (TEAs) which are sophisticated, digital assessments that enable deeper learning. This effort will democratize the process of authoring and sharing TEAs through the creation of intuitive end user tools that will enable educators without advanced technical skills to author and share TEAs. This has the potential to disrupt the status quo by empowering educators to take charge of the assessment creation and distribution landscape with ground-breaking tools that enable easy authoring and distribution of sophisticated TEAs without being restricted by a proprietary assessment system. Eventually, this will empower educators at scale by triggering the evolution of a peer-to-peer marketplace around the need for assessments, and impact hundreds of thousands of learners in secondary and tertiary education settings. This project will follow through on two principal innovations. The first is an end-user tool that will dramatically reduce the time and expertise required to author technology-enhanced assessments. The tool will facilitate intuitive authoring of TEAs by using symbolic representation of programming constructs. The second innovation is a new standard for representation of technology-enhanced assessments that makes them usable in any delivery platform, thus making the assessments platform-neutral. This effort will also advance the frontiers of authoring beyond individual assessments to the creation of adaptive assessment pathways that will provide personalization for diverse learners. It will explore novel technologies including the representation of TEAs as intelligent and portable objects that are interoperable with disparate assessment platforms through application programming interfaces. The research studies will provide insight into how the proposed innovations can make authoring of TEAs more efficient while lowering the skills barrier for educators, and the degree to which such TEAs are effective in eliciting student reasoning and thinking processes in foundational subjects. This will be achieved through a combination of usability and validation studies in partnership with secondary and post-secondary educators drawn from different institutions. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Lygos Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Large-scale, high-throughput optimization of gene expression in industrial yeast for improved small molecule production
Contact
1249 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710–1413
NSF Award
1456071 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,425,979
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 10/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is development of a microbial technology for the conversion of low-value sugars into high-value chemicals. Most industrial chemicals produced today are derived from petroleum and other nonrenewable raw materials. The long-term growth and sustainability of the chemical industry benefits from development of new routes to existing chemicals using renewable raw materials. Furthermore, due to higher infrastructure costs and stricter environmental requirements, many chemicals that were once produced in the United States are now produced abroad. This contributes to the U.S. trade deficit. This Phase II proposal aims to develop a fermentation technology where domestically grown agricultural materials (for example, corn and waste agricultural residues) are converted into high-value chemicals. The optimized fermentation process is estimated to be cost-competitive with the incumbent petrochemical route when scaled. If successful, this proposal will facilitate growth of a domestic bio-chemical manufacturing industry, targeting the $30 billion organic acids market. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to develop large-scale, high-throughput techniques to optimize gene expression in industrial yeast. A significant problem within the field of industrial biotechnology is the ability to engineer and optimize the fermentation performance of non-academic or model microbes. Most molecular metabolic engineering tools are developed for use in two model prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes, E. coli and S. cerevisiae, and are not suitable for use with industrially relevant microbes. Without these tools it is costly and slow to commercialize new fermentation technologies. The goal of this Phase II project is to develop and implement a set of molecular biology tools designed for acid-tolerant yeast, and working to apply them toward improving small molecule production. Specifically, the molecular biology tools are useful for tuning (up- or down-regulation) user-defined gene transcription and translation. Engineered microbes harboring the desired genetic modification(s) are assayed for improved small molecule production from sugar in small scale fermentations. Successful genetic modifications are those that result in more efficient small molecule product formation from sugar, and ideally decreased biomass formation from sugar, providing a lower production cost in a scaled, commercial process.
Errata
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Addenda
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MOSAIC MICROSYSTEMS LLC
SBIR Phase II: Manufacturable Implementation of Thin Glass for Next Generation Electronics Packaging
Contact
500 LEE RD STE 200
Rochester, NY 14606–4261
NSF Award
1951114 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$813,957
Start / end date
04/01/2020 – 03/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a packaging platform for the next generation communications electronics, particularly for 5G applications for defense and commercial use. Enabling the processing of thin glass substrates for next-generation communications and packaging needs will mean faster communications with improved power efficiency. The wide range of applications and end markets include mobile devices and infrastructure, automotive radar, internet of things, and other uses. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project enables thin glass packaging solutions to be processed in existing semiconductor factories. As the need for data volume drives wireless technology towards frequency bands in the 30-100 GHz range, commonly used packaging substrates begin to fail. Glass is an attractive alternative due to its dimensional stability, smooth surfaces, low RF absorption up to 100 GHz, limited dielectric constant variation with temperature, and moisture insensitivity. Reduced thickness also decreases interconnect length (yielding low loss and low latency) and reduces overall product thickness. Thin glass can be difficult to handle in a free-standing state. In this project, thin glass using a novel handling solution will be fully metallized and patterned on both sides, creating test structures verifying through-glass via integrity, reliability, and robustness. Optimized metallization approaches will be explored, along with improvements to second-side processing, for commercially relevant wafer substrates. 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.
Errata
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Mallinda, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Development of Advanced Composite Materials for Athletic Equipment
Contact
1954 Cedaridge Cir.
Superior, CO 80027–4489
NSF Award
1632199 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$908,623
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is for the development of scaled processes for the industrial manufacture of end-user moldable advanced composite materials for use in protective athletic equipment. Currently, protective athletic equipment and accessories must be produced using industrial manufacturing techniques that have high tooling costs. As a result, manufacturers produce a small range of predetermined sizes and shapes, which do not provide a custom fit for end users. In the case of athletic gear, there is a growing market for hard-shell protective equipment which can be custom molded for a better fit. Polyimine polymers and advanced composites offer a compelling blend of strength and malleability in order to create more user-friendly lightweight and durable advanced composites that may be shaped by the end-user. In addition to creating greater user customization, both the virgin polyimine polymer, and advanced composites that incorporate polyimines, are intrinsically recyclable in a closed-loop, low-energy, solution-based system. The total U.S. composite materials market is $25 billion, representing 36% of the global composites sector. Polyimine polymers and advanced composite derivatives will reduce environmental waste and increase manufacturing efficiencies across a broad range of vertical markets in the composites sector including personal protective equipment, aerospace, automotive, and infrastructural materials. The intellectual merit of this project derives from the development of the unique chemistry of polyimine polymers. Polymers can be broadly grouped into two categories, thermosets and thermoplastics. Thermosets are strong due to the chemical characteristics of the plastic. However, once cured, thermosets cannot be reshaped. As a result, thermosets are neither repairable, nor are they efficiently recyclable. In contrast, thermoplastics, which are weaker than thermosets, may be molded and remolded. However, remolding requires very high temperatures. Polyimine polymers represent a new class of moldable and remoldable thermoset materials. Importantly, these polymers combine high rigidity and tough mechanical properties with mild molding temperatures. This Phase II research project will include scaled processes for the industrial manufacture of end user moldable composite materials that are a maximum of one-quarter inch in thickness and meet industry standards for limb joint protective equipment. The Phase II effort will also include a variety of types of material and mechanical testing, both in-house and at certified laboratories, in addition to extensive efforts at proving out manufacturability, as well as pilot production.
Errata
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Manus Biosynthesis, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Development of a low-cost production platform through engineered bacteria for a novel natural acaricide.
Contact
1030 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138–5390
NSF Award
1738463 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$719,999
Start / end date
09/01/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project, if successful, will be the development of a microbial process for the economical and sustainable production of a highly potent natural acaricide, which is a pesticide that kills mites and ticks. Increasing wariness of synthetic insecticides combined with the need to prevent tick-borne illnesses creates a tremendous opportunity for natural acaricides. The project's terpene target has long been known as a highly effective and safe acaricide; however, its commercialization has been hampered by a high cost of production. The aim is to develop an alternative manufacturing process for biosynthetic production enabling the cost reductions required to effectively penetrate the $1.6 B acaricide market. Because the target is GRAS and because it has been used extensively as a food ingredient for decades, there is a compelling safety benefit combined with its potent efficacy, which may spur increased spraying in public areas and private residences. Overall, this project will provide a new sustainable, cost-effective production route, thereby enabling acaricide commercialization. This SBIR Phase II project will lead to sustainable, scalable, and economical access to a highly potent natural acaricide. A commercial fermentation process will be developed by employing advanced metabolic engineering and protein engineering approaches for improving strain and enzyme performance. Achieving these production metrics will enable formulation and commercialization of various acaricidal products, including yard/area sprays, which will allow better control of tick populations and halt the spread of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease. In addition, this work will significantly advance the understanding of producing complex plant natural ingredients, thus providing economical and scalable commercial access to a wide array of compounds with significant potential benefit.
Errata
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Addenda
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Massachusetts Materials Technologies LLC
SBIR Phase II: Hardness Strength and Ductility Tester for Field Assessment of Structures
Contact
810 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139–4662
NSF Award
1660214 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,399,965
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will support the technological refinement and concomitant commercialization of the first accurate and portable instrument that can perform in the field nondestructive test for hardness, strength and ductility of existing infrastructure. The material properties measured include yield strength, work hardening exponent and ultimate tensile strength of metals, specifically steel. The on-shore oil and gas pipeline transmission industry has pressing needs for non-destructive tests because of the aging infrastructure, national need for energy, and recent explosions and leaks that have cost lives and billions in remediation. Although transmission pipelines have low failure rate per mile of assets, pipeline operators are asked to proactively enhance pipeline integrity where they do not have all the necessary strength data. Therefore, there is an immediate need to verify strength during the 80,000 excavations done each year so that the life of these costly assets can be extended by identifying and remediating the few sections that are vulnerable within the extended network of 300,000 miles of pipelines. Pipe cut-outs and hydrostatic pressure tests are alternatives to nondestructive testing, but both damage the asset and require expensive and complex service interruption. The overall technical objective of the Phase II work is to perform the necessary research and development to enable the development of engineering specifications, system integration, and validation of the instrument to successfully perform valuable nondestructive testing to provide precise and accurate material property data. The research and development program includes three milestones, each enabling the implementation of the research into design and manufacturing of beta test units. Milestone 1 is to enable full instrument functionality under adverse field environments such as vibration, moisture, and extreme temperatures. Milestone 2 is to perform the necessary work for designing ruggedized field units. Completion of this milestone will enhance the capability for initial field testing services. Milestone 3 is to develop the knowledge to fully and reliably integrate the system, validate the sub-systems, and package it for manufacturing. The overall goal is to enable the company to have the necessary knowledge and experience to enter the instrument market with a leasing program for use in pipeline inspections.
Errata
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Maxterial, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Non-Stick / Easy-Clean Coatings for High Temperature Applications
Contact
2600 Hilltop Dr,
Richmond, CA 94806–1971
NSF Award
1660246 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,245,012
Start / end date
03/01/2017 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a novel heat-resistant easy-clean coating that can effectively be applied to surfaces of oven cavities and pipes. Ovens and heat-exchangers, as the primary application domains of this technology, present an estimated annual market size of $40.9 million and $19.4 billion, respectively. The technology will provide a safe and environmentally-friendly solution for the unmet market demand for heat-resistant easy-clean coatings. In addition to its impact on the aforesaid market, the proposed development in Phase II will be an implementation of a new generation of non-stick coatings that can provide answers to a broad range of existing technological challenges. The development project is based on patent-pending technology for scalable and affordable manufacturing of textured coatings using existing electroplating facilities in the industry. The proposed technology will create a new generation of coatings that provide non-stick functionality where the existing nonstick coatings fall short. The existing non-stick coatings decompose at high temperatures and may produce toxic fumes. The challenge for the existing non-stick coatings is even greater when application is needed for hard-to-reach areas, such as inside of oven chambers and pipes. The anticipated outcome of the Phase II proposal is an inorganics-based and PTFE-free non-stick coating that can provide more thermal-resistance than existing non-stick coatings and can be applied to different surfaces through a scalable and affordable route.
Errata
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Mental Canvas, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Reimagining Sketch in the Digital Age
Contact
61 Hartford Avenue
Madison, CT 06443–2743
NSF Award
1431013 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,204,673
Start / end date
10/01/2014 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project results from the development of a new class of graphical-media-design system that lies between today's 2D digital paint systems and 3D computer-aided design systems. This technology will allow architects, engineers, artists, and school children to create compelling 3D experiences directly from their drawings without extensive training. Furthermore, it will accelerate the creation of interactive 3D content and significantly reduce the time, cost and expertise currently required to create it. By bridging the gap between traditional drawings and 3D modeling, this project will provide the unique ability to reuse and "reproject" drawn strokes, thus enabling the creation of expressive 3D drawings with minimal effort. The technology developed in this project will help lower the barrier and generate new business opportunities in content creation for electronic publishing and for other creative professionals, such as architects, designers, and ad-agency art directors. Finally, this project includes specific outreach activities, through collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, that will provide unique educational services to the local community, while simultaneously introducing this new technology to the world. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on making the creation of this new type of graphical media as intuitive and fluid as paper and pencil. This Phase II project will support system improvements - including user-interface improvements - to simplify 3D navigation for the consumers of this media. This will be needed for using this media in digital children's picture books, which have already been identified as early adopters of this technology as well as an important market. Another technical objective will be to develop a hybrid vector-raster representation, which will provide a wider range of artistic expression, while improving rendering performance of large scenes. A third objective is to develop stroke deformation algorithms to support direct manipulation of objects and characters to provide sketch-driven animation capabilities.
Errata
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Microgrid Labs Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Intelligent Planning and Control Software for EV Charging Infrastructure
Contact
903 Grogans Mill Drive
Cary, NC 27519–7175
NSF Award
1951197 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
05/01/2020 – 04/30/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to develop a modeling, simulation and optimization software for fleet electrification projects. Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to comprise 70% of all new buses and 15% of all commercial trucks by 2030. Electric vehicles are more expensive than diesel buses and need additional investments in charging infrastructure; furthermore, electrification is complex as several factors influence its design, cost and performance. The transition from diesel to electric buses could impose significant loads on the local electrical network, entailing significant upgrades to the electrical infrastructure at the facility and the utility grid. The proposed software will offer the electric vehicle industry a platform to analyze the battery, charging infrastructure, and energy infrastructure. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the problem of planning and operating electric vehicle fleets, especially medium and heavy-duty fleets. The technology uses stochastic optimization and discrete event simulation to optimize fleet sizes to minimize costs and meet operational requirements. The proposed work will create a model of the joint transportation and energy processes (i.e., the driving and charging processes). The proposed software will enable real-time optimization of system operations. 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.
Errata
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Mirada Technologies Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Micro-Fluidic LiDAR for Autonomous Vehicles
Contact
1485 Bayshore Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94124–4008
NSF Award
1853156 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$965,542
Start / end date
04/15/2019 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to hasten the deployment of autonomous transportation systems, which stand to reduce driving accidents and fatalities, enable new paradigms in urban design, reduce vehicle traffic, increase automobile efficiency, and improve air quality, benefiting the immediate health of drivers and non-drivers alike. A reduction in cost of transporting people and goods would increase the profitability of nearly all products and services, since nearly all activities require transportation in some form. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are simpler implementations of semi-autonomous controls systems but are already saving lives by providing intelligent cruise control, lane departure warnings, steering assistance, and preemptive emergency braking. As ADAS improves through advanced sensor and scanning hardware and becomes more widely deployed, more accidents will be avoided, and lives saved. There are currently no LiDAR imaging sensors that can sense greater than 200 meters and are automotive qualified due to limitations on the scanning systems. The proposed innovation would be the first to enhance a scientific and technical understanding of the reliability issues limiting wide-scale sensor deployment and result in the first automotive qualified long-range LiDAR sensors. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result in an automotive-grade laser scanning system that enables next generation LiDAR, a three- dimensional imaging sensor crucial for the widespread adoption of autonomous delivery robots, drones, advanced driver safety systems in vehicles, and autonomous vehicles. Survey-grade LiDAR is a mature technology, but efforts to make it road worthy have failed due to the harsher shock and vibration requirements and deployed systems fail within two years and display image distortion under high-shock conditions. The proposed innovation will result in the first automotive qualified long-range LiDAR sensor by developing fluid stabilized opto-mechanical scanners that utilize buoyant forces to counteract external accelerations. The novel scanner technology will be simulated, fabricated, and tested against ISO specifications for automotive qualification to demonstrate both accurate real time scanner stability and long-term reliable operation. It is expected that the results will be scanners able to pass ISO testing in a form compatible with high-volume, low-cost production methods. Through collaboration with customers, this work will result in a new class of vision systems that will bring a new level of efficiency and safety in transportation. 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.
Errata
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Misapplied Sciences, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Computational Pipeline and Architecture for Personalized Displays
Contact
16128 NE 87th St
Redmond, WA 98052–3505
NSF Award
1660095 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,409,999
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in improving the performance of the computational back-end of a display system that delivers personalized information in public spaces. Currently, the primary method for an individual to receive customized information in public spaces is through personal devices. The heavy use of personal devices in public often leads to heads-down, isolating, and even hazardous situations. The delivery of personalized information through infrastructure can significantly improve these issues. However, the bandwidth requirements in doing so have been prohibitively high using standard computational architectures. This project aims to improve the performance of such a system, allowing practical applications that will broadly enhance safety, accessibility, transportation, and other areas. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on creating a scalable computational pipeline and architecture that will allow a display system to direct personalized visual information in real-time to large numbers of people. Technically, this involves computing, transmitting, and displaying image data for large crowds in parallel. The architecture takes advantage of the inherent redundancies in this application to provide a cost-effective solution. The goal of the project is to create a computational back-end capable of driving, in real-time, a system equivalent to thousands of displays.
Errata
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Modular Genetics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Production of an Acyl Glycinate Surfactant by Fermentation
Contact
12-T Cabot Road
Woburn, MA 01801–0000
NSF Award
1353912 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,604,998
Start / end date
05/01/2014 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is aimed at optimizing production of a bio-surfactant in preparation for commercial launch of the product. During Phase I, the company developed an engineered microorganism that synthesizes the surfactant, and a key customer confirmed the identity and purity of a sample of the surfactant. During Phase II, synthetic biology methods will be used to increase the efficiency of the microorganism producing the surfactant. In addition, multiple samples of purified surfactant will be shipped to customers for evaluation. Customer feedback will identify any product features that require modification and will result in development of a detailed product specification, which will include metrics such as: purity, color, acceptable variation in composition and molecular weight, etc. The objectives of this Phase II project are to optimize surfactant characteristics and microbial production efficiency so that the surfactant can be profitably manufactured and sold for use in consumer products formulations. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that it should enable the company to demonstrate that synthetic biology methods can be used to increase the efficiency of production of a bio-surfactant so the surfactant can be sold as a commercial product. Progress toward that goal should enable the company to attract a partner, for example a large chemical company, who will agree to collaborate on commercialization of the bio-surfactant. If the bio-surfactant can be made and sold profitably, the company will be positioned to fund future research and development aimed at commercial launch of additional bio-surfactants. Benefits to society are that chemicals produced using this technology will be manufactured using domestically grown renewable raw materials, which do not compete with food. Furthermore, the energy required to produce these chemicals is low since the fermentation reaction is performed near ambient temperature. The chemicals are inherently safer than traditional chemicals because toxic solvents are not used, and the surfactants are biodegradable and do not contribute to increased greenhouse gas accumulation. These bio-surfactants will initially be used in personal care products, such as body washes and shampoos. However, the surfactant market is large and diverse, creating an opportunity for use of bio-surfactants in products as varied as laundry detergent, paints and coatings, and floatation-agents used in the mining industry to purify valuable minerals.
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Molecular Vista, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Resonance Force Microscopy for Nanoscale Manufacturing Process Monitoring
Contact
100 Great Oaks Blvd. #140
San Jose, CA 95119–1456
NSF Award
1353524 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,409,994
Start / end date
04/15/2014 – 05/31/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a production prototype of an automated nanoscale manufacturing process monitoring tool based on the resonance force microscope (RFM). The tool will combine image force microscopy (IFM, a version of RFM that measures the linear part of the susceptibility) and scattering near-field optical microscopy (sSNOM) with atomic force microscope for use in the hard disk drive (HDD) and semiconductor industries. sSNOM measures the dipole-dipole interaction force while IFM measures the dipole-dipole force gradient, both with nanometer spatial resolution. These techniques allow direct imaging of resonances associated with electrons, phonons, and plasmons. The capability to image plasmon resonances is well suited to probe the near-field (NF) profile associated with a plasmonic structure called near-field transducer (NFT) utilized in heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). With HAMR universally viewed as the next generation technology for HDD industry, the need for a monitoring tool for mass production of HAMR head is acute since there is currently no simple way to probe the NF profile of NFTs. The objectives of the proposed project are (1) to successfully prototype an automated NFT characterization tool and (2) to field test it with one or more HDD manufacturers. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be felt not only in the HDD industry but across many industries. While the monitoring of NFT production is the near-term niche application for the automated tool, the same tool will have longer-term value for in-line characterization of physical and chemical properties of nanoscale materials and structures in the manufacturing environment of diverse industries, including, for example, the measurement of stress in the channel layer and chemical characterization of defects in semiconductor industry and monitoring of protein-based pharmaceuticals. In R&D and academic settings, the RFM technique provides the capability to image individual biomolecules in situ, such as for the real-time monitoring of membrane protein dynamics on cells, which will provide unprecedented utility in biomedical and clinical research. A reliable label-free imaging tool with the capability to identify chemical bond information at the molecular level will potentially bring about revolutionary advances in many fields of basic and applied biological science, including drug discovery, proteomics, structural biology, and personalized medicine. The RFM technique will be simpler to implement as compared to other hybrid instruments involving high resolution microscopy, resulting in an affordable instrument for academic and research institutions.
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Multicore Photonics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Fiber Optic Based Nitrogen Oxides Sensor
Contact
5832 N. Dean Rd.
Orlando, FL 32817–3249
NSF Award
1660213 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this SBIR Phase II project will be the enhanced ability to monitor NOx optically using a unique approach that is fundamentally different from voltage biased solid electrolyte diffusion technology deployed commercially today. NSF Phase I activities brought to light the shortcomings of existing sensor technology, including slow response time and up to 90% "garbage data" that OEMs and regulatory authorities have to work around. Phase II efforts include improvement of Phase I prototypes where near instantaneous NOx detection to ~200 ppm was observed. NOx are a major pollutant and precursor to acid rain, surface ozone and smog formation. Worldwide regulatory bodies are driving NOx regulations to increasingly stringent levels, thus presenting even greater challenges for real-world emissions. Addressing these regulations, industry must deploy after-treatment technologies including selective catalyst reduction systems and lean NOx traps. Both of these technologies will benefit from a less expensive, more robust, and faster responding NOx sensor. With continued success, the new NOx sensor has the potential to significantly reduce emissions levels through a more accurate and much faster detection than current NOx detection techniques thus allowing the internal combustion engine to directly employ detection feedback to enhance emission controls. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will continue the prototyping and characterization of an optical based Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) sensor technology not based on oxygen sensor derivatives found in the market today. We will further optimize the design and materials needed for a novel thermo-catalytic NOx sensing mechanism through continued experimentation and testing. Increasing the number and type of catalytic sensing elements and integrating them into existing OEM packaging will allow us to measure NOx as well as other gases including ammonia (NH3). Sensor calibration equations and response lookup-tables will help validate our new method for NOx detection with successful results creating the foundation of a new category of sensors based on this differential detection architecture. Current automotive NOx sensors do not meet response time, accuracy and price requirements as used in the industry where such parameters are critical. The Phase II will optimize the optical sensing mechanism, and planned designs of experiment will help refine this technology into a reliable and robust device. Besides NOx and NH3, our "inorganic taste buds" also derive carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon concentration as a byproduct of the measurement process, thus providing additional utility for any combustion emissions control application.
Errata
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Muzology, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Mnemonic Optimization of Music and Songs
Contact
1109 17th Ave S
Nashville, TN 37212–2203
NSF Award
1927160 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$751,887
Start / end date
10/01/2019 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project further investigates music-based techniques that can result in effective and efficient learning and instruction. Music as a bedrock of culture can transcend entertainment and enhance learning. Music directly activates neural systems that support memory, attention, motivation, and emotion. Accordingly, music is a powerful medium that not only heightens learner engagement but also facilitates retention of information. While music has long been recognized for its mnemonic properties and is widely used as a memory aid in the context of early childhood learning (e.g., the ABC song), music-based educational products for the broader K-12 market are less pervasive. This project focuses on the optimization of musical structures to support effective and engaging mathematics instruction. The goal of this project is to offer music as a credible pedagogical tool. Specifically, this project offers music as a learning medium that can be used beyond rote memorization and instead teach mathematical skills, processes, and procedures in an engaging manner that makes math accessible to all learners. Mathematical fluency is a critical skill in a society that continues to become more technological; it also creates broader career opportunities for students and undergirds the U.S.'s national competitiveness. The proposed research features two innovations: 1) optimization of learning-based musical forms based on distinct mathematical information types; and 2) creation of a non-linear, dynamic platform to deliver the content. Using computational musicology techniques as well as experimental studies, the first innovation involves creation of mathematically accurate music videos based on unique creative and structural parameters that are determined by the type of mathematical information being taught. The second innovation focuses on delivery of the music-based content and involves significant technical and creative investigation to produce a dynamic, non-linear mechanism for presenting the material in a manner that still feels continuous and compelling to the student. Together, both innovations underlie a synergistic learning solution designed for premium learner engagement and to support self-paced, adaptive learning. This project will result in high quality, digital math instruction that is accessible to all learners through use of effective, engaging, and relevant instructional methods. The desired outcomes are eliminating proficiency gaps in math education and achieving equity in students' educational success. 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.
Errata
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NEUROTRAINER, INC
SBIR Phase II: Virtual reality platform that accurately and rapidly assesses meaningful brain function outside the lab
Contact
87 GRAHAM ST STE 160
San Francisco, CA 94129–1768
NSF Award
1950948 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
08/01/2020 – 07/31/2022
Abstract
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.
Errata
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NGCodec Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A hardware FPGA implementation of H.265/HEVC low latency video encoder algorithms for professional applications
Contact
1145 Mariposa Ave.
San Jose, CA 95126–2620
NSF Award
1632567 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to promote and improve the use of high quality video in products that the general public works with every day. From high resolution auto dashboard cameras, to low latency video streams from flying drones, to wireless laptop docking stations, to higher quality coverage of news and sporting events, to better and faster delivery of video over the Internet, every application requires the high quality, low latency, flexible, power efficient video encoders that will be developed in this project. The uses of video are increasing every day. Video instruction manuals are replacing printed instruction manuals. Video is replacing still images in on-line advertising, social media and billboards. It is predicted that over 90% of all Internet traffic will be video data in the next few years. Enabling all these applications requires the latest technology in video compression such as the techniques developed in this project. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project tackles the problem of creating a real time video encoder, using the latest H.265 compression technology, running in hardware on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). An FPGA is a type of chip on which the logic is configurable - it can be programmed to implement any function. It represents a mid-point between a dedicated integrated circuit, which is very expensive to develop, and can never be changed or enhanced once it is fabricated, and a pure software solution which is very flexible but requires bulky and power hungry equipment (i.e. computers) as an underlying platform. The research conducted under this grant will devise, test, and implement algorithms that are amenable to realization on an FPGA, that operate in real time, and that yield a high quality result in terms of the visual quality of the compressed video with respect to the number of bits used. The goal, at the conclusion of this research, is the demonstration of a functional HEVC/H.265 encoder running on an FPGA which has cost, flexibility, power and performance advantages over other encoders.
Errata
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Navan Technologies Inc.
STTR Phase II: Nanostraw-mediated Immune Cell Reprogramming
Contact
329 Oyster Pt, 3rd Floor
South San Francisco, CA 94080–1913
NSF Award
1759075 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will be to develop a new tool to safely and nondestructively deliver genes and other materials into large numbers cells at the same time. New forms of therapies for cancer and other intractable diseases take advantage of a patient's own cells, re-engineered in the laboratory to target a tumor or other diseased tissue. However, generating these cells is currently inefficient, slow, and expensive. Patient-derived cells resist transfection using standard non-viral biochemical approaches of lipid delivery systems, cell-penetrating peptides, and high-voltage electroporation, requiring an engineering alternative. The proposed technology provides a safe, turnkey, and scalable technology with a potential transformative impact in research and life sciences laboratories and companies, representing a high-growth and high-value market opportunity. This STTR Phase I project proposes a new nanomaterial delivery system to introduce reprogramming agents into immune cells efficiently and with low cell toxicity. This project will examine how the proposed nanostraw design, transfection protocol, and cell preparation improves immune cell delivery efficiency, and optimize the process to achieve >50% transfection efficiency with primary immune cells. Market analysis has found this level of transfection efficiency would be transformative to researchers and clinicians using primary immune cells. The transfection protocol will be optimized and codified into a simple to follow set of instructions. A turn-key instrument will be developed to carry out these procedures for use by life science researchers, with reduced device costs through improved manufacturing techniques to be competitive with currently available methods. The market-ready product will be evaluated by eight preclinical immune cell research beta sites to discover new treatment pathways. 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.
Errata
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Neural Analytics
SBIR Phase II: A Novel Non-Invasive Intracranial Pressure Monitoring Method
Contact
2440 S. Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064–1744
NSF Award
1556110 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$753,756
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 02/28/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to improve the quality and decrease the high costs associated with treating patients who suffer severe traumatic brain injuries. This project aims to develop an accurate, affordable (<$100 per use) and non-invasive device to monitor a patient's intracranial pressure following head injury. Increased intracranial pressure can result in poor health outcomes including long-term disability or death, if left untreated. However, the only available method to monitor intracranial pressure is expensive (~$10,000 per patient) and requires neurosurgery. The lack of a method to accurately screen patients to determine who needs surgery results in misdiagnoses and incorrect treatment in about 46% of patients among an estimated 50,000 patients in the US alone, and hundreds of thousands more globally. Successful commercialization of product is expected to result in savings in the range $250 million ever year to the US healthcare system. The proposed project will develop a medical device to accurately display a patient's intracranial pressure non-invasively and for use outside of the neurocritical care unit. The core technological approach of the proposed work is the analysis of blood flow velocity waveforms using advanced signal processing methods in a machine-learning framework. The machine-learning framework allows experience-based learning utilizing prior, established databases of waveforms that have been well-characterized. Three new machine-learning paradigms that utilize the shape features of the blood flow velocity waveforms will be utilized to progressively increase accuracy of intracranial pressure estimation. The first will establish a basic estimate using shape features of individual waveform pulses, considered independent of neighboring pulses. Subsequently, clinically established features of the waveform will be utilized to learn causal changes in the shape features resulting from changes in intracranial pressure. Finally, the shape features in successive pulses will be used as a sequence to machine-learn the intracranial pressure estimate. Together, these will enable increased accuracy in estimation. All of the methods proposed in this program are entirely novel. This approach allows for real time monitoring at an affordable price point that is within current reimbursement limits for ultrasonography procedures.
Errata
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Neuvokas Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Development of High Speed Process Technology for the Manufacturing of Cost Effective Polymer Rebar
Contact
25280 Renaissance Rd
Calumet, MI 49913–2701
NSF Award
1534785 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,403,184
Start / end date
08/15/2015 – 01/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on developing the process required to produce fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar at scale. FRP rebar offers significant performance advantages when compared to uncoated steel rebar. These advantages include a sevenfold weight reduction, no corrosion - which in turn permits a 30% reduction in concrete usage (and a corresponding 15 billion ton reduction in CO2 emissions) - and equivalent tensile strength at smaller diameters compared to steel rebar products. FRP rebar is being produced but has limited market acceptance due to its high cost. The high-speed process to be developed in this project will allow price parity when compared to uncoated steel and enable a hundredfold improvement in process speeds compared to current FRP manufacturing. Combined, these improvements will allow entry to the $140 billion global market for steel rebar and allow mass market adoption of FRP rebar. Additionally, basalt mine waste will be explored and, where possible, utilized as a raw material for fiber production. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes job creation and environmental impacts. With implementation of this process up to 35 manufacturing jobs can be created immediately. The company's high speed process combines a thermoset resin and basalt fiber as primary reinforcements within the FRP composite. A consortium of pultruders has collectively organized the Fiber Reinforced Polymer Rebar Manufacturers Council and has developed FRP rebar into a viable product over the last 20 years, with a $1.2 billion market at present. Currently, no FRP rebar product is offered at price parity with uncoated steel rebar, and to reach this price parity a high speed process has been invented. This novel process will be optimized and further developed by the completion of this Phase II SBIR project. Basalt fiber, an emerging material with the potential to replace carbon and other fibers in a variety of applications will be brought into large-scale industrial usage with the completion of this project. The Phase I project permitted the determination of the performance characteristics of thermoset resins which have not been commonly used in pultrusion, enabling product validation. This Phase II project will address a range of manufacturing challenges that will be encountered in the production of FRP rebar at industrial scale, allowing a commercially viable final product that can be offered at price parity with steel rebar.
Errata
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Novan, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Scale-up Manufacturing of Nitric Oxide Nanotechnology for Healthcare Infections
Contact
4222 Emperor Blvd
Durham, NC 27703–8030
NSF Award
1127380 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$996,426
Start / end date
11/01/2011 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop the process and engineering controls necessary to scale up the manufacturing of a nitric-oxide-releasing active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). One of the applications is a wound-healing product for diabetic foot ulcers. This project will focus on 1) optimizing the process parameters required to scale production of a nitric-oxide-releasing API to reproducible 1 kg batches, and 2) implementing the analytical methodologies to meet the requirements of the Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) sections of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application. The expected outcome is a manufacturing process capable of producing large batches of the API that are suitable for an IND submission of a wound-healing product for diabetic foot ulcers or other nitric-oxide-releasing drug. The broader/commercial impacts of this project will be the potential to provide a new standard of care for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Currently, there are no products that address both wound healing and infection in diabetic foot ulcers. Infection is particularly problematic in diabetic foot ulcers due to the lack of normal skin barrier function, long duration of wound exposure to the external environment (months to years), poor blood circulation to the extremities that limits the migration of inflammatory cells to the site of infection, and the recent understanding of biofilm formation which protects bacteria from topically applied antimicrobials and systemically administered antibiotics. Nitric-oxide-releasing wound-healing therapeutics have the potential of addressing both infection and healing in diabetic foot ulcers.
Errata
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Novome Biotechnologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Establishing a Synthetic Niche to Reliably Colonize the Human Gut with Engineered Bacterial Therapeutics
Contact
15 Westmont Drive
Daly City, CA 94015–3046
NSF Award
1831185 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,250,000
Start / end date
08/15/2018 – 07/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to advance the use of engineered cell-based therapeutics in the human gut through the development of technologies for the reliable and reversible colonization of the gut with therapeutic bacterial strains. Engineered cellular therapeutics are poised to become the next major driver of pharmaceutical innovation due to their potential for sophisticated behavior and modular design. The gut is an ideal entry point for deploying engineered therapeutic cells, as it serves as our body's natural interface with foreign genetic material. A key impediment to bacterial drug development for the gut is the lack of strategies for achieving predictable colonization across the wide range of gut environments that patients can harbor. Furthermore, tools for on-demand clearance of therapeutic strains to ensure safety do not currently exist. The proposed innovation will overcome these challenges and allow the potential of engineered bacterial cells as therapies to be fully realized. This SBIR Phase II project will develop the technologies necessary to achieve predictable colonization of, and targeted clearance from, the human gut by engineered bacterial strains. Predictable colonization will be achieved through the use of a therapeutic strain that has been modified to consume a privileged prebiotic substrate that can be dosed alongside the strain to precisely control its abundance by giving it a competitive advantage. To ensure containment and enable targeted clearance, the therapeutic strain will be further modified such that it only can grow in environments where the prebiotic is present. This will allow for the generation of a robust synthetic niche within the gut that can be manipulated solely through the administration of this prebiotic control molecule. In addition, to enable the commercial deployment of these novel technologies, manufacturing protocols will be developed to ensure that a fully integrated therapeutic strain can be produced in sufficient quantities and stably formulated. 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.
Errata
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OceanComm Incorporated
SBIR Phase II: Megabit-Per-Second Underwater Wireless Communications
Contact
60 Hazelwood Drive
Champaign, IL 61820–0000
NSF Award
1555928 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$920,187
Start / end date
04/15/2016 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the introduction of high-speed wireless modems usable subsea and significant cost reduction of deep-water operations ? industry experts estimate savings of nearly 20% of deep-water operations through the availability of subsea WiFi. Today, there is no broadband wireless communication available underwater. In the deep ocean, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) require a tether for communication and a support ship for tether management; sensors and systems must either be physically connected, or retrieved from the deep sea to exchange data. An ROV support ship costs about $120k/day leading to over $7B spent on ROV support ships in 2013. The proposed megabit-per-second technology would allow ROV manufacturers and operators to cut the tether on many of their vehicles. Wireless ROVs can move unencumbered throughout coverage area, piloted from anywhere (e.g. from Houston), without expensive surface vessels. The proposed wireless modem technology connects ROVs and machinery to wired infrastructure, enabling safe operation of heavy subsea machinery without the possibility of cables or tethers getting tangled, causing damage or worse. This project will create 10 new jobs in the next three years, with many more to be added as the production scales. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project proposes to develop a faster and more reliable wireless communication system for the sub-sea industry. Current state of the art communication links for the deep ocean are either tethered, requiring long, bulky, and expensive cables to connect machinery and systems, or have extremely low data rates, enabling only the most rudimentary of tasks. The proposed underwater wireless communication system will provide WiFi-like data rates in the Mbps (megabits/sec) range ? 100 to 1,000 times faster than existing underwater wireless communication technologies - and enable video streaming and real-time control of subsea infrastructure, machinery, and mobile underwater vehicles. Since radio signals do not propagate far underwater, the proposed technology uses sound waves, as whales and dolphins do, for communication. The speed of sound is 200,000 times slower than the speed of radio propagation, and mobile acoustic transmitters and receivers hence suffer from severe Doppler distortion. The proposed technology dynamically measures, tracks, and compensates for this distortion, to enable wireless communication at data rates never before possible underwater.
Errata
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Omnivis LLC
SBIR Phase II: Internal Control Design for a Portable Cholera Pathogen Detector
Contact
181 2nd St
San Francisco, CA 94105–3808
NSF Award
1951089 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$743,559
Start / end date
04/15/2020 – 03/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is an inexpensive handheld smartphone device for rapid detection of pathogens, such as cholera, in environmental water sources. Current water-based pathogen detection methods involve a 3-5 day laboratory procedure. Our alternative is a portable smartphone-enabled platform working offline to detect the pathogen in under 30 minutes . When the smartphone has connectivity, geo-mapped and time-stamped detection results are sent to relevant stakeholders. This novel and proactive approach for detection can enable organizations to remediate water sources prior to community infection. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the need to develop a rapid and portable field-ready DNA amplification device for pathogen detection. The Phase II project integrates a polyethylene glycol linker as an internal amplification control for device verification and validation. This project proposes a new assay design integrating a polyethylene glycol linker to eliminate extra user steps, while maintaining assay sensitivity and specificity. The project's technical objectives include systems engineering of an internal amplification control into the hardware functionality of the device. This project will advance the development of a fully integrated sample-to-answer device for detection of waterborne pathogens. 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.
Errata
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One Million Metrics Corp
SBIR Phase II: Predicting Musculoskeletal Injury Risk of Material Handling Workers with Novel Wearable Devices
Contact
450 West 33rd Street
New York, NY 10001–0000
NSF Award
1660093 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,417,997
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project has the objective of demonstrating that discrete, belt mounted internet-connected wearable devices used by industrial workers can detect high risk lifting activities, promote safe lifting practices and behavior change, and predict the risk of musculoskeletal injuries due to unsafe lifting. Each year over 600,000 workers suffer a musculoskeletal injury due to lifting related activities, which cost US companies over $15bn annually. Worker injuries affect employee morale, absenteeism, productivity loss and employee turnover, all of which are challenges to the efficient running of a company and are a unnecessary cause of human suffering. By developing a wearable device that can detect high risk lifting activity and provide immediate feedback to workers, safer lifting practices can be promoted and a reduction in the number of unsafe lifts registered, leading to a reduction in injuries. The project includes three main technical objectives: i) the development of machine learning algorithms to detect lifting events from sensor data, and to measure risk related metrics associated to those lifting events. When a lift is considered high risk, real-time feedback will be provided to the worker; ii) the deployment of the device in an industrial setting at several customer sites for 12 months, with the number of high risk lifts performed by workers quantified over time to measure the ability of the system to drive behavior change in the workforce; and ii) the development of a model that can predict the likelihood of musculoskeletal injures based on the risk metrics measured. It is expected that the outcomes of the project demonstrate a significant reduction in the risk of suffering musculoskeletal injuries, paving the way for a clear return on investment value proposition for the industrial companies and their insurance carriers who are potential customers.
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OneBreath, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A novel and cost effective mechanical ventilator for pandemic preparedness and emergency stockpiling
Contact
425B Forest Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301–1420
NSF Award
1430719 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,463,132
Start / end date
12/01/2014 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop a cost-effective mechanical ventilator designed specifically to address the need for pandemic stockpiling and surge capacity use. The output of this Phase will be a new ventilator ready for FDA clearance and market entry in 2017. US government planners have described a need for many thousands of additional ventilators in the event of a pandemic influenza or other large-scale medical emergency. Severe influenza often leads to respiratory distress which cannot be dealt with in the absence of mechanical ventilation. Given some time and a mechanical ventilator, the human body can often clear the infection on its own. Without help from the ventilator, patients may die. Manufacturers of current ventilators have attempted to reconfigure their existing offerings to meet the stockpiling demand. Unfortunately none of these devices are able to match the price/performance ratio needed to make stockpiling in large numbers economically feasible. Building upon an innovative platform for mechanical ventilation developed in Phase I, the project intends to develop a ?gold standard? device for pandemic preparedness and emergency use. The proposed project is to develop a novel and much needed medical device ? a mechanical ventilator suitable for pandemic use and emergency stockpiling. If a severe pandemic were to strike the United States, the number of patients in need of mechanical ventilation has been estimated to be over 700,000. Of these, the most severe cases are often in the very old and the very young. There are currently 62,274 ventilators in use in the United States, of which only 23,485 are capable of supporting pediatric patients. Research and development activities will provide opportunities for creating new intellectual property, new technology, and new clinical methods for managing respiratory distress. This research and development project is divided into two Aims. In the first, the company will conduct extensive design research to analyze and understand the clinical need and all product requirements. We will then design, build, and test a series of prototype concepts using sophisticated software modeling, benchtop test platforms including mechanical and electronic lung simulation, and real-world user feedback. In the second Aim the company will address manufacturing and supply chain requirements, integrate design for manufacturing, and build and test a final series of near-production prototypes. These late-stage test procedures will include clinical performance and accuracy in accordance with regulatory standards, electromagnetic interference, and mechanical durability including vibration, noise, and water ingress in preparation for FDA regulatory clearance.
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Openspace
SBIR Phase II: Fast Creation of Photorealistic 3D Models using Consumer Hardware
Contact
3802 23rd St
San Francisco, CA 94114–3321
NSF Award
1830965 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be substantial: a successful project would transform the construction industry, making it far more efficient by reducing legal conflicts, schedule slips and poor decision making. The proposed work will enable the fast and easy creation of 100% complete visual documentation of a physical space; this documentation can be generated many times throughout the course of construction. In so doing, the proposed project will allow professionals in the construction industry to track progress and communicate with their teams far more efficiently than ever before. A second outcome of the project will be the creation of vast, detailed, never before seen datasets of construction projects and real estate, allowing technical innovations in artificial intelligence and computer vision to impact one of the largest industries in the nation and the world. For example, systems could be trained to automatically spot safety concerns, augmenting the efforts of safety managers and keeping workers safer than ever before. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a fast, easy to use and cheap method to create photorealistic immersive models using off the shelf consumer hardware. Technical hurdles include validating the quality and efficacy of models generated with consumer hardware and automatic creation of routes through the 3D space without human annotation. Technical milestones involve using various sensor streams as well as other prior data to build these routes. With these hurdles cleared, advanced work may include automated analytics between and among 3D models of the same site captured over time. Because of the system's ease of use, it will enable the collection of large, totally novel datasets. The goal of the research is to produce a prototype that a layperson can use to create an immersive model of a physical site in order to document it with no annotation effort. The plan to reach these goals includes iterative software development against the hurdles listed above, as well as continuous user feedback to guide and refine development. 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.
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Opus 12 Incorporated
SBIR Phase II: Onsite Production of Carbon Monoxide from Carbon Dioxide using Modified Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electolyzers
Contact
2342 Shattuck Ave #820
Berkeley, CA 94704–1517
NSF Award
1738554 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,209,997
Start / end date
09/15/2017 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in the development of new carbon dioxide utilization technology for the commercialization of onsite gas production. The impediment to electrochemical carbon dioxide utilization technology has been the lack of an electrolyzer design capable of high production rates and high energy efficiency. This project will yield a novel electrolyzer component to overcome these challenges and demonstrate that cost-effective carbon dioxide utilization is possible. This component can be integrated into existing electrolyzer designs, and will enable such hardware to convert carbon dioxide into specialty gases. The resulting solution will have higher safety and lower cost than conventional packaged gas. Long term, this technology could be scaled up to higher volume applications, and used as a means of converting industrial carbon dioxide emissions into useful chemicals and fuels, thereby transforming a waste product into a new revenue stream. This scalable technology could therefore be the basis for the creation of new economic value and advanced manufacturing jobs in the United States, while providing a profitable way for existing U.S. industries to reduce their emissions. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will build upon the promising feasibility results achieved in Phase I to increase the performance of a novel carbon dioxide electrochemical cell along key performance dimensions, in order to deliver a commercially-relevant, cost-competitive solution. A viable solution to derive specialty gases from a low-cost feedstock like carbon dioxide will need to have high performance on several dimensions: energy efficiency, high reaction rates, long lifetime, and low capital cost. It will also need to operate at a scale that is industrially relevant. In Phase II, the novel electrochemical component will be scaled up to commercial dimensions, and the performance of the component will be optimized to meet the performance requirements identified during customer interviews. The final component will form the basis for a commercial unit, capable of producing specialty gases from carbon dioxide at cost-competitive rates. It will lay the foundation for future scale-up to even larger membrane areas, which will enable industrial-scale applications of this carbon dioxide conversion technology. Carbon dioxide emissions could be converted into valuable products using this technology.
Errata
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Addenda
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PATH EX
SBIR Phase II: Rapid Blood Cleansing Device to Combat Infection
Contact
2450 Holcombe Blvd
Houston, TX 77021–2041
NSF Award
1831150 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
06/01/2018 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the development of a fluidic platform for selective bacterial and endotoxin removal from blood. This technology can potentially serve as a novel blood cleansing therapeutic for diseases such as sepsis. Sepsis is a life-threatening complication caused by infection. In the U.S., sepsis afflicts over 1.6 million annually and has an associated mortality rate ranging from 25-50%. Realization of this fluidic platform technology will address the broader societal needs of inhibiting sepsis progression and developing more specific and effective therapeutics for the treatment of human disease. Commercialization and implementation of the proposed innovation may reduce the hospital length of stay associated with sepsis, decrease sepsis morbidity and mortality rates, and potentially reduce the annual U.S. expenditure for sepsis. Scientific and technological understanding generated by this work has additional applications for other blood-borne diseases, such as HIV, leukemia, and Lyme disease. Ultimately, this technology will revolutionize life science research through inertial-based fluidic platform use, enabling new discoveries in cell/particle focusing phenomena and interactions that have profound implications for elucidating inertial focusing mechanisms and for the development of novel platform technologies. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes a novel approach to address the problem of sepsis through the direct removal of pathogens and associated toxins from circulation. Sepsis is the leading cause of death of the critically ill in the United States, costing over $24 Billion in treatment annually. The primary treatment for sepsis is system antibiotic administration, which is failing due to the rise of drug resistance and new, emerging pathogens. The research objectives of this project will result in an easy to use, efficient, and cost-effective fluidic platform for separation and removal of bacteria and associated toxins from circulation. This will facilitate the broad use of inertial-based fluidic platforms as research tools and for clinical applications, such as sepsis. The proposed research will 1) optimize fluidic platform design for clinical application, economical use, and workflow efficiency, 2) demonstrate efficient fluidic platform-mediated bacteria and endotoxin capture, and 3) confirm the biological benefits of the fluidic platform technology using a validated animal model of sepsis. Successful completion of these studies will demonstrate the positive biological consequences of direct pathogen and toxin removal from circulation and establish the commercial viability of the fluidic platform technology. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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PQSecure Technologies, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Post-Quantum Cryptography in Resource-Constrained Devices
Contact
901 NW 35th Street
Boca Raton, FL 33431–6410
NSF Award
1853095 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$948,040
Start / end date
09/01/2019 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to deliver state of the art cryptography and cybersecurity solutions to Internet of Things (IoTs) and embedded device designers, enterprise hardware and software vendors, and government contractors against the attack of classical and quantum computers. It has been widely accepted that quantum computers will have the ability to solve complex problems, the same complex problems many security algorithms are based on, exponentially faster than current computers. Even though no quantum computer with serious computing power has yet been built, large scale quantum computers are expected to become a reality within the next decade. We believe it is necessary to plan for the future as it takes years to change cryptosystem deployments due to network effects. This project plans to implement quantum-safe security solutions that will require the integration of quantum-safe software and/or hardware cryptographic solutions on resource-constrained devices used in embedded systems. As the landscape of connected devices changes how the world interacts, the dependence on these systems increases, increasing the possibility of exploiting security vulnerabilities. This project will expand the knowledge of efficient implementations of quantum-safe security solutions, of which little is currently known. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will design, develop, and implement cryptographic algorithms that are suitable for small and resource-constrained devices employing hard and complex mathematical assumptions known to be classical- and quantum-safe. Long-term and lightweight security are two main parameters that need to be considered while deploying quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms in resource-constrained devices. Devices being manufactured today may still be around when quantum computers become available and thus need to be secure against them. We plan to employ a special class of quantum-safe algorithms based on maps on elliptic curves along with agile implementations of cryptographic coprocessors to achieve the required performance and security. Cryptosystems based on these maps are known to provide the smallest possible key sizes and their security level is determined by a single, simple parameter in comparison with other quantum-safe candidates. The hardware designs are taken through VLSI design flow to realize the integrated circuits that are evaluated for energy/power, area/performance, and security including side-channel analysis. The project will generate new insights and results about how to be safe and secure in the quantum era. This project will conclude with hardware and software implementations and test chip prototypes. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Persimmon Technologies Corporation
SBIR Phase II: SBIR Phase II Spray-Formed Soft Magnetic Material for Efficient Hybrid-Field Electric Machines
Contact
200 Harvard Mill Square
Wakefield, MA 01880–3239
NSF Award
1230458 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,027,658
Start / end date
09/01/2012 – 08/31/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a novel soft magnetic material and fabrication process for magnetic circuits of electric machines, such as winding cores of electric motors. The technology utilizes a unique single-step near net-shape fabrication process based on metal spray deposition to produce an isotropic metal microstructure characterized by small domains with high permeability, high saturation and low coercivity with a controlled formation of insulation boundaries that limit electric conductivity between neighboring domains. The resulting material provides an excellent three-dimensional magnetic path while minimizing energy losses associated with eddy currents. It can replace anisotropic laminated winding cores, which currently constrain the design of conventional electric motors to geometries with two-dimensional magnetic paths. As a further objective of the project, a new hybrid-field motor topology, with three-dimensional magnetic paths enabled by the proposed material and fabrication process, is being developed. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to enable production of electric motors with improved performance and efficiency while reducing cost and material scrap associated with manufacturing of motor winding cores. Electric motors are used extensively in a growing number of applications, including robotics, semiconductor and LED process equipment, industrial automation, electric vehicles, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, appliances, power tools, medical devices, and military and space exploration applications. These markets drive an increasing demand for electric motors with improved performance, higher efficiency, and lower cost. Considering the extensive use of electric motors globally, the disruptive change resulting from the proposed hybrid-field motor technology with spray-formed winding cores is expected to provide significant commercial, societal and environmental benefits, including improved manufacturing efficiency, waste reduction, and energy conservation.
Errata
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Precision Polyolefins, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Commercially Viable Ton-Scale Production of Stereoblock Polypropylene Thermoplastic Elastomers and XPURE? Oils
Contact
Suite 4506, Bldg 091
College Park, MD 20742–3371
NSF Award
1534778 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2015 – 08/31/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to use the transformational "living coordinative chain transfer polymerization" (LCCTP) technology of Precision Polyolefins, LLC (PPL) to produce new classes of polyolefins from readily available, inexpensive, and renewable chemical feedstocks and that can be used in the manufacturing of consumer products with superior performance to the benefit of society. More specifically, the commercial production of structurally-well-defined (precise) polyolefins, including stereoblock polypropylene (sbPP) thermoplastic elastomers, as replacements for technologically inferior polyolefins in adhesive and additives markets will serve to capitalize on the increasingly advantaged position of inexpensive propylene in the North America. The development of new technologies, such as LCCTP, will help the U.S. to regain its position as a world-leader in the discovery and commercialization of new polyolefin-based materials, and thereby, contribute to the future health and growth of the U.S. economy. The objectives of the proposed Phase II research project are to address the needs for new commercial polymers against a back-drop of ever increasing consumer demand, a sluggish industrial response, and a limited pool of chemical feedstocks possessing high price and supply volatility from which they can be manufactured. The current project will seek to develop commercially-viable processes based on a living coordinative chain transfer polymerization (LCCTP) technology to provide a broad range of structurally-well-defined polyolefins that possess with superior properties relative to existing products. By conducting an in-depth investigation of polymerization catalyst structure / property relationships, the project will seek to optimize catalyst activity and thermal stability. In concert with scale-up process development, this catalyst optimization will lead to reduced material and processing costs, and a product portfolio of competitively-priced polyolefins with superior performance characteristics. Validation of an optimized scale-up process will be achieved through the ton-scale production of stereoblock polypropylene (sbPP) thermoplastic elastomers, for adhesive and additive markets, and low molecular weight proprietary oils, for cosmetics, lubricants, and adhesives markets. The anticipated result is that commercially relevant (> 1 kiloton) volumes of sbPP thermoplastic elastomers and proprietary oils can be manufactured as technologically and commercially viable products.
Errata
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Addenda
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Protein Dynamic Solutions, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Novel, Accurate and Reproducible Platform for the Developability Assessment of Protein Therapeutics
Contact
11 Audubon Road
Wakefield, MA 01880–1256
NSF Award
1632420 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,425,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address ALL of the factors attributing to protein aggregation by determining the: size, identity, extent, mechanism of aggregation and stability, thus addressing Biopharma industry needs. This information is critical to the development of drug pipeline contributing to a $190 BN biologic's market where $87BN in first generation biologics face patent expiration before 2020. A successful technical approach for its implementation will provide essential information for decision making towards which candidates will enter the market, thus increasing the Biopharma valuation and ensuring supply of drugs to patients. In the end, improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases. The proposed project will address the need for a multivariate high-throughput technology to address the risk of protein aggregation, that when adopted in R&D, will increase pipeline approvals, reduce late stage withdrawals and total costs of drug development. Average R&D development costs for the mere 1% of candidates reaching FDA approval have risen to $2.6 BN per product. Protein therapeutic development needs to be guided by a full understanding of protein stability and aggregation. Research objectives are to: develop our innovative First-in-Class high throughput platform for screening protein therapeutics; develop original software capable of deciphering protein aggregation mechanism, size, identity and extent of aggregated protein and product stability; commercialize the innovative technology platform. Fully automated evaluation of protein candidates during early R&D phase will be conducted. Best-in-class image acquisition technology will be employed towards this end, using a label free chemical mapping technology, dedicated software using auto recognition algorithms, and correlations to decipher protein aggregation. We through the use of its breakthrough technology will determine: the aggregate free candidate under various stressor conditions, optimum formulation conditions for the protein therapeutic, the most stable candidate, and electronic data reporting that establishes accuracy, reproducibility, critical quality attributes of the protein product.
Errata
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Addenda
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Protein Dynamic Solutions, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Novel, Accurate and Reproducible Platform for the Developability Assessment of Protein Therapeutics
Contact
11 Audubon Road
Wakefield, MA 01880–0000
NSF Award
1632420 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,425,999
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address ALL of the factors attributing to protein aggregation by determining the: size, identity, extent, mechanism of aggregation and stability, thus addressing Biopharma industry needs. This information is critical to the development of drug pipeline contributing to a $190 BN biologic's market where $87BN in first generation biologics face patent expiration before 2020. A successful technical approach for its implementation will provide essential information for decision making towards which candidates will enter the market, thus increasing the Biopharma valuation and ensuring supply of drugs to patients. In the end, improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases. The proposed project will address the need for a multivariate high-throughput technology to address the risk of protein aggregation, that when adopted in R&D, will increase pipeline approvals, reduce late stage withdrawals and total costs of drug development. Average R&D development costs for the mere 1% of candidates reaching FDA approval have risen to $2.6 BN per product. Protein therapeutic development needs to be guided by a full understanding of protein stability and aggregation. Research objectives are to: develop our innovative First-in-Class high throughput platform for screening protein therapeutics; develop original software capable of deciphering protein aggregation mechanism, size, identity and extent of aggregated protein and product stability; commercialize the innovative technology platform. Fully automated evaluation of protein candidates during early R&D phase will be conducted. Best-in-class image acquisition technology will be employed towards this end, using a label free chemical mapping technology, dedicated software using auto recognition algorithms, and correlations to decipher protein aggregation. We through the use of its breakthrough technology will determine: the aggregate free candidate under various stressor conditions, optimum formulation conditions for the protein therapeutic, the most stable candidate, and electronic data reporting that establishes accuracy, reproducibility, critical quality attributes of the protein product.
Errata
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Addenda
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QC Ware Corp.
SBIR Phase II: A Cloud-Based Development Framework and Tool Suite for Quantum Computing
Contact
125 University Ave, Ste 260
Palo Alto, CA 94301–1664
NSF Award
1758536 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,421,129
Start / end date
04/01/2018 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will to enable inexpensive access to quantum computing (QC) and to take the complexity out of the programming and application hosting tasks, which currently pose a major barrier to entry for potential users. QC technology is expected to disrupt significant portions of the high-performance computing environment for optimization problems, which has previously been characterized by slow and incremental performance improvements. This project would yield a platform that both increases the efficiency and lowers the cost of analyzing complex optimization problems, which could spur fast-paced innovation in wide areas of the economy that tackle such issues. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the need for a cloud-based platform for using QC technology. Early-generation quantum computers have been introduced by multiple hardware vendors. Despite advances in performance of QC processors, little effort has been directed toward developing programming environments and applications that can provide simple and inexpensive access to QC capabilities and that can exploit the power that QC systems will have in the near future. This project will develop a suite of front-end and back-end tools that efficiently transform high-level computing problems into formulations for circuit-model QC systems, abstracting away the physical low-level details and domain knowledge currently necessary to build QC applications. The project will further develop a set of applications in optimization, search, and machine learning. The proposed research will explore the best software tools and platform methods for integrating emerging QC capabilities into enterprise and research workflows by streamlining and making affordable the decomposition and formulation of real-world problems into implementations that run on quantum processors. 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.
Errata
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RE3D Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Increasing Maker Manufacturing through 3D Printing with Reclaimed Plastic & Direct Drive Pellet Extrusion
Contact
120 avenida juan ponce de leon
San Juan, PR 00907–0000
NSF Award
1853153 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,392,973
Start / end date
04/15/2019 – 03/31/2024
Abstract
Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) offers tremendous benefit for rapid prototyping, mass customization, and low cost fabrication. This creates an untapped opportunity to develop the technology further to support low volume industrial manufacturing for price sensitive and emerging markets. The ability to source locally available raw material and feed it directly as pellets or shavings into a printer rather than extruded filament is extremely advantageous for both manufacturer and end user in regards to reducing cost and increasing capabilities in prototyping. The benefits of this innovation is amplified when 3D printing large-scale industrial objects (defined as > 18 inches cubed). First, the production of large-scale products represent a larger investment of time and material costs (pellets are ~ 1/10th the cost of filament). A second reason for the importance of pellet extrusion is it addresses the need to print faster. Finally, a dependence on extruded thermoform plastics limits the available library for printing and the ability to mix materials to engineer new formulations. With domain expertise in large-scale 3D FFF printing, re:3D proposes to evolve a prototype pellet 3D printer developed under Phase I to be able to address all of these needs by coupling direct drive pellet extrusion technology with a grinder, dryer and feeding system optimized for reclaimed plastics. re:3D intends to leverage Phase I research conducted on material requirements for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP), two of the most available reclaimed plastics worldwide, to further optimize the pellet printer to be able to accept reclaimed flake as well as non uniform pellets. This effort will include developing the ability to consistently dry the input materials and to easily clean and switch between materials. A novel mechanism for feeding larger volumes of pellets and/or flake into the platform will also be developed with the requisite controls. Once complete, the company will pilot the solution in Texas through IC2 as well as in Puerto Rico, an island territory with a complicated supply chain, in conjunction with waste streams/partners identified by the Puerto Rico Science & Research Trust. The new hardware integration solutions developed in Phase 2 will be incorporated into the Phase I prototype platform which leveraged Michigan Technological University's (MTU) prior work conducting validation and materials testing in Phase I, prior work modifying direct drive recyclebots for FFF 3D printers, and open source firmware and software research. To ensure excellence, prototypes will be extensively tested using MTU's facilities with reclaimed PP and PET in prints to be used for casting, mold production and load bearing applications. Once the prototype design for commercial scalability has been validated at MTU and field-tested, all progress will be openly documented and shared in an effort to scale the solution suite to multiple platforms as quickly as possible. The hardware will be sold commercially after completing the project as both an integrated 3D printing solution and also as independent hardware due to the potential to be applied beyond Cartesian 3D printing systems. 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.
Errata
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Radial Analytics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: System for Patient Risk Stratification through Electronic Health Record Analytics
Contact
50 Beharrell Street Suite A
Concord, MA 01742–0000
NSF Award
1534781 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,425,999
Start / end date
09/15/2015 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is significant; transitions of care impact millions of Americans every year. The healthcare system bears substantial cost and inefficiency on account of suboptimal care transitions and overspending. This Phase II project will support progress towards a "learning healthcare system" and will extend the capabilities of data mining and machine learning in healthcare The proposed project seeks to improve data mining technologies for healthcare decision support. This project will focus on the analysis of a broad variety of data types that are common in healthcare settings. The anticipated improvements would allow frontline care staff, operational managers, and healthcare executives to assess and make stronger evidence-driven decisions regarding quality, cost, and access as patients move through the healthcare system. The enhanced data mining system would utilize state-of-the-art pattern recognition and machine learning techniques to dynamically process and interpret clinical, claims, and other types of healthcare data. If successful, this research will impact the state-of-the-art in healthcare analytics.
Errata
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Radial Analytics, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: User-Centered System for Improved Coordination across the Continuum of Care
Contact
50 Beharrell Street Suite A
Concord, MA 01742–0000
NSF Award
1758650 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$925,999
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on using analytics and technology to benefit patients who require additional care to fully recover - or simply to maintain their health - after being discharged from the hospital. Whether subacute or community-based care, significant opportunity exists to leverage machine learning, decision science, and advance data mining techniques to better support patients. State and federal budgets cover the costs of care for millions of Americans every year. This expenditure is growing faster than inflation, prompting the development of both optional and mandatory payment reform efforts that stand to simultaneously reduce costs and improve care outcomes. If successful, this project will help reduce costs of care for healthcare providers, payers, and government/society. The proposed project aims to incorporate and improve upon user-centered decision science in healthcare. The proposed platform will combine advanced machine learning techniques with a patient/family-centered business model. The innovation will harness multiple streams of healthcare data, such as claims/billing data from acute, subacute, and community care settings. If successful, this research will impact the state-of-the-art in healthcare analytics and outcomes measurement. 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.
Errata
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Ras Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Human Like Robotic Grippers Using Electroactive Polymers
Contact
12 Channel St Ste 202
Boston, MA 02210–2399
NSF Award
1927023 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$743,907
Start / end date
09/15/2019 – 08/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the development of a durable artificial material capable of life-like motion, contracting and expanding like human muscle when controlled by low voltage (12-volt batteries). This material also will replicate human grasp by sensing mechanical pressure across a dynamic range, from gentle touch to high impact. The initial application for this material will be to give tactile sensing to fingertips of robotic grippers. Existing actuators cannot provide streamlined expansion and contraction to manage a good grip while dynamically sensing grip pressure. As an extension to the robotic gripper, this material could provide a lightweight, intuitively easy-to-operate prosthetic hand. Other applications include creating pads for prosthetic sockets to maintain perfect fit; padded liners in football and workplace helmets to absorb forces and communicate impact frequency and severity; shoe inserts for athletic and therapeutic footwear absorbing force attenuation, measuring step frequency, and measuring foot positioning; adjustable lumbar support for seats; switchless consoles for the cockpit, armrests, and dashboards of automobiles; and many others. This SBIR Phase II project will advance robotic grippers by adding a material with sensing capability, with implications for prosthetic hands and other applications. In robotic grippers and prosthetic hands, there is a trade-off between strength and dexterity; furthermore, the sensory perception has not yet been well developed. For grippers, initial gentle pressure has been absent from grip processes, inhibiting handling of delicate objects. The materials under development are shape-morphing and extremely sensitive as pressure sensors. The research objectives and methods/approaches of this project are to: 1) advance the actuation speed and durability of these materials through synthetic and architectural strategies; 2) characterize the speed and detectable pressures through oscilloscopic analysis and amplification circuitry; 3) tie the shape-morphing and sensing attributes together through controlled feedback loop(s) into off-the-shelf grippers, using robust user-friendly electronics; 4) determine durability through long-term cycle testing of contraction/expansion cycles and typically encountered grip pressures (millions of cycles for each test method); and 5) produce sophisticated robotic grippers with tactile-like touch and compare the strength and dexterity with those of the human hand. The goals and scope of this project are to optimize both the shape-morphing and sensing features of these materials and use biomimetic design, particularly around the pincer grip and anatomy of the first and second digits (thumb and index finger), with the anticipated result of replicating human grasp. 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.
Errata
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Refactored Materials, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Commercial Scale Production of Synthetic Spider Silk Fibers
Contact
344A PRENTISS ST
San Francisco, CA 94110–6141
NSF Award
1151896 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
03/01/2012 – 02/29/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will continue the development and commercialization of spider silk fibers commenced in the Phase I effort. Spider silk is a unique material in nature that is currently inaccessible on a commercial scale. Spider silk and other protein polymers are broadly useful in fields ranging from specialty textiles, to medical devices and advanced composites. The critical limitation in producing artificial spider silk fibers has been the lack of availability of bulk silk material and the knowledge of how to appropriately process the polymer into a product of native quality. This project will continue prior work to deliver scalable quantities of material through microbial production of spider silk protein using a commercially viable cost structure. In addition, this project will examine the key parameters for processing silk polymer into fibers whose properties surpass those of native spider silk. The ability to produce prototype silk fibers from recombinant protein will enable the initial steps towards commercializing spider silk fiber-based products. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is important to the adoption of a job-creating bio-based economy in the United States. The ability to produce protein polymers has bedeviled biological researchers for decades. Many important structural proteins and enticing commercially-useful materials have remained effectively impossible to produce. The advent of cutting-edge techniques in synthetic biology, microfabrication, and materials processing now make the production of protein polymers and the processing of them into beneficial technologies a realistic goal. Potential applications of protein-based polymers include a full range of sophisticated materials that are furthermore "green" and sustainable. Spider silk polymers, due to their mechanical properties, can potentially be used to create the next generation of ballistic fibers in the production of armor for military, law enforcement, and private users. In addition, the ability to produce advanced polymers independent of petroleum sources is a key goal of the emerging bio-based economy. Lastly, many protein polymers (including silk) are biocompatible and biodegradable and thus can form the basis for new classes of medical materials used to replace or re-grow connective tissues with implants or devices.
Errata
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Rejoule Incorporated
SBIR Phase II: Real-time predictive battery pack diagnostics and algorithms
Contact
7690 Lampson Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92841–4105
NSF Award
2026198 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
09/15/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to support the sustainability of lithium-ion battery (LIB) technologies. LIB use is growing and has consequently led to the potential of increased battery waste. The Phase II project will develop novel diagnostic technologies that enable automakers and energy storage providers to quickly and accurately measure how their batteries perform and degrade in the field. It will further use machine learning to develop more accurate battery models and predictive health algorithms for field applications. These algorithms will have the capability to make health predictions even without historical information for the specific system, and the hardware will be portable for different applications. A more accurate assessment of battery degradation in real time can inform on-board algorithms, improve overall battery pack efficiency, and reduce costs. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project addresses the challenge of measuring and predicting degradation of large-format batteries, blending new hardware with machine learning and electrochemistry. The project will conduct a comprehensive battery aging study to quantify leading and lagging indicators of battery degradation. Leading indicators include utilization, calendar aging, and environmental effects, and lagging indicators consist of AC impedance, DC internal resistance, and a battery’s specific charge/discharge patterns. Anticipated results include the ability to accurately predict the remaining useful life of a battery in under two minutes, even in the absence of historical data. 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.
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Renuvix
SBIR Phase II: High-Performance, Environmentally Friendly Polymer Systems for Paints and Coatings
Contact
1854 NDSU Research Cir N
Fargo, ND 58102–5706
NSF Award
1556069 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$760,000
Start / end date
03/01/2016 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to provide the paint and coatings industry with new high-performance, cost-competitive polymer/resin systems that reduce solvent emissions and use of petrochemicals. In addition, these new polymer/resin systems enable one-component, ambient-cure coatings to be produced. This means that highly protective coatings can be produced without the need for mixing multiple components together prior to application or applying heat or light to cure the coatings. The one-component, ambient-cure features of these polymer/resin systems largely eliminate waste and energy costs associated with coating application and lend themselves to the production of paints and coatings that can be applied by the average person. Compared to the current state-of-the-art in one-component, ambient-cured resins, these new polymer/resin systems provide dramatically shorter drying times, dramatically better chemical resistance, and much higher film hardness, while exhibiting excellent impact resistance and flexibility. The highly desirable properties of these new cost-competitive polymer/resin systems will enable commercial success, while their low solvent emissions and high renewable content will reduce impact on the environment. The objectives of this Phase II research project are to: 1) further optimize the polymer/resin systems to produce compositions that minimize solvent content and maximize performance, while meeting the cost constraints of the market; 2) put in place a pilot-line to provide potential customers with adequate sample sizes to enable their own evaluation of potential products, 3) generate weathering, corrosion, and storage/shelf stability data to further understand the application potential of optimized polymer/resin systems; and 4) optimize the polymer/resin production process to minimize cost and minimize production waste. By meeting these objectives, the Phase II project will result in the generation of new polymer/resin systems that will enable the development and commercialization of new paints and coatings that are one-component, ambient-cured, low in solvent content that exhibit exceptional properties, while being primarily based on renewable materials. Optimized polymer/resin systems will be provided to potential customers for their own internal evaluation. If necessary, feedback from customer evaluations will be used to modify polymer/resin system composition to meet customer needs. By the end of the Phase II project, the technology will be ready to proceed to manufacturing scale-up and product commercialization.
Errata
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Addenda
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RightHand Robotics, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Versatile Robot Hands for Warehouse Automation
Contact
21 Wendell St Apt 20
Cambridge, MA 02138–1850
NSF Award
1632460 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project affects one of the fastest-growing sectors of the US economy. E-commerce sales in 2015 accounted for 7.4% of total U.S. retail and are expected to rapidly rise. The potential for the commercial impact of general each-picking systems is high, as current manual labor methods are pain points for distribution centers; human picking is unpleasant, expensive and inefficient due to high absenteeism, high turnover and human error. The success of the proposed technology will also contribute to American competitiveness in the robotics industry. Of the top 20 distribution system integrators, only three are currently based in the U.S. Robotics is going to be the key driver of progress in this area, where each-picking, our core product capability, is a key component of future automated distribution systems. Beyond warehousing logistics, applications that our technology can benefit include: broad applications of industrial automation and manufacturing; military applications (e.g., IED disposal, where robots can perform tasks that are dangerous for humans to perform); and assistive healthcare (e.g., where robots must be compliant enough to be safe around humans while interacting successfully with unknown environments). This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will focus on the development of a state-of-the-art each-picking robotic system and its deployment, initially targeted at the order fulfillment industry. To date, robotic systems have enabled significant progress on transporting inventory on shelves or in totes. However, there has not yet been a deployed system that can perform the task of picking individual items from inventory bins and placing them in boxes for shipment. During Phase I of this project, RightHand Robotics developed a picking system far in advance of the research literature on robotic grasping, picking tens of thousands of items previously unseen objects, with error rates of less than 0.1%. During Phase II, the project will focus on advancing the state of the art in data-driven refinement of grasp planning using machine learning techniques, and will develop methods for box-packing that exploit the company?s advanced compliant grippers. These improvements will result in an average pick-and-place time of 6 seconds or less and an undetected placement failure rate of fewer one in ten thousand.
Errata
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Runtime Verification, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: RV-Embedded: Runtime Verification for Embedded Systems
Contact
102 E. Main Street
Urbana, IL 61801–2744
NSF Award
1660186 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is that the proposed runtime verification technology will lead to a more robust definition of and architecture for ensuring safety in automobiles, medical devices, and aerospace and defense systems. Through this, these forms of safety-critical infrastructure will be more resilient to attack and catastrophic failure resulting from both critical system failures and malicious attacks. As a result, the technology will help to address a slew of recent problems with software failures, security compromises, and other unintentional software behaviors that inevitably occur as systems become more complex, potentially saving lives and making millions of safety-critical embedded systems safer, easier to upgrade, and better tested. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will commercialize a first-of-its-kind complete solution for runtime verification and software analysis specifically tailored for embedded systems. From automobiles that connect to each other and drive autonomously, to control systems that run ever increasing networks that power our utilities, cities, and many other aspects of our daily lives, it is clear that embedded systems are here to stay in the most safety critical domains. A growing problem in embedded systems is how to ensure they behave correctly; a good case study for this is automobiles, in which several high profile hacks and recalls have called into question the security and integrity of vehicles. The proposed solution will fill this market niche with a suite of related analysis tools/modules, built on a common novel and formally rigorous runtime verification technology infrastructure, each module implementing unique instrumentation and analysis functionality. These tools/modules together provide what is needed to develop safe embedded systems.
Errata
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Addenda
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Runtime Verification, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: RV-Embedded: Runtime Verification for Embedded Systems
Contact
102 E. Main Street
Urbana, IL 61801–2744
NSF Award
1660186 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,399,996
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 05/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is that the proposed runtime verification technology will lead to a more robust definition of and architecture for ensuring safety in automobiles, medical devices, and aerospace and defense systems. Through this, these forms of safety-critical infrastructure will be more resilient to attack and catastrophic failure resulting from both critical system failures and malicious attacks. As a result, the technology will help to address a slew of recent problems with software failures, security compromises, and other unintentional software behaviors that inevitably occur as systems become more complex, potentially saving lives and making millions of safety-critical embedded systems safer, easier to upgrade, and better tested. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will commercialize a first-of-its-kind complete solution for runtime verification and software analysis specifically tailored for embedded systems. From automobiles that connect to each other and drive autonomously, to control systems that run ever increasing networks that power our utilities, cities, and many other aspects of our daily lives, it is clear that embedded systems are here to stay in the most safety critical domains. A growing problem in embedded systems is how to ensure they behave correctly; a good case study for this is automobiles, in which several high profile hacks and recalls have called into question the security and integrity of vehicles. The proposed solution will fill this market niche with a suite of related analysis tools/modules, built on a common novel and formally rigorous runtime verification technology infrastructure, each module implementing unique instrumentation and analysis functionality. These tools/modules together provide what is needed to develop safe embedded systems.
Errata
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SQZ Biotechnologies Company
SBIR Phase II: Development of an Intracellular Delivery Platform for Accelerated Drug Discovery Using Genetically Engineered Human Immune Cells
Contact
333 Highland Ave. Apt 1A
Somerville, MA 02144–3142
NSF Award
1555789 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,249,996
Start / end date
04/15/2016 – 10/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the development of technology for the intracellular delivery of biomolecules directly into cells. This microfluidics-based platform has the potential to become an enabling technology for intracellular delivery, which may be used to accelerate drug discovery R&D by allowing reliable, efficient delivery of diverse material classes without having to engineer the material or the cell to natively uptake these molecules. Such capabilities could allow pharmaceutical companies to assess the efficacy of drug candidates faster than ever before, especially with integration into high-throughput robotic workflows that are already well-established and efficacious. The technology could dramatically reduce the time to market for new drugs by decoupling determination of a candidate's activity from the cell's affinity for the molecule. It also could facilitate a deeper understanding of biological processes and pathways. Initial studies with leading drug developers and academic laboratories towards this goal have been very encouraging, and, in the future, the platform could potentially enable robust engineering of cell function for cell-based therapies targeting a diversity of diseases including influenza, cancer, and even autoimmune disorders. This SBIR Phase II project proposes the continued development of the intracellular delivery technology to address relevant applications in drug discovery R&D. New drug discovery is often hampered by the inability of membrane-impermeable drug candidates to enter the cell cytosol, necessitating exogenous materials for delivery such as strong electric fields or viral vectors. However, these materials tend to cause off-target effects or toxicity, presenting a need for a technology that can facilitate delivery without altering post-treatment cellular function. The goal of this project is to demonstrate a platform geared towards market adoption of microfluidic hardware as the standard method for transfection and intracellular delivery. During Phase II, the platform will be fully-characterized, validated, and verified in order to produce the consistent, repeatable results necessary to achieve market entry. In addition, research is planned to demonstrate the ability of the platform to support drug discovery R&D by developing the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system for use with this intracellular delivery technology.
Errata
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SYNVITROBIO INC
STTR Phase II: An On-Demand, Computational and Microfluidic-Driven Cell-Free Protein Engineering Platform
Contact
953 Indiana St.
San Francisco, CA 94107–3007
NSF Award
1758591 – STTR PHASE II
Award amount to date
$764,400
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) will be to develop a platform to accelerate the engineering of biological products, including enzymes and pathways, for production of chemicals, additives, and therapeutics. Enzymes are used in household materials (detergents and cleaners) and in chemical processes (cheese production, and bioremediation of waste). Pathways can produce bioplastics from sugar by engineered gut bacteria, or artemisinin (an antimalarial) from sugar by yeast. These biological products are engineered in cells. Cellular engineering, however, requires extensive scientific expertise, financial and material resources, and time. This project will design an engineering platform that eliminates production in cells. The goal is to simplify engineering and decrease costs 20-100 fold, and decrease time 2-5 fold. This results in a faster time-to-market for novel biological products and additional information to inform the engineering process. This STTR Phase II project proposes to utilize cell-free systems to speed up enzyme and pathway (metabolic) engineering. Cell-free systems can catalyze reactions without cellular complexity and without the need to maintain cellular growth. The goal of the project is to continue to develop a platform that can take as input user enzyme and pathway engineering questions and produce as output assay data. The primary focus is on developing computational methods for identification and optimization of enzymes and pathways for testing, molecular biological methods for assembling DNA, microfluidic methods for ultra-high-throughput analysis of cell-free expressions (10e7 samples), and analytical methods for detection. A secondary focus is the demonstration of this platform through cytochrome P450 engineering. Success with the primary focus demonstrates feasibility of replacing cellular engineering with faster and higher-throughput cell-free engineering processes. Success with the secondary focus produces directly-relevant enzymes for metabolic engineering pathways utilizing cytochrome P450s (e.g., natural products, bio-catalysis). 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.
Errata
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Saratoga Energy Research Partners LLC
SBIR Phase II: Electrolytic Generation of Low-Cost, High-Density Carbon Nanotubes for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries
Contact
820 Heinz Ave
Berkeley, CA 94710–2737
NSF Award
1831078 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$722,669
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is multilayered. First, there is the potential for creation of a carbon nanotubes manufacturing industry in the United States that will create hundreds of high-paying domestic manufacturing jobs advance U.S. leadership and knowledge in industrial electrochemistry. Secondly, Saratoga Energy's technology has the potential to benefit the United States economy by increasing the cost-competitiveness and performance of lithium-ion batteries, paving the way to the broader adoption of electric vehicles and grid/renewable energy storage. In turn, this will help reduce the strategic importance of oil, the cost of securing global oil supplies, as well as greenhouse gas emission. While lithium-ion batteries are the focus of this body of work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are also used in a variety of other applications - advanced composite materials, nanotechnology, catalyst supports, water filtration, and other areas of commercial impact. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to 1) electrochemically characterize carbon nanotubes as a cathode conductive additive for high-performance lithium-ion battery applications and 2) construct a small pilot-scale carbon nanotube manufacturing unit capable of producing 1 kg of product per day for retail distribution. Saratoga Energy Research Partners, LLC (Saratoga Energy), has developed a high-selectivity electrochemical process to convert carbon dioxide into carbon nanotubes. In the work conducted thus far, Saratoga Energy has established that its carbon nanotubes can be manufactured at a cost ~50X cheaper than the market price for state-of-the-art battery-grade carbon nanotubes. Battery manufacturers use carbon nanotubes to enable the reduction of conductive additive content in the cathode, thus improving specific and volumetric energy density. Carbon nanotubes also act as a reinforcing agent in the electrodes improving their mechanical properties. This is important for the battery assembly process but also for battery life performance, as the carbon nanotube network maintains a high level of cohesion of the electrodes upon repeated charge-discharge cycles. However, today, the high price of commercial carbon nanotubes limits their use, which will be addressed by our lower cost CNTs. 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.
Errata
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Shark Wheel, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: The Reinvention Of The Wheel. For Agricultural Uses and Beyond.
Contact
22600 lambert st
Lake Forest, CA 92630–1619
NSF Award
1853182 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$724,313
Start / end date
04/01/2019 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project will explore the potential benefits of a sine wave shaped wheel compared to a traditional circular wheel for the central pivot irrigation industry. The central pivot irrigation industry is an essential segment of the agriculture industry and this project aims to deliver a superior wheel that solves the persistent issue of trench-digging that leads to equipment breakdown, down time, lost profits, and crop-loss. The broader significance of eliminating trench-digging would be significant savings for farmers, distributors and consumers. Agriculture is the largest industry in the world, and developing a wheel that eliminates an issue that plagues the industry is the central goal of this project. The development of a sine wave wheel also potentially impacts other fields as the technology can be used in over one-hundred different industries. The technical innovation of this project is creating a wheel that is non-circular. The wheel will exhibit the blending of multiple shapes in one design including a sine wave, cube, circle and hexagon. It will be approximately 4.5 feet tall, and weighing approximately 400lbs for use in the farming industry. The concept is to create two wheels in tandem where the sine waves are out-of-phase from one another. The front wheel would create a left-right-left path into the soil, much like the path a snake would leave behind traversing soil. The rear wheel would move in an opposite right-left-right configuration leaving a double helix footprint in its wake. The opposing wheels would push the soil back toward center, eliminating the largest issue plaguing the industry: trench digging. The sine wave wheel technology has already been scientifically proven on a smaller scale in the skateboarding industry to reduce friction, increase longevity, increase off-road ability, and increase speed. Multiple wheel iterations will be manufactured and subsequently tested in this project using off-the-shelf hubs within the industry and rubber tires. The wheel will not be pneumatic and will never go flat. 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.
Errata
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Sinter Print Inc
SBIR Phase II: Reactive Additive Manufacturing of Advanced Superalloys for Turbine Engines
Contact
405 Young Ct
Erie, CO 80516–2400
NSF Award
1758865 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,393,092
Start / end date
03/01/2018 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project will address the lack of high application temperature materials available for additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing, often called 3D printing, provides increased design freedom and complex features such as part consolidation and conformal cooling channels. The performance and efficiency of gas turbines and other applications can be increased by combining design improvements enabled by additive manufacturing with a suitable high temperature material. Unfortunately, existing materials either do not have sufficient high temperature performance or are not compatible with high quality printing methods. This project will develop new nickel superalloy composite additive manufacturing materials for use with high temperature gas turbine components. Successful completion of this project will result in more efficient turbines to reduce energy costs, transportation costs, and carbon emissions. The manufacturing, power generation, and aerospace industries are expected to be impacted from this project. In addition, history has demonstrated that new materials and manufacturing technologies often lead to additional unexpected innovations. This project will help the country lead in the innovation of high performance materials technology to address the needs of the $86 billion gas turbine market and to grow advanced manufacturing jobs in the US. This project will utilize innovative reactive additive manufacturing materials technology to develop 3D printable advanced high temperature superalloys. During additive fabrication, high melting temperature product phases will be synthesized in-situ within a superalloy matrix to significantly improve high temperature performance and improve printability. This innovative reactive additive manufacturing technology has been shown to be applicable to a wide range of materials systems including nickel superalloys in an NSF Phase I project. Metal matrix composites produced using this technology have demonstrated greatly increased strength, wear resistance, and high temperature performance relative to comparable traditional alloys. In addition, this technology has demonstrated the ability to eliminate micro and macro cracking problems with alloys that had previously been considered unprintable. This project aims to further develop one or more high temperature superalloys compatible with laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing for use in the hot sections of gas turbines. The scope of the project includes theoretical and experimental development and evaluation of novel material feedstocks, additive manufacturing processing conditions, and heat treatments. Evaluation of printed components will include measurement of density, hardness, standard and high temperature tensile properties, creep, and microstructure and phase analysis. Turbine components will be additively fabricated for pilot studies. 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.
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Solchroma Technologies Inc
SBIR Phase II: Vivid Pixel array for Reflective, Full-color Digital signage
Contact
32 Appleton St
Somerville, MA 02144–2131
NSF Award
1660204 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,471,741
Start / end date
04/01/2017 – 09/30/2022
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project evaluates the feasibility of constructing vivid, full-color, reflective display modules for large-area outdoor digital signage driven by dielectric elastomers suitable for pilot testing. Completion of Phase II objectives is expected to have the following impact: Commercially, the availability of new signage products will create significant economic impact through partial capture of the $14.2B domestic billboard and sign manufacturing market. Up to 10% of US zoning codes are estimated to prohibit LED-based (light emitting diode) signage while potentially permitting a reflective digital signage technology, expanding the domestic market up to $5.6B, with a 10x impact worldwide. Environmentally, greenhouse gas reduction is expected as an alternative to LED-based technology; up to 40x reduction in energy consumption is anticipated relative to LEDs. Additionally, billboard wrap waste will be reduced by replacing printed signage. Scientifically, the use of dielectric elastomers as a class of materials in products would be promoted through addressing technological and manufacturing hurdles currently limiting market translation. Societally, increased impact from timely public service announcements on digital billboards displayed during natural disasters, when catching fugitives from the FBI?s Most Wanted lists, and with Amber/Silver alerts are expected through large-area digital sign proliferation. In phase II, electroactive polymer-based proof-of-concept display modules will be constructed and tested, ready for pilot testing with initial customers. The low-cost display design uses unique electro-hydraulic driving principles to enable exceptional refractive index matching within the optical stack for highly vivid and reflective full-color generation. In phase I, a functional proof-of-concept pixel array module was fabricated using scalable processes. To achieve pilot readiness, improvements in performance, resolution, and calibration to meet advertiser standards are needed, as well as environmental qualification for outdoor operation, development of industry-conscious software control, and qualification of supply chain inputs to enable further production at scale. Phase II research will address these technical challenges by introducing process refinements and quality control standards, conduct color calibration using existing techniques, perform industry-relevant environmental testing, work with vendors to source soft-tooled components, and develop module and multi-module control software. The result of phase II efforts will be a calibrated and rugged one square foot, full-color, 16mm pitch, reflective display module ready for scaling to pilot production following phase II.
Errata
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Sonavex, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Automatic Vascular Flow Reconstruction with Adaptive Three-Dimensional Doppler Ultrasound
Contact
2835 O'Donnell St
Baltimore, MD 21224–0000
NSF Award
1632424 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,399,940
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 07/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project includes the reduction in severe patient morbidity and elimination of hundreds of millions of dollars of expenditures by the U.S. healthcare system each year on revision surgeries and unnecessary procedures associated with late detection of post-surgical blood clots. Surgeons have the ability to prevent these catastrophic events, but only if the onset of the clot can be detected in a timely manner. Currently, of the patients who form clots after the targeted surgeries, half will suffer from a surgical failure due to the shortcomings of current modalities. This technology gives clinicians the ability to non-invasively track changes in blood flow within critical vessels to enable intervention prior to any compromise in health and prevent a majority of these catastrophic incidents. Beyond significant decreases in patient suffering and morbidity, such interventions will have an enormous positive economic impact on the health care system. This technology can also substantially improve clinical understanding of the clotting process and possibly enable non-invasive therapeutic treatments for these patients who otherwise would receive surgery. The proposed project offers significant intellectual and scientific merit associated with new methods of ultrasound flow analysis. The objective of this work is to develop a system that is able to collect a 3D volume of ultrasound data and automatically extract the blood flow data in the region of interest by detecting an implantable component. This novel approach to measuring vascular flow will be the first to enable detection of localized post-operative clot formation rather than detecting clot-related issues via delayed and indirect methods that leave patients at risk for surgical failures. This technique can allow for intervention earlier than all other available methods, thus improving patient outcomes and reducing hospital costs. Furthermore, this method enables automatic detection of critical changes in blood flow, eliminating the risk of human error. Lastly, dissemination of the technology developed in this proposal represents an important milestone towards the creation of simpler, more automated ultrasound systems that can place this non-invasive, non-ionizing modality in the hands of non-expert clinicians for use in a broader spectrum of medical applications.
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Speak Agent, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Massive Open Online Platform for Language Learning Content
Contact
155 Gibbs Street, Suite 536
Rockville, MD 20850–0393
NSF Award
1632488 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,101,062
Start / end date
08/15/2016 – 01/31/2020
Abstract
This Phase II project aims to help address the achievement gap for English Learners, who consistently average 21% below native English speakers on reading scale scores starting in 4th grade and are twice as likely to drop out of school. Eighty percent of teachers believe that materials for English Learners are sub-standard, which contributes to this gap. The project provides an online crowd-authoring and sharing platform that gives K-6 language teachers the tools to meet their unique instructional needs on demand. It is the first and only platform to enable practicing teachers to rapidly build digital language lessons and interactive games that align to their specific requirements, without any technical know-how. The platform provides built-in rich media resources that adhere to best practices based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Any teacher may access these open educational resources at no cost, provided they make their own creations available for public reuse, revision and remixing. The project seeks to understand the dynamics of collaboration and quality assurance for interactive content at a massive scale. Crowd-authoring can invest educators with the power to transform language learning into a field that is highly responsive to the evolving needs of educators and learners. This Phase II project will pioneer mass customization of interactive games and media in the field of second language acquisition. The project aims for teachers to create 175,000 custom digital lessons and interactive games using media resources provided by the project. Phase II will develop four new types of games that improve language acquisition using audiovisual experimentation, realtime chat with artificial intelligences, and a new technology that transforms visuals and narratives composed by students into grammatically accurate text and audio. Phase II will integrate these innovations into a crowd-authoring and quality assurance system capable of scaling to 100,000 new teacher-made learning objects per month. By giving language educators tools to rapidly create, share and customize content to meet their precise needs, the project seeks to significantly improve learning outcomes. Phase II will implement real-time formative assessment reports for teachers to evaluate student experiences and issues with the custom teacher-made interactive content. A controlled full-year, multi-site educational impact study will measure whether the project affects vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, grammar and sentence formation, and whether any skill gains transfer to other contexts. It will also reveal deep data insights about the process by which K-6 students acquire a second language.
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Spheryx, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Total Holographic Characterization of Colloids Through Holographic Video Microscopy
Contact
330 E 38th St, Apt 48J
New York, NY 10016–2784
NSF Award
1631815 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,268,006
Start / end date
09/15/2016 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will enable a commercial implementation of holographic video microscopy, a fast, precise and flexible technology for measuring the properties of individual colloidal particles suspended in fluid media. This disruptive technology solves critical manufacturing problems across industries that work with colloidal dispersions. Demonstrated applications include: 1) monitoring the growth of nanoparticle agglomerates in precision slurries used to polish semiconductor wafers where scratches due to slurry agglomerates are responsible for waste valued at $1 billion annually; 2) tracking concentrations of dangerous contaminants in wastewater streams; and 3) measuring the concentration of protein aggregates in biopharmaceuticals, a safety concern noted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in this $250 billion industry. Holographic video microscopy is unique among particle-characterization technologies in providing comprehensive information about the size, shape and composition of individual particles in real time and in situ. Having access to this wealth of data facilitates product development, creates new opportunities for process control and provides a new tool for quality assurance across a broad spectrum of industries enabling safer, less expensive products for consumers while providing cost savings to manufacturers. The technical objectives of this project are: 1) to optimize the design of the underlying holographic microscopy system without compromising the quality of results; 2) to enable quantitative concentration determination including corrections for perturbations introduced by flow dynamics; 3) to expand the domain of operation to characterize non-spherical particles and 4) to apply machine-learning algorithms for automated robust operation. Using holographic video microscopy for commercial applications requires adaptation and innovation in the design of the prototype instrument that was used to demonstrate feasibility. Streamlining the optical train will require advanced modeling and the creation of new methods of correcting optical aberrations to enable ease of manufacture. Additional improvements in design will include advances in improving microfluidic flow control to generate accurate concentration determination, to adapt holographic analysis algorithms for characterizing the structure of aspheric particles, and to extend analytical capabilities for turbid fluids. Finally, innovative machine-learning using neural network algorithms demonstrated significant improvements for analytical robustness in Phase I and will be extended to a wider range of applications. The Phase II effort will enable holographic video microscopy of real-world samples with typical measurement times of a few minutes.
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Stateless, Inc
SBIR Phase II: Stateless - Taking from the Lab to a Production Environment
Contact
1200 28th Street
Boulder, CO 80309–1756
NSF Award
1831184 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
12/01/2018 – 11/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project results from the fact that it builds on the trend to make IT infrastructure consumable as a service and unlocks this potential for network functions. In deploying the Stateless Network Functions as a Service solution, cloud providers, enterprises, and internet service providers are able to launch network functions, such as firewalls and load balancers, on demand, and the Stateless platform automates the management of these functions. With cloud traffic expected to quadruple over the next several years (according to Cisco), a rapid growth in number of devices (with the Internet of Things emerging), and an ever-increasing complexity and scale of security threats, this project will provide operators with the agility to quickly and easily deploy infrastructure to keep up with these trends and threats. In doing so, society will experience more reliable networked applications with reduced data breaches. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project provides the research and development needed to realize the vision of a network function operating system. Whereas the Phase I project established technical feasibility by demonstrating the technology that decouples network functions state from processing can be turned into a product and integrated into a production environment, the Phase II project will approach three new research directions that will support a complete platform. (i) Network service chaining: While not a new concept, it is one that has proven to be challenging with virtual appliances. This project will add support to the Stateless platform to connect network functions into chains, elastically scale chains, and provide quality of service of the whole chain. (ii) Observability: This project will introduce the ability to abstract away the details when appropriate or peel away the layers of abstraction as needed, providing operators with a simple solution they have full control over. (iii) Software development kit: This project will introduce both the application programming interfaces as well as the isolation mechanisms to allow third parties, whether other vendors or data center operators, to introduce new network functionality based on the Stateless platform. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Swarm Technologies, LLC
SBIR Phase II: An Innovative and Open Satellite-Based Internet of Things (IoT) Network
Contact
3236 Ashbourne Cir
San Ramon, CA 94583–9116
NSF Award
1758752 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,240,743
Start / end date
03/15/2018 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The proposed project centers around further development on the world's smallest 2-way communications satellites and associated ground hardware. Key contributions of this project include system and networking optimization and validation of the technology through end to end demonstrations. The system optimization component will involve the development of system-level models that capture the complex interaction of all elements, including dynamics, constraints, and objectives. The network optimization component will focus on the development of algorithms that enable seamless communications scheduling as the network scales to several thousand devices on the ground. The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project spans commercial, scientific and humanitarian applications by extending IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity to remote regions without cell coverage and where satellite data is prohibitively expensive for vital applications including agriculture, energy, shipping, and weather. The satellites and ground hardware being developed in this SBIR Phase II project have been driven towards miniaturization and power reduction to enable a broader range of customers to take advantage of the network by allowing easy integration into their devices and easy-to-install autonomous ground solutions. The unique launch economics afforded by the miniaturized satellites enable IoT (Internet of Things) sensing and data return at a cost 1/10th to 1/100th that of incumbent satellite data providers. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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SweetSense Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Predictive Algorithms for Water Point Failure
Contact
5548 NE 18th Ave
Portland, OR 97211–5543
NSF Award
1738321 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$899,475
Start / end date
09/01/2017 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and apply machine learning statistical tools to Internet of Things (IoT) water delivery and water quality sensors. This will enable prediction and preemptive response to water point failures. The resilience of these environmental services is dependent upon credible and continuous indicators of reliability, leveraged by funding agencies to incentivize performance among service providers. In many locations, these service providers are utilities providing access to clean water, safe sanitation, and reliable energy. However, in some rural areas, there remains a significant gap between the intent of service providers and the impacts measured over time. Achieving the SBIR Phase II core objectives will help close the loop on effective and clean water delivery. IoT sensors and services will address one of the most critical public health gaps by enabling delivery of reliable and safe water. IoT solutions for this environment may help address these information asymmetries and enable improved decisions and response. However, given the remote and power constrained environments and the high degree of variability between fixed infrastructure including age, materials, pipe diameters, power quality, rotating equipment vendors (pumps and generators), servicing, and functionality, any IOT solution would have to either be bespoke engineering, or compensate for these site-wise complexities through analytics. Instead, our SBIR II approach is to develop universal, solar powered cellular and satellite IOT hardware for each service type, and addresses site complexities through cloud-based sensor fusion and statistical learning. In this way, we significantly reduce hardware and logistical costs, and provide value to our customers through service delivery analytics. In Phase I, we demonstrated the application of simple sensors and sophisticated machine learning to identify off-nominal service delivery across a cohort of water pumps of various designs. We developed a universal electrical borehole sensor compatible with disparate fixed infrastructure, and we demonstrated solving the problem of heterogeneous customer hardware with a homogeneous sensor platform and adaptive machine learning backend.
Errata
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Addenda
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Sylvatex Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Development of Renewable Nanoparticle Platform for Green Energy Production and Storage Applications
Contact
927 Thompson Place
Sunnyvale, CA 94085–4518
NSF Award
1927077 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$956,396
Start / end date
08/15/2019 – 07/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be in lowering the overall cost of lithium-ion batteries. Material cost reduction drives greater adoption of technologies using batteries such as electric vehicles and storage systems while increasing the use of renewables. Cathode material is a battery's largest cost contributor, and with the market growing 10+% year-over-year, producers are having to spend millions of dollars in plant expansions to meet this increased demand. Technology solutions that allow cathode material producers to cost effectively expand current production capacity without investment or sacrificing quality or performance are immediately needed in this industry. Current industry processes require lengthy high-temperature production steps that consume large amounts of energy throughout the production process. This phase II project is focused on developing a "one-pot" manufacturing process that will address the current market priorities of lowering production costs, shortening manufacturing times, increasing production yield and using sustainable materials, allowing cathode producers to significantly increase profit margins while addressing demand for increased production. More broadly, lower battery costs will increase the adoption of technologies that utilize lithium-ion batteries and enable greater implementation of other renewable energy sources like wind and solar. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to build upon the promising feasibility results achieved in Phase I to develop a breakthrough, sustainable, "one-pot" process for the manufacture of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. This manufacturing process will capitalize on the opportunity within the cathode production to address its needs for lowering production costs, increasing production capacity, and reducing energy consumption. The Phase II project will involve (i) the optimization of the manufacturing process, as measured by half-cell battery performance screening, (ii) demonstrate doubling throughput and providing cost savings of at least 20% over current production processes for NMC 622, (iii) demonstrate battery performance that is equivalent to, or better than, that of a commercial benchmark in full cell testing, and (iv) design and construction of a pilot reactor. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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TACTAI
SBIR Phase II: Touch and Feel a Virtual Object with Life-like Realism
Contact
225 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451–1209
NSF Award
1632274 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,110,430
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 02/29/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to create a suite of consumer hardware and software products that provide realistic tactile feedback to users who are touching objects in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). As evidenced by the current proliferation of low-cost head-mounted displays and motion tracking systems, three-dimensional interaction technologies are revolutionizing how people interact with computers, media, and each other. Since they are currently limited to vision and audio, endowing consumer-level human-computer interfaces with high-fidelity tactile feedback will vastly increase user immersion, making games more fun, online interactions more effective, and tools more efficient. Consequently, this project has the potential to expand the commercial reach of the burgeoning VR/AR market, opening up myriad opportunities for companies particularly in the gaming, entertainment, and e-commerce sectors. The innovation of this project also promises to enhance scientific and technological understanding of haptic human-computer interaction by establishing a new paradigm that blends minimal wearable hardware with sophisticated software algorithms. Finally, commercializing novel interactive technology also has the potential to help inspire a diverse array of young people to pursue a career in the critical areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project aims to advance knowledge of low-cost technology that can provide realistic tactile feedback to a user touching objects in VR or AR: the project?s intellectual merits center on testing a new approach that combines minimal haptic hardware and sophisticated software algorithms. The research objective is to create a fully functional industrial prototype of a wearable fingertip thimble and custom software that embody the proposed approach. When the user's finger moves to touch a virtual object, a platform inside the thimble will initiate contact with the fingerpad and press with a force that varies with penetration distance, to render surface softness. A thermal actuator will convey the object?s thermal conductivity and temperature. When the finger slides along a virtual object, the user will feel its texture via carefully designed platform vibrations. Specific research tasks to be addressed include exploring haptic actuator options, building a library of haptic object properties (HOPs) that can be applied to virtual objects, and creating a communication protocol for exchanging haptic signals among devices. This project is expected to yield a fully functional industrial prototype and developer kits for the wearable fingertip thimble.
Errata
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Addenda
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TAO Connect, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: An Intelligent Mental Health Therapy System
Contact
747 SW 2nd Avenue STE 258
Gainesville, FL 32601–6280
NSF Award
1631871 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$860,802
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research, Phase II project is to help make therapy more consistent with patient preferences, beliefs, and values to maximize engagement in therapy and improve patient outcomes. Therapy for mental health problems is highly effective, yet many patients drop out before getting the full benefit because they are not satisfied or engaged in the therapy. The proposed project involves collecting data on all of patients actions in the online treatment system along with their ratings of each activity and their symptom improvement over time. The research and development team will use this data to create a machine learning system that will make suggestions for best next steps in therapy based on what thousands of other users experienced. This is the intelligent counseling system. It will work very similarly to movie streaming services or online book sellers who recommend movies or books to you based on your past preferences and the preferences of thousands of other users. The proposed project will develop a feedback and recommendation system based on advanced analytics and machine learning techniques to provide personalized treatments to customize and individualize online mental health treatment, the Intelligent Counseling System (ICS). This personalized system will contain a number of alternative treatment items from several theoretical perspectives, using a variety of patient interactive activities, varying in format, length, pace, and other characteristics. In such a setting, a recommendation system can predict the users' preferences and recommend the subsequent treatment component. In addition, to achieve maximum adherence and to decrease the attrition rate, the platform will enable personalized motivational interventions and supportive messaging. The delivery times and the content of supportive messaging will adapt and vary depending on the projected treatment progress. Our machine learning based system will be trained incrementally as more data becomes available over time, thus it will benefit from improved accuracy over time. We will extract local, semi-local, and global temporal features at multiple temporal resolutions and will use feature selection techniques to identify which factors contribute to the success of treatments for patients, and to predict if a user is improving or is deteriorating. This will result in adaptive motivational messages and recommendation for tailoring treatment in term of important identified treatment features.
Errata
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Addenda
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TRASH INC.
SBIR Phase II: Filmmaking for Everyone: Computational Video Editing
Contact
2430 Kent St
Los Angeles, CA 90026–0000
NSF Award
1950115 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$748,551
Start / end date
04/01/2020 – 03/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impacts of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project enable improved user-generated video content. Video online platforms have radically changed how people communicate, learn, and inspire. Unfortunately, many potentially inspiring videos are lost or never shared due to an inability to edit them into compelling vignettes. Most tools for editing video are expensive, difficult to learn, and time-consuming. This project’s research enables consumers or nascent businesses to make polished, professional videos with a single phone click through the use of computational cinematography and techniques from deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI). The delivered software solution will produce high-quality edited footage within minutes, compared with a human editor requiring hours. This project combines the analysis of video using computer vision with editing algorithms to empower new creators to participate in this fast-growing medium. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will produce AI-powered software for automatically editing raw video footage into quality short films on a mobile phone platform. The proposed project will integrate advanced computational video manipulation, computer vision, and audio recognition. The prototype AI editor will select relevant content from source footage and synchronize it to music, using only the restricted computational resources of a typical mobile platform. The AI makes decisions based on the video content, the music content, and narrative editing styles learned from a large dataset of similar films. This project will deliver AI-based editing technology that trims and arranges input footage based on the spoken dialogue in the input videos. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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Telineage, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Robust Caller-ID Alternative for Securing Telephony Based Transactions
Contact
742 CHARLES ALLEN DRIVE NE APT 1
Atlanta, GA 30308–3741
NSF Award
1256637 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$500,000
Start / end date
04/01/2013 – 03/31/2015
Abstract
The innovation in this project comes from the novel call audio analysis techniques that can be used to create a fingerprint of the source of a telephone call. Such fingerprints can reveal valuable information about the call source, including the type of the calling device (landline, Voice-over IP or mobile), its geographical location and the networks over which the call audio may have been transported prior to it reaching the called party. To detect potentially fraudulent calls in real-time with such fingerprints, this proposal plans to extend the identification of the geography of a call source and the creation of an active call analyzer that performs audio analysis in real-time. The focus of this Phase II project is on exploring design options for an active call analyzer; including accuracy, scalability and timeliness tradeoffs and its integration in call center infrastructures. The call analyzer will also be used to build a phone fraud intelligence service that proactively detects phone numbers used for committing fraud. Such a service, including mechanisms for sharing of intelligence with partners and customers, can help secure the telephony channel from a variety of attacks. The broader impact and commercialization potential of this project can be seen readily from the observation that phone fraud is already a serious problem for multiple sectors, including banking, healthcare and even law enforcement. Also, because fraudulent calls are already responsible for considerable financial loss, customer agents in call centers are asking multiple knowledge-based questions to authenticate a caller. This leads to higher costs for call handling and also degrades customer experience. A successful active call analyzer solution that can automatically generate a risk score for caller authentication will have broad impact because the entire service sector relies on call centers for customer contact and it could reduce costs and improve customer experience. The project will also enable Pindrop to play a leadership role in organizing the broader community to launch a phone anti-fraud alliance similar to the anti-phishing working group. The thought leadership provided by such a group will be necessary to define the telephony security challenges and approaches for addressing them. Again, this will ensure broad impact of the project across several industries.
Errata
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Addenda
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Temblor, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Temblor--an innovative, mobile source of seismic risk understanding and solutions for the public and providers
Contact
119 Scenic Dr
Redwood City, CA 94062–3232
NSF Award
1853246 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$800,000
Start / end date
04/15/2019 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to attempt to reduce the largest financial protection gap in the world: the impact of a great earthquake on a major population center. The public is woefully unprepared for such an event, banking on government assistance in lieu of personal resilience. Worldwide, there is $400 billion in uninsured global disaster risk. Even in California, there are 3-4 million uninsured seismically vulnerable homes and a million uninsured vulnerable businesses. People need to understand their vulnerability in terms of dollars and safety, they need to learn how they can protect themselves and their families, and most important, they need to be inspired to take action. This project's free mobile app and blog use public data and models to explain a home's seismic risk, and to show the benefits of buying a seismically safer home, retrofitting an older home, or buying earthquake insurance. Most important, the app and blog do so without scaring, soothing, or snowing the user. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is building a suite of global seismic hazard and risk models that enable the company to forecast the consequences of earthquakes to any building, anywhere on Earth. At every step in the process, the technology rids the models of bias, judgment, or expert opinion, relying instead on algorithmic, reproducible and testable constructs. The company provides insurance agents with sales tools, giving a home or building owner's earthquake score and financial losses in the largest likely earthquake. It provides insurance companies with the means to underwrite (price) insurance, to assess the average annual losses of their portfolios, or to assess portfolio losses at any likelihood of occurrence. For a catastrophe bond whose payment is triggered by a shaking intensity, the company provides the likelihood of attachment over any time period. For a reinsurance company, it provides the ability to compare losses at any or all locations. For a mortgage lender, it provides mortgage portfolio losses, and an estimate of mortgage defaults in the scenario earthquakes to which the lender is most vulnerable. For a multinational company with globally distributed facilities, the technology assesses and ranks their worldwide risk to enhance their resilience. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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TexasLDPC Inc., dba Symbyon Systems
SBIR Phase II: Area and Energy Efficient Error Floor Free Low-Density Parity-Check Codes Decoder Architecture for Flash Based Storage
Contact
1920 W Villa Maria Rd, Ste 301
Bryan, TX 77807–4864
NSF Award
1632562 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$909,999
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 05/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be high performance error correction for flash memory. Error correction plays a critical row in making digital devices reliable. Shrinking semiconductor geometries results in more errors. This has created a special problem for flash memory where the need for more rigorous error correction is approaching a practical limit with the widely used Bose Chaudhuri Hocquengham error correction. Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) is a recognized solution that can approach the theoretical limits of what is possible. This LDPC based technology can improve lifetime of flash by without the added cost of the existing BCH solution. This technology helps Flash Memory enterprises to use higher density flash to improve storage capacity and cut the storage product costs. Without the superior performance, small size and low power consumption of the LDPC technology, the migration to low cost high capacity flash memories will be seriously slowed. In the absence of a comparable alternative approach, there will be serious limitations on the performance of a vast array of products that depend on highly reliable and economical flash storage. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will use a variety of techniques to minimize the area and power requirements and enhance the performance of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) error correction codes for flash memory. Many of these techniques are applicable to a wide range of error correction applications in digital communication and storage from WiFi to hard disk drives. The need for better error correction is crucial for flash memory but there is a widening demand for improved error correction. For example larger memories require better error correction to insure the system failure rate is low. In the next two years the company expects to develop a Verilog version of the LDPC decoder that is easily integrated with a flash controller. The project will work with potential customers/partners to ensure the code works with controllers. In the long run these techniques can be adapted to a wide range of applications as the need for more reliable data continues to rapidly expand.
Errata
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Addenda
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The Echo Nest Corporation
SBIR Phase II: Automated Community and Sentiment Mining for Global Media Preference Understanding
Contact
48 Grove Street
Somerville, MA 02144–2500
NSF Award
0750544 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
04/01/2008 – 03/31/2012
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project applies data mining and machine learning techniques to both natural language description and Internet link graphs to model communities in order to predict preference, taste and sentiment for different kinds of media (music, TV, online media, video games, books). Current contextual information mining approaches that scan the text on a page for advertisement or recommendation ignore valuable community connections inherent in most self-published Internet discussion. Sentiment and opinion extraction systems operating on full text create challenging language parsing problems are fraught with issues of scale and adaptability. The identification systems can automatically categorize anonymous Internet writers or website visitors into specific demographic communities based on their tastes in many kinds of media. The Phase II research project approaches opinion extraction with a bias-free learning model based on training from known online corpuses that can be adapted to different languages and learns in real time as more data becomes available for high accuracy. Current personalization and marketing approaches either look at the "clickstream" of an anonymous user, leading to equally anonymous recommendations for popular movies and music -- or by scanning a surface-level overview of the text, leading to keyword advertisements with limited contextual understanding of entertainment content and community sentiment. The project plans to fully integrate people-focused community and sentiment analysis technologies into an autonomous, learning and scale-free "media knowledge service" for digital entertainment providers and marketers that can change the way digital content is marketed and sold.
Errata
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Addenda
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ThoughtSTEM, LLC
SBIR Phase II: A Cloud-Based Tutoring Software For Teaching Coding to K-12 Students through Integration with Popular Video Games
Contact
8650 Genesee Ave. #928025
San Diego, CA 92192–8025
NSF Award
1632539 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,095,356
Start / end date
08/01/2016 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
This Phase II project proposes to develop a computer science (CS) educational software that has the potential to inspire millions of U.S. K-12 students to learn computer programming. This software will leverage the motivational power of a popular video game, to teach CS to students by teaching them to reprogram the video game itself. The United States currently has a severe deficit of students pursuing CS. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that over 1 million computing job openings will go unfilled by U.S. workers by 2022. By leveraging the power of a popular video game, the technology proposed in this Phase II project has the potential to expose millions of K-12 students to coding in the next 5 years. The commercial impact of the underlying technology developed in this Phase II project does not stop at the over 100 million users who currently play the popular video game with which the current educational software integrates. Because the underlying technology is transferable to any moddable (i.e. reprogrammable) video game, the technology has the potential to be used to teach CS with other popular titles from the rapidly growing video game industry. This Phase II project proposes to continue the development of a software product that is a web-based coding environment for novice programmers. This software goes beyond the state-of-the-art technologies in this space (i.e., scratch.mit.edu) in several ways: 1) It uses automated tutoring techniques to customize the educational experiences for novices, 2) it facilitates writing programs that manipulate objects and terrain in a 3D environment, 3) it allows the novice user to reprogram a popular video game, 4) it has an in-browser, WebGL-based 3D runtime environment, 5) it supports both a novice-friendly visual programming language (Blockly) as well as a text-based language (JavaScript), 6) it leverages gamification techniques such as badges, points, and unlockable items, and 7) it supports multi-user, collaborative coding. The objectives of this Phase II project concentrate on improving student experiences in order to increase customer retention and acquisition and to finish the development of a marketable product that will teach 5 million K-12 students in the next 5 years. The first objective of this project involves developing and extending the browser-embedded game engine. The second objective focuses on improving systems that match students with appropriate educational content and motivate students to continue learning. Finally, the third objective involves implementing new systems that incentivize students to create and share with the community.
Errata
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Addenda
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Uniqarta, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: IC Integration Technologies for Flexible Hybrid Electronics
Contact
42 Trowbridge St
Cambridge, MA 02138–4115
NSF Award
1632387 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,413,603
Start / end date
09/01/2016 – 02/28/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to address one of the primary barriers to the emergence of flexible electronics -the inability to assembly and interconnect thinned integrated circuits (ICs) onto flexible substrates in a reliable, cost-effective, high volume manner. Flexible electronics has been the subject of many industry journals, trade shows, technical conferences and market research reports. All describe a new age of ubiquitous electronics with devices embedded in the structures and items around us. Flexible electronic devices, unlike today's devices that are rigid and boxy, can conform to natural, curved shapes that exist in the real world. However, flexible electronics have yet to have their predicted economic and social impact. A major reason is because the electronics industry has not yet found a reliable, low-cost method for assembling thin, flexible ICs onto flexible circuit boards. Today's 'pick-and-place' assembly technology cannot handle ICs thin enough to be flexible. Until a new method is developed and adopted, the potential of flexible electronics will likely not be realized. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance the integrated circuit (IC) aspects of a flexible hybrid electronics technology to a level at which these devices can be produced reliably and in volumes in a production-relevant environment. While most of the components of flexible hybrid electronics technology relating to printed electronics methods have been adequately researched and developed, little has been done on the integration of solid-state semiconductor devices onto highly flexible, organic substrates. Partial results have been reported in the literature, however, no attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive, wafer-to-end product approach suitable for commercial applications. This project will address this gap by focusing on all the steps for IC integration, including the preparation for assembly of ultra-thin, flexible semiconductor dies, their attachment onto a flexible circuit board using laser-enabled assembly technology, and their reliable electrical interconnection. The anticipated end results will be a complete flexible hybrid electronics integration technology developed to a level of pilot production readiness.
Errata
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VECARIUS
SBIR Phase II: High Efficiency, Compact Thermoelectric Generator (TEG)
Contact
28 Dane Street
Somerville, MA 02143–3237
NSF Award
1330957 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$668,220
Start / end date
10/01/2013 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will pursue the full development of a novel system design architecture for thermoelectric generation (TEG) to recover exhaust waste heat from engines and convert it to electricity. The effort will build upon Phase I achievements, which included a successful feasibility demonstration of a fractional proof-of-concept prototype and development and validation of a computer model, thereby proving the viability of this new system technology platform. The technology enables efficient performance within a very compact and cost-effective form that also can easily scale in capacity. The Phase II effort will involve improving subsystems and designing, modeling, fabricating, and testing a full TEG system for a passenger car application. Furthermore, scalability will be explored by applying the TEG to a larger vehicle platform. the broader/commercial impact of this project lie in the fact that industry has found it very challenging to develop a TEG system design that meets market metrics of performance, reliability, compactness, and low-cost, particularly for automotive applications. The proposed TEG system architecture, which includes a novel exhaust gas heat exchanger uniquely integrated into the remaining system, shows strong potential for meeting such metrics, and thereby achieving significant reduction in vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. By penetrating the large passenger vehicle market, initial market introduction could easily range in the 100,000s and much more if the cost of the product is extremely low. Broader opportunities to recover exhaust waste heat for transportation include medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, which may also be addressed by this scalable technology. Other adjacent markets include stationary and mobile generator sets, solid-oxide fuel cells, and potentially, aircraft propulsion systems. This commercial impact would greatly support national energy independence and greenhouse gas reductions.
Errata
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Vaporsens Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Highly Sensitive Nanofiber Sensors for Trace Detection of Explosives
Contact
36 S Wasatch Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84112–9460
NSF Award
1353637 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,049,418
Start / end date
04/01/2014 – 04/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a working prototype of a handheld detector for trace explosives that is smaller, more sensitive, and has faster response times than any commercially available portable device today. Under NSF Phase I SBIR funding of this project, Vaporsens, Inc. successfully developed new organic nanofiber sensory materials required to achieve these goals. In Phase II, the company will design and optimize the sensor systems, electronic hardware, firmware and algorithm software required to build a handheld detector. The novel nanofiber sensory materials developed by Vaporsens will enable the proposed detector to simultaneously detect all three important categories of explosives with greater sensitivity, due to detection limits in the parts per trillion range. Prototypes will be subjected to third party testing to validate the rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of common explosives. The Phase II project will also permit the design and fabrication of new sensor materials, with the aim of further improving the sensing sensitivity and selectivity of subsequent devices through interface chemistry optimization. The broader impact/commercial potential of the project will reduce the impact of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which are a leading cause of casualties in contemporary warfare. IED use outside of warfare is growing, with over 170 incidents reported in the US alone during the first six months of 2013. As a result, the worldwide annual sales for trace explosives detection equipment has grown to approximately $400 million. However, these technologies are limited in their effectiveness. Swabbing machines require contact; bomb-sniffing dogs are expensive, need to work with the same handler, and have limited endurance; and imaging technologies are only practical in checkpoint settings due to size and expense. In contrast, the small size and high sensitivity of the proposed detector will be used for exacting detection of trace amounts of explosives in nearly any location, without swabbing, and at a cost that meets or exceeds the lowest price of detectors on the market. The commercialized device will be the first of its kind to allow local law enforcement and other public safety officials, border security and the military to "sniff" suspicious bags, vehicles, lockers, and people for dangerous explosive threats with immediate results regardless of their location.
Errata
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Addenda
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Vaxess Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A New Approach to Developing a Heat-stable Rotavirus Vaccine
Contact
700 main street
Cambridge, MA 02139–1226
NSF Award
1632434 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,409,999
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to increase global access to vaccines and reduce mortality associated with infectious diseases. As an example, Rotavirus is a major cause of severe gastroenteritis among young children and lack of vaccination results in 450,000 deaths annually. A thermostable rotavirus vaccine would create cost-savings for vaccine manufacturers, national governments, and non-profit vaccine buyers and enable market access in areas of the world that lack sufficient cold-chain capacity. Successful development of a stable rotavirus vaccine would not only have significant positive impact on global rotavirus immunization efforts, but may also revolutionize the general approach to vaccine delivery and distribution. This Phase II project will advance towards commercialization a novel platform technology that both stabilizes vaccines and enables novel delivery formats. This technology has significant commercial potential in that it can be broadly applied to numerous emerging and existing vaccines in the $24 Billion global market. The proposed project seeks to leverage the unique properties of silk to meet the global need for robust, thermostable vaccines. Thermal instability is a long-standing problem in vaccine development. Despite efforts to improve stability, current formulation approaches do not allow product storage under ambient conditions. Temperature excursions during shipment and storage are common and result in wastage or administration of suboptimal vaccines. The use of silk fibroin, a low-cost biomaterial, represents a novel approach to vaccine stabilization. The goal of the proposed research is to advance the silk-stabilization platform towards commercialization of vaccines that do not require cold storage. Building upon successful Phase I results, advanced formulation optimization studies will define a final product formulation for rotavirus that is compatible with scaled manufacturing and achieves all storage and in vivo attributes necessary for a commercial product. Through process optimization studies, fabrication of a dissolvable thin strip for oral delivery of rotavirus will be translated into a scalable manufacturing process that provides an attractive alternative to traditional drying methods. Evaluation of stabilized rotavirus vaccine films in an improved animal model will enable validation of in vivo immunogenicity and offer insight into vaccine stabilization and oral film delivery more broadly.
Errata
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Via Separations, LLC
SBIR Phase II: Robust Nanofiltration to Enable Challenging Chemical and Pharmaceutical Separations
Contact
381A Huron Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138–6832
NSF Award
1831203 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,228,412
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project focuses on advancing the domestic manufacturing capabilities for high-value nanomaterials for new membrane materials. Previously, the company has developed a novel membrane material with considerable economic, environmental, and nutritional impact in industrial process applications. Commercially available nanofiltration (NF) membrane systems employ polymer membranes, which have inherent chemical and thermal intolerance and are therefore difficult to clean or cannot be used in all separation streams. Meanwhile, 12% of US energy consumption is dedicated to thermal separations, a number that can be cut by a factor of 10 with appropriate physical separation technologies. This technology has applications across food & beverage processing, pharmaceutical production, semiconductor manufacturing, and chemical/petrochemical refining. Creating nanometer-scale features on large areas (tens of square meters) will enable technical opportunities for a multitude of products and applications. In this SBIR Phase II project, the company is conducting process development, pilot demonstration, and scale up efforts toward coating graphene oxide thin films for nanofiltration membrane separations applications. Today?s membrane processes are limited by the selectivity and durability of the nanofiltration membrane. Improved selectivity and operational conditions from the material platform enables improved downstream processes, and new product development. The technology is tolerant to elevated temperatures, extreme pH, organic and chlorinated solvents, and high levels of oxidizers. Transitioning from thermal separations to membrane separations saves 90% of the required energy. Meanwhile, payback time is < 3 months when improving clean-in-place (CIP) protocol for existing NF processes. This is a game changer for the separations industry. Key separations of interest include desalting, whey concentration, sugar fractionation, fatty acid separation, nutraceutical extraction, pharmaceutical purification and black liquor concentration. 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.
Errata
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Visikol, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Digitization of Skeletal Evaluations for Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) Studies.
Contact
120 Albany St Ste 850
New Brunswick, NJ 08901–2126
NSF Award
1852639 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$949,999
Start / end date
04/15/2019 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be the development of technology to improve the accuracy of skeletal evaluation within developmental and reproductive toxicology (DART) studies. The goal is to better ensure that potential therapeutics, cosmetics and agrochemicals do not cause teratogenic effects. Today, DART studies rely upon the subjective human-based manual evaluation of animal skeletons for defects, which has a low sensitivity for defects, significant inter and intra pathologist variability, and is laborious and costly. The technology under development is based on a novel imaging and automated analysis solution for this problem that will shift the paradigm of skeletal evaluation from a qualitative to quantitative approach. Through improving DART study accuracy, the objective is to better detect teratogenic effects of compounds, reduce the overall number of animals required for these studies, and reduce the cost to develop therapeutics by improving throughput and reducing study cost. The market opportunity for this technology is expected to be significant. The intellectual merit of this SBIR Phase II project is to focus on the development and optimization of an optical CT imaging device and analysis software for use with mouse, rat and rabbit fetal samples for skeletal evaluation. The specimens will be processed such that they are optically transparent with bones that are stained red. A training library of normal and abnormal fetal samples will be generated, and from this library a machine learning-based approach will be developed to automatically identify samples that are non-normal in a statistically significant manner. To achieve this, several classification methodologies will be evaluated quantitatively for accuracy and the image acquisition parameters will be optimized for imaging quality. From this work, a 21 CFR part 11 compliant software application will be developed in accordance with the ICH analytical assay guidelines such that this software can undergo IQ/OQ/PQ, which will allow for the hardware and software system to be implemented by customers in their GLP facilities. The hardware and software product that will result from this project will be one of the first validated digital pathology platforms in the marketplace, and will ultimately allow for customers to significantly reduce their operating costs while improving accuracy. 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.
Errata
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XPEED Turbine Technology LLC
SBIR Phase II: AERODYNAMIC FLOW DEFLECTOR FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE WIND TURBINES TO INCREASE THE ANNUAL ENERGY PRODUCTION BY 10% AND REDUCE THE LEVELIZED COST OF ENERGY BY 8%
Contact
33 Linberger Dr
Bridgewater, NJ 08807–2380
NSF Award
1660224 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$898,955
Start / end date
03/15/2017 – 08/31/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in enabling more efficient Annual Wind Energy Production (AEP) while reducing the cost of energy (COE). This will make wind energy more attractive economically, improve the energy security of the U.S, create jobs, and indirectly help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A 2% AEP increase is generally considered attractive. Two turbines (5kW and 50kW) tested during Phase I have shown an increase in AEP between 2% to 8% while reducing the COE by 1% to 6%. About 150,000 turbines worldwide can be potentially be retrofitted with this technology. This project will address challenges related to aerodynamic efficiency of wind turbines and the cost of wind energy. It is based on a deeper understanding of wind turbine aerodynamics from a more 3-dimensional point of view; most wind turbine designs are based on 2- dimensional theories. The key technical challenge in bringing this technology to market is to demonstrate the increase in AEP of utility scale turbines retrofitted with our deflector technology in realistic field conditions while reducing the COE. This will be addressed by performing testing at a few customer wind farms and NREL testing centers. The R&D plan consists of designing, manufacturing, and installing deflectors on a few utility size turbines (30-100 meters diameter rotors). The tests will include power performance comparison between baseline and retrofitted turbines according to international standards.
Errata
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Xallent LLC
SBIR Phase II: Integrated Nano-Electro-Mechanical Scanning Probes for Failure Analysis of the 10-Nanometer Node and Beyond
Contact
95 Brown Rd
Ithaca, NY 14850–1325
NSF Award
1632534 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$941,979
Start / end date
10/01/2016 – 03/31/2019
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop and commercialize a breakthrough suite of probes and probing platforms for the imaging and probing of semiconductor devices and thin film materials at scales below 100 nm, where conventional techniques are challenged. The resulting products will allow customers to perform a rich range of tests at the nano-scale at costs and times that are a small fraction of those required for conventional platforms such as scanning electron microscopes (SEM), scanning probe microscopes (SPM), and a range of automated test equipment (ATE) based on these technologies. Miniaturization across a range of sectors is driving the development of devices and materials at increasingly minute length scales. Multiple large-scale trends including mobile devices and the internet-of-things are driving an unprecedented volume of engineering at the nanoscale. Much of this is now dependent on the single-tip SPM that has evolved into a broad array of instruments for the analysis of physical, chemical and electrical properties, and to detect and isolate flaws. The Multiple Integrated Tips (MiT) technology that is the focus of this effort takes a radically different approach to enable an even richer range of tests at length scales below one micron, with a faster, simpler and much more cost-effective platform. Given a large install-base of capital equipment, we are focused on probes coupled with adapters that plug into the most popular SEMs and SPMs. These probes significantly expand the functionality of existing systems, and do this with low barriers to acceptance given modest price points and seamless integration into standard industry platforms. A portfolio of probes will be developed to address high-volume needs across the semiconductor and thin film markets, starting with 4-tip devices for the electrical characterization of thin films, and configurable or non-configurable 3-4-tip devices for probing integrated circuits. These will be offered in a variety of sizes and geometries, currently from hundreds of nm to 65 nm, and extending below 10 nanometers within a year. In Phase II, probe functionality will be enhanced to enable coupled imaging and probing with design to operate in AFM mode. The portfolio of products will be continuously expanded to additional two- and three-dimensional geometries via co-development with lighthouse customers.
Errata
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Yesse Technologies, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: A Chemical Detection Platform to Decode Human Olfaction
Contact
430 E 29th Street
New York, NY 10016–8367
NSF Award
1853051 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$1,449,999
Start / end date
05/01/2019 – 10/31/2023
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to ultimately develop a nose-on-a-chip to establish the first-ever digital database of smell. By interfacing the biology of the human nose with a read-out platform, it will be possible to decode the human sense of smell and open up new possibilities. Such a nose-on-a-chip and its associated smell database has multiple commercial applications in the fragrance and flavor industry including increasing the efficiency of developing aroma chemicals for food, personal hygiene or household use, and fine perfumes. Also, it may be possible to identify specific malodor receptors and developing compounds that block repulsive odors or modulate olfaction (boost smell capacity and/or suppress odor cravings). In addition, the smell database can be employed to develop algorithms that predict how new aroma chemicals will smell before making them. There is an additional opportunity for the nose-on-a-chip in the healthcare industry when applied to sniff out disease-associated odors, such as Parkinson's disease. Odor-based disease detection may revolutionize biomarker discovery and may have a significant impact on R&D spending in the pharmaceutical industry and ultimately decrease treatment cost for patients. The intellectual merit of this SBIR Phase II project is to produce an odor-specific nose-on-a-chip assay containing a subset of odorant receptors that can report the presence of a specific odor (odor MS1) and its derivatives. This minimal viable platform is based on a well-validated need in the fragrance and flavor industry and needs to demonstrate sensitivity, specificity, selectivity and intensity (S3I) of odor activation. The goals are to identify a set of high-affinity odor MS1 receptors, generate engineered mice for each receptor through this validated platform technology and demonstrate S3I using an established ex vivo bio-assay. Engineered mice form the basis of the proposed commercial platform. They are the bioreactors producing the olfactory extracts that are used in the ex vivo bioassay and, ultimately, are integrated with a silicon chip. As such, optimized generation of mice is key to cost-efficient scaling of the proposed commercial chips and is a primary objective of the project. The plan is to develop a high-throughput method of generating any receptor in mice. Then, the goal is to develop an optimized gene-targeted line that will serve as a standardized template for future knock-ins of any odorant receptor gene, providing a streamlined, standardized and scalable method to ultimately establish the complete library. 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.
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ZYMtronix Catalytic Systems Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Enzyme-based Magnetic Catalysts for Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates (APIs) Manufacturing
Contact
414A-1 Weill Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853–7202
NSF Award
1456279 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,087,654
Start / end date
03/01/2015 – 08/31/2018
Abstract
The broader commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is the commercial development of novel materials and processes for the immobilization of enzymes. The project is targeting enzymes as catalysts to be used in the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical intermediates (API). The use of enzyme for the production of pharmaceuticals has the potential to reduce cost, complexity and improve efficiency in making these products. The green, cost-efficient and scalable oxidative immobilized enzymes will benefit manufacturers by improving their production efficiencies and economics as well as minimizing adverse environmental impact. The technology could make benign oxidative enzymes commercially competitive replacing expensive precious metal catalysts, toxic, or other hazardous chemicals used in the production processes for APIs. The industrial applications for this technology could be broad well beyond the pharmaceutical arena. The technical objectives of this Phase II research project are to (1) develop oxidative enzyme constructs and biocatalytic schemes for the production of high-value commercial active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), (2) develop and produce magnetic macroporous scaffolds, and (3) improve operation of commercial reactors for continuous flow manufacturing or retrofit existing production processes using these magnetic catalysts with immobilized enzymes. This project enables immobilization to become a part of the selection process: enzymes can be selected for their true potential in their immobilized form by engineering enzyme immobilization with three levels of innovation: entrap commercially-available or third-party engineered enzymes into magnetic nanoclusters; create high-surface area scaffolds that stabilize the magnetic nanocluster assemblies, providing cost and process advantages of maintaining the nanocluster assemblies in suspension magnetically. This project is focusing on a high-potential, well-described and commercially available enzyme from the oxidoreductase family that will be used the synthesis of drug intermediates by enzyme-producers and enzyme-end users in the pharmaceutical sector.
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Zyrobotics LLC
SBIR Phase II: An Accessible Platform for Engaging Children with Motor Impairments in the Classroom Environment
Contact
3522 Ashford Dunwoody Suite #105
Atlanta, GA 30319–2002
NSF Award
1555852 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,015,769
Start / end date
02/15/2016 – 11/30/2018
Abstract
This SBIR Phase II project focuses on developing an accessible educational platform that combines mobile interfaces and adaptive educational tablet applications (Apps) to support the needs of children with special needs. Tablet devices are known to provide an interactive experience that has revolutionized learning for children. Unfortunately, while these tablet devices are intuitive to utilize and easy for many children, those with disabilities are largely overlooked due to difficulties in effecting pinch-and-swipe gestures. This project thus addresses a direct need in our society by providing an integrated educational experience, focused on math education that addresses the diverse needs of children, while providing a solution for variations found in their disabilities. The contributions of this project include 1) the design of accessible math Apps usable by K-12 children with and without disabilities and 2) the design of apps that adapt educational content and provide feedback to parents and teachers based on real-time analytics. Given that there are over 93 million children worldwide living with a disability and, in the United States, children with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public education, there is a large potential of making both a commercial, as well as a societal, impact in this space. This SBIR Phase II project addresses an unmet need by developing an innovative solution to enable children with motor disabilities access to mobile devices and Apps that could engage them fully into the educational system. This solution capitalizes on the availability of pervasive technologies by combining an accessible tablet interface and educational Apps that adapt to each child?s abilities in order to provide an accessible mobile solution. Tablet devices are known to provide an interactive experience that has revolutionized learning for children. Unfortunately, while these tablet devices are intuitive to utilize and easy for many children, those with motor limitations tend to have difficulties due to the fine motor skills required for interaction. As such, to address the growing utilization of tablets in the classroom environment, the specific research objectives of this effort include the design of methods that enable the embedding of educational math content into accessible tablet apps for training and evaluating cognitive skills, the design of methods that enable adaptation of the educational content based on real-time analysis of interaction data and correlated performance of the child, and the hosting of interactive design sessions with teachers, parents, and children to evaluate the usability of the system.
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bioMASON Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Efficacy of scaled up optimized urease producing microorganisms for manufacturing biocement binders towards a viable masonry construction material
Contact
54 Fairway Road
Asheville, NC 28804–1642
NSF Award
1534787 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,373,774
Start / end date
09/01/2015 – 10/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is focused on the continued development of biologically grown masonry units as a commercially-viable and sustainable alternative to traditional fired masonry materials. This product is grown in ambient temperatures utilizing a natural calcium carbonate cement formation induced by a urease-producing microorganism. The Phase II project will focus on material testing and further optimization and cost reduction of biocement products, with the intention of demonstrating pilot manufacturing and rapid commercialization via licensee manufacturers. Using biologic products and fermentation procedures developed in the Phase I effort, improvements will be made to scale up manufacturing and reduce cost in the manufacturing process. The commercial potential of this technology is critically dependent on achieving cost and performance parity, if not superiority, with traditional materials. Each year, 1.23 trillion fired bricks are produced globally for use in construction, resulting in over 800 million tons of carbon emissions. The societal impacts of this research would include a dramatic reduction in these emissions, as well as a corresponding reduction in industrial by-product waste. This project will enhance the technological understanding for commercial viability and test data including durability and physical performance. Technical objectives for this effort include evaluation of the resulting biocement masonry products through rigorous American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) testing methods, reduction of raw material costs through continued optimization, creation of in-house production capability for the requisite biologic product, and the creation and testing of a manufacturing process suitable for transition to licensees. Main focus areas of the Phase II project include rigorous material testing for physical performance, weathering and durability, in-house production of robust raw material constituents, and commercial testing coupled with pilot manufacturing. Rigorous ASTM testing methods will be done at two accredited labs, and labor requirements will be reduced via the adoption of lean automation in the production process. Additionally, the utilization of existing material handing manufacturing equipment at licensee facilities, where possible, will be evaluated. Expected project results will include a comprehensive statistical analysis of multiple physical samples, as well as a corresponding failure analysis. Additional expected deliverables include the successful commission of in-house pilot scale manufacturing for biocement constituents as a simplified additive to be used by commercial partners and licensees.
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iSono Health, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Compact, Low-cost, Automated 3D Ultrasound System for Regular and Accessible Breast Imaging
Contact
177 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94107–5910
NSF Award
1927052 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$766,000
Start / end date
10/01/2019 – 09/30/2021
Abstract
The broader/commercial impact of this SBIR Phase II project introduces a new paradigm in breast cancer screening with a cost-effective and accessible platform for personalized breast health monitoring, empowering women and their physicians with accurate and actionable data. In the US, over 300,000 women are diagnosed and 40,000 women die from breast cancer annually. Breast cancer has a 99% survival rate if detected early, but limitations in cost, sensitivity, and accessibility of current screening result in missing 1 in 3 cancers at early stages. Early detection is associated with lower costs of treatment that save billions of dollars in direct medical care and lost productivity annually, demonstrating a clear economic and societal benefit for better breast cancer screening platforms. The technology leverages the proven benefits of automated ultrasound and the newfound power of cloud-based artificial intelligence to expand the deployment of these systems, including lower-resource settings such as walk-in or rural clinics, pharmacies, and in the home for self-monitoring. The platform's portability, low cost, 2-minute scan time, automated analysis, and patient-centered design greatly increases the accessibility and adoption of breast cancer screening, resulting in better clinical outcomes and a reduced cost burden to the US healthcare system. This SBIR Phase II project proposes to continue development of a novel platform that combines 3D automated ultrasound with artificial intelligence (AI) for personalized and accessible breast imaging. The proposed project will improve the performance of a compact scanner and wearable accessory combination to produce repeatable images independent of operator training; this can be accomplished in under 2 minutes without expensive capital equipment, ionizing radiation, or patient discomfort. The intuitive software will enable physicians to visualize whole breast volume and accurately localize and measure lesions. AI will identify abnormal masses and predict the probability of malignancy to help physicians with accurate and fast diagnosis. The Phase II R&D focuses on five objectives: (i) optimize system performance for high-quality whole breast imaging with a new beamforming technique for higher resolution, with higher frame rates and faster scan; (ii) finalize the wearable and scanner design to ensure reliable operation with water as the coupling medium; (iii) conduct usability verification and validation regarding safety and functional requirements for clinical use; (iv) conduct a small study to verify the scanner's ability in finding existing breast lesions; (v) develop a machine learning engine for real-time detection and characterization of lesions in images acquired with the ultrasound scanner. 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.
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kelaHealth Inc
SBIR Phase II: An adaptive machine learning-based platform to improve surgical quality and patient outcomes
Contact
301 Howard St
San Francisco, CA 94105–0000
NSF Award
1926924 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$882,098
Start / end date
09/01/2019 – 02/28/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to help usher in personalized and tailored surgical care within a shifting healthcare context toward value-based care. Hospitals and surgeons are seeking solutions that will enable them to target, as opposed to generalizing, improvements in surgical quality for enhanced patient outcomes and effective use of resources. By proactively identifying surgical risks and matching patients to interventions most appropriate for these risk strata, the proposed technology is designed to support hospitals in meeting their value-based care objectives. The larger vision is to apply this paradigm in all of medicine by leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for prediction, proactive intervention, and outcomes tracking in a closed feedback loop. Demonstrating this in a high-cost, high-risk specialty like surgery provides a path for expanding the technology into other medical specialties and serving a greater domestic and international market. Ultimately, the lessons learned from the wide-spread use of this technology will allow society to derive key kernels of knowledge in applied data science, preventative medicine, and technical scalability of hospital enterprise solutions. This project is an interdisciplinary representation of crucial activities needed to drive the tipping point of medical technology. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project builds upon the results of Phase I, which included predictive engine development, scalable data processing pipeline development, and hospital stakeholder engagement activities. Phase II efforts focus on further developing the technology to facilitate its commercial use and integration in clinical settings. Key objectives for the Phase II project are as follows: (1) development of an Application Programming Interface (API) to deliver tailored machine learning models to broad users across varying needs, (2) expansion of a clinical intervention library supported by clinical evidence across multiple surgical specialties, and (3) development of an outcomes dashboard to display postoperative patient outcomes from automated extraction of electronic health records. The result of this project will be a closed-loop clinical and technical infrastructure that is agile to the needs of a diverse range of surgical customers to enable quality improvement across an entire surgical ecosystem. 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.
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nView medical Inc.
SBIR Phase II: 4D scanner for image guided interventions
Contact
1350 S Colonial Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84108–2204
NSF Award
1456352 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,615,512
Start / end date
04/15/2015 – 09/30/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the significant improvement of surgical accuracy, which will dramatically reduce surgical errors, improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. In spine surgery alone, there are more than 500,000 procedures every year in the US utilizing implants such as screws. In 4% to 11% of these surgeries, the implant placement is inaccurate. For the patient this translates into longer recoveries - from days to weeks - and in many cases into a second revision surgery. The patient is non-productive, unable to carry out their daily routines for weeks, while the healthcare system has to absorb the costs of the longer recovery as well as the revision surgeries. For both the healthcare and economic systems these are avoidable costs. The medical imaging technology being developed in this project has the potential to eliminate surgical inaccuracies across the $2.4B market of image guidance, improving clinical applications that range from orthopedic surgery to minimally invasive vascular interventions, to cancer diagnosis and treatments. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project will demonstrate a novel imaging modality, which provides near-real-time 3D live imaging - 4D - during surgery. This novel system will provide surgical imaging at a lower x-ray dose than fluoroscopy (current standard), with a geometry that allows concurrent imaging with surgery. This 4D technology has the potential to significantly reduce surgical inaccuracies, improve outcomes and reduce costs. Phase 1 successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the reconstruction algorithm used by the proposed imaging modality by showing its potential of higher surgical accuracy in a single spinal screw insertion. This Phase 2 project will I) prove the robustness of the reconstruction algorithm across a variety of use-cases, II) demonstrate the clinical usability of the 4D scanner, and III) confirm the clinical utility of the scanner. The clinical usability will be studied with an ergonomic model in a surgical setting. The clinical utility will be proven by building a system prototype and performing image quality and x-ray dose comparisons versus fluoroscopy and 3D in a realistic surgical setting. Preliminary results show that these objectives are achievable. This research is readying the technology for clinical research, regulatory clearance and commercialization.
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nanoView Diagnostics Inc.
SBIR Phase II: High-Throughput and Scalable Nanoparticle Characterization for Life Sciences Applications
Contact
8 Saint Mary's St
Boston, MA 02215–2421
NSF Award
1831192 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
08/15/2018 – 12/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop an instrument platform that will facilitate development and translation of next generation diagnostics and therapeutics that are based on a class of nanovesicles called extracellular vesicles (EVs). EVs, which are nanoparticles shed by cells, are being investigated for early detection of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders, from biofluids without the need of invasive tissue biopsies. The lack of tools and techniques to perform high-throughput characterization of EVs is limiting translation. The platform under development will enable an understanding EVs produced by cells. The global market for nanoparticle analysis instrumentation in the life sciences is estimated at $5.9 Billion. The EV market, which is a subset of this market, is rapidly growing, with a predicted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47.3% over the next five years. Biological nanoparticles are playing an increasing role in life science applications and better, target-specific, faster tools are needed to characterize them in a high-throughput way. This SBIR Phase II project will complete the development of an instrument platform to enable Extracellular Vesicle (EV) measurements and characterization. The platform will include a customer configurable consumable, eliminating the requirement for an expensive custom robotic arrayer step, removing barriers to end-user adoption and decentralizing discovery. Also, long-term shelf-life of the consumable will be established. In addition, improvements into the imaging platform will enable visualization of the smallest nanoparticles, relaxing the complexity and cost of the platform and providing a functional advantage over competitive offerings. The platform will automate much of the workflow, reducing operator hands-on time. The resulting platform will enable EV measurements with 5X-to-30X less sample volume, detect 100X-to-10,000X less concentrated targets, and increase throughput by using a workflow that bypasses purification requirements needed by other techniques. The completion of these objectives will result in a life science research tool for researchers and industry working on EV-based diagnostics and therapeutics. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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spotLESS Materials Inc.
SBIR Phase II: Anti-Fouling, Sludge- and Liquid-Repellent Slippery Surface Coatings for Common Plastics
Contact
326 VAIRO BLVD APT C
State College, PA 16803–2847
NSF Award
2026140 – SBIR Phase II
Award amount to date
$999,527
Start / end date
09/01/2020 – 08/31/2022
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to develop coatings for plastics, with applications from sanitation to automotive displays. Few surface coatings on plastics can resist fouling of bacteria and mineral deposits while also achieving both liquid- and sludge-repellency. This project will develop a slippery surface coating that repels liquid, sludge, bacteria, and mineral deposits on common plastics. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will advance translation of liquid-entrenched smooth surface (LESS) coatings that can be directly applied to various plastics. Functionalizing plastics with mechanically durable surface coatings is challenging owing to the lack of reactive surface chemistry. LESS demonstrates excellent liquid- and sludge-repellency with over 95% reduction in bacteria accumulation and mineral deposits compared to untreated surfaces. This project will investigate the optimal formulation and coating parameters to enhance interfacial bonding strength of LESS onto plastics through combined molecular dynamic simulations and experimental characterizations. The newly developed LESS-on-plastics coatings will be systematically evaluated for their mechanical and UV durability, liquid- and sludge-repellency as well as the anti-bacterial and anti-scaling functions. 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.
Errata
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Addenda
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txteagle Inc
SBIR Phase II: Large-Scale Analysis System for Mobile Crowdsourcing
Contact
883 Boylston St 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02116–2601
NSF Award
1026853 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$1,000,000
Start / end date
08/01/2010 – 01/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to create a new, innovative system to manage a highly-scalable, geographically-distributed labor force through wireless technology - what is refered to as " mobile crowdsourcing." The plunging cost of handsets and the introduction of prepaid call plans have allowed individuals throughout the world to have the ability to communicate and transact electronically. This project will create the infrastructure needed to provide wireless subscribers the ability to do work and earn money - leveraging today's mobile phone's ability to send, receive and display images, audio files and text. The system will: deconstruct a client's work into "micro-tasks;" preferentially route micro-tasks to individuals most likely able to complete them; statistically analyze completed work across individual responses to automatically reach a decision on when work is complete, and who has provided the most useful input; compensate workers in proportion to the value they have added; and, finally, reconstruct the completed task for the client, with a statistical assurance the work has been accomplished correctly. The first application of this system will be for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. The company will integrate with several mobile carriers in Africa and South America to allow subscribers direct access to transactional BPO tasks including transcription, translation and text categorization. Communicating with workers directly through phones and emphasizing quality control on work, rather than worker will enable users to perform tasks when they want, where they want, and as they want. Automated compensation through existing mobile payment and airtime transfer systems will allow for much lower overhead costs. In addition to cost savings, however, clients who use this system to complete work will also have the benefits of: increased security (no one worker will be able to see an entire document or hear an entire audio recording), access to a scalable workforce (when "spikes" of work come through, labor can be seamlessly scaled up), and potential for very fast turnaround on work (micro-tasks can be done in parallel by many individuals, greatly reducing total time to complete a workload). Additional applications of the mobile crowdsourcing platform include data gathering related to local content and surveys, productivity tools for auditors, and mass reporting abilities following disaster-related events.
Errata
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Addenda
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unspun, Inc.
SBIR Phase II: An additive method for manufacturing customized textile products
Contact
2990 Capital Dr
Eugene, OR 97403–1842
NSF Award
1831088 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE II
Award amount to date
$750,000
Start / end date
09/15/2018 – 08/31/2020
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will demonstrate an additive manufacturing process to produce 3-D woven textile products at scale. Presently, the clothing manufacturing industry still relies on manual sewing machines that were invented over one-hundred and seventy years ago. This system limits the manufacturing process and textile capability; an abundance of steps leads to waste, inefficiencies, and segmented products. Further, due to the low cost of foreign labor, the US textile industry has effectively come to a halt: 97.3 percent of all clothing sold in the United States in 2015 was imported. This project seeks to develop a novel method for manufacturing woven textile products by employing additive manufacturing methodologies to automate the production process, while simultaneously enabling complete customization and on-demand production. This technology will enable premium and competitive textile manufacturing to return from overseas, creating high value-added jobs and a designer community in the United States while also generating tax revenue. In the same way that 3-D printing technology has revolutionized the hard goods manufacturing process, this project seeks to create an entire new industry of additively manufactured textile products, enabling significant opportunities for future innovation. This project develops a novel technology to manufacture near-net-shape three dimensional woven textile products. To develop this technology, this project first proved feasibility through creating constituent textile panels of non-standard shapes with 3-D topography in Phase I, laying the foundation for continued development into fully three-dimensional, seamless, finished products produced in-situ through Phase II. By additively producing garments from a unique 3-D model complete customization to each individual consumer is possible on a large scale, though this has never before been accomplished. Further, through the on-demand production of clothing customized to individual consumers, the need for substantial inventory buildup is eliminated. In this way, additively manufactured textile products are both more desirable to consumers and more economical to producers. As such, the societal and environmental benefits of automated and on-demand textile manufacturing within the United States are significant, including eliminating massive amounts of waste from typical cut-and-sew manufacturing techniques, revamping a struggling American manufacturing industry, and minimizing the economical, environmental, and geopolitical implications of the United States? current dependence on a convoluted global supply chain. 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.
Errata
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Phase I
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3DEO, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: An Affordable Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine
Contact
14000 Van Ness Ave Ste C
Gardena, CA 90249–2942
NSF Award
1646942 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
12/01/2016 – 05/31/2017
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I Project aims to tackle the two greatest barriers to technology adoption associated with metal additive manufacturing (AM) - cost and quantities. Current metal AM platforms use expensive core components and consumable materials in high-priced machines that produce 99.9% dense parts. The proposed project introduces a lower performance, affordable stainless steel additive manufacturing technology that will be capable of satisfying the vast majority of customer needs for industrial grade stainless steel parts. The vast majority of the market simply cannot afford to take advantage of AM benefits due to the high costs associated with current technologies. This proposal re-examines the material performance, machine cost and reliability requirements necessary for a novel metal AM system. The goal of the proposal is to allow an estimated 50,000+ American manufacturers to capitalize on the benefits of AM and compete to win in an ultra-competitive, highly globalized manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the proposed invention of a low-cost machine allows for unprecedented scalability in metal AM, allowing smaller manufacturers to compete with the resources of large conglomerates. This research has broad implications in many industries and is considered to be fundamentally enabling for the growth and prosperity of American manufacturing. The proposed project re-examines the need for high technology, high cost core components in currently available commercial metallic AM machines. Through an innovative deconstruction of the inkjet print head-based, binder jetting process, a method for producing metal end-use parts has been created. The proposed process is based on a novel combination of two low cost and established technologies. The creation of a robust prototype with this novel method is a highly challenging, multi-faceted project involving key advances in materials science through the development of a novel binder system compatible with the new process as well as a fundamental evaluation and improvement of material properties of the as-built parts. In addition, re-designed sintering cycles and development of software prediction algorithms to anticipate shrinkage characteristics will be core challenges to overcome in order to achieve the tight tolerances manufacturing partners require. As such, these challenges will require tight cross-disciplinary collaboration for a meaningful outcome. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to fabricate powder metallurgy parts of adequate structural integrity to satisfy industrial end-use requirements.
Errata
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase I: High-Resolution Shop Floor Video-Rate Surface Metrology System
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1448214 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,902
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will perform the critical research that ultimately leads to a robust, hand-held, video-rate surface metrology system to bridge a critical existing metrology gap for precision-machined surfaces. The broader impact of this project will be to improve yield, performance, safety, and lifetime of components in a wide range of critical U.S. industries including automotive, aerospace, and medical devices. For example, minor surface imperfections on edges or in other critical areas can have a dramatic effect on performance of components such as turbine blades, cutting tools, or other high-stress elements. In the turbine industry, during maintenance inspections, wear scars or corrosion pits that can lead to catastrophic failures must be quantified to ensure only necessary repairs and replacements are performed; current inspection technologies lead to high rejection rates of good parts since lack of good quantification necessitates conservatism in part rejection. This high-precision, portable, shop-floor gage will greatly enhance quantification of such features, leading to enhanced competitiveness across multiple critical U.S. manufacturing industries that employ a wide range of processing technologies. The total available market for such an instrument is estimated to be greater than $45 million annually in the initially identified application spaces. The intellectual merit of this project is the demonstration of a novel instantaneous whole-field optical method for measuring rough surfaces with micron resolution and centimeter field of view. Instantaneous whole-field acquisition enables high-resolution measurements to be made in environments not possible with current technology. Benefits of this technology range from increased manufacturing capability in aerospace (for example, production of turbine blades with improved efficiency), to fields such as medical imaging where motion and vibration are intrinsic. The research objectives for this program are to develop and/or demonstrate feasibility of several key components: an efficient method of generating polarization-based fringe patterns to enable instantaneous measurement, a state-of-the-art light source, compact optics capable of high-efficiency illumination and large-area imaging, and robust data processing techniques. Extensive modeling and experimentation will be combined to ensure success of each of the technical objectives. Once key components are developed, a breadboard system will be built and comprehensively tested against a variety of critical metrology goals. At the end of this Phase I effort, the anticipated outcome will be a working breadboard capable of vibration-immune, three-dimensional surface metrology with micron-level lateral and vertical resolution, applicable to a wide range of precision machined surfaces.
Errata
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Addenda
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Dynamic Surface Profile Measurement System
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1014221 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2010 – 04/30/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the metrology needs of next-generation manufacturing of precision components by developing a surface measuring microscope with extended vertical range/slope capability that can operate under extreme vibration conditions. The aims of this Phase I project are to develop a breadboard system capable of making high spatial resolution measurements without the need for vibration isolation, to develop and demonstrate an extended range measurement technique that will enable the measurement of any type of surface, and to evaluate the performance of this prototype in terms of repeatability, precision and accuracy. The Phase II goal is to develop a prototype instrument that will be mounted on computer-controlled machining equipment used in the manufacturing of precision components such as large optics and x-ray telescope mirrors. The proposed instrument will enable the manufacture of complex surfaces and provide a flexible research tool to study a wide variety of surface phenomenon. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project extends to industries such as micro electro-mechanical structures (MEMS), flat panel displays, bio-medical devices, data storage, solar, semiconductor, and automotive. Surface finish/roughness is critical to the performance of precision machined components in all these industries. For example, in the manufacture of large mirrors for astronomy and aspheric mirrors for x-ray optics, surface roughness is critical to the final imaging performance due to limitations caused by light scattering. In applications such as medical implants and precision automotive components, longevity is critically affected by surface finish owing to friction and wear. Additionally, the measurement of nanostructures is important in the fields of hard disk drive components, MEMS, flat-panel displays, and semiconductor chips to provide feedback to improve fabrication processes and tools. Instruments that directly measure surface roughness in-situ in the presence of vibration, and over a large area, are not readily available. The proposed instrument will allow rapid measurement over a large scale in manufacturing environments enabling quick optimization of the fabrication process, minimization of productions costs, and development of new surface fabrication processes.
Errata
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Addenda
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4 D Technology Corporation
SBIR Phase I: In Situ Three-dimensional Surface Roughness Gauge
Contact
3280 E Hemisphere Loop, Ste 146
Tucson, AZ 85706–5024
NSF Award
1746302 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2018 – 06/30/2018
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate feasibility of the first metrology system capable of quantifying surface roughness in three dimensions in situ in production environments. Current shop floor systems are almost entirely two-dimensional stylus-based systems that are fragile, incapable of measuring complex geometries and have high cost of ownership. A shop-floor, 3D roughness system will enable greater sampling, faster process feedback and improved time-to-results which will enhance competitiveness across a wide range of U.S. industries including medical devices, aerospace, transportation, and defense. All precision machined components call out surface roughness or texture, yet achieving consistent results with existing contact gauges is difficult and time consuming. It is believed that a shop floor, non-contact roughness measurement device could gain significant market share, with sales upwards of $50M/year upon proving correlation with existing trusted laboratory techniques. Also, trusted, readily available roughness information on almost any machined surface will enable enhanced quality, lifetime, and aesthetics for precision manufacturers, improving competitiveness and reducing waste across a variety of industries. The intellectual merit of this project is due to its leveraging of recent advances in a variety of fields including additive manufacturing, precision optics, microprocessing, image sensors and interferometric algorithms to achieve nm-scale vertical resolution in a vibration-immune device deployable in manufacturing environments. The closest similar product has vertical resolution more than 100X worse than is proposed here and the proposed performance goals present significant challenges to achieve both high resolution and hand-held capability. A successful Phase 1 will prove that significant synergies between advances in various fields can be combined to significantly advance performance over prior generation products. Also, if successful, manufacturers will have access to a far greater range of process control parameters on more types of surfaces and will be able to improve quality and yield significantly via faster and more accurate feedback into their production cycle. The output of this Phase 1 program will be a first article device that can be brought to customers for demonstration in a shop floor environment. The device will correlate with existing techniques while solving many key issues, such as alignment difficulty, scratching surfaces via a contact measurement, and lack of three-dimensional surface information.
Errata
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Addenda
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase I: Novel Cost-Effective Enzyme Immobilization Technology for Sustainable Industrial Applications
Contact
2715 W Fort St
Seattle, WA 98199–1224
NSF Award
1047429 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the design of a robust and low-cost enzyme immobilization system to increase the cost-competitiveness of bio-catalytic processes. The lack of a universal, sound, and affordable enzyme immobilization technique has been a large barrier to widespread deployment of bio-catalysis for chemical production, which hold immense promise for reducing the chemical industry?s environmental footprint. This Phase I project will lift this barrier by developing a robust and low-cost enzyme immobilization system with broad application for many different bioprocesses using one of Arzeda Corp.?s proprietary enzymes as the basis of the binding strategy. Ultimately, this project will lead to an economically viable system for immobilization of any enzyme on a bio-catalysis column with increased catalytic efficiency and longevity. The broader/commercial impacts of this research result from the fact that Arzeda has the only proven technology to design novel enzymes with catalytic machinery not existing in nature And is helping address many of the most pressing needs of the bio-refinery industry: ? Developing bio-catalytic routes to currently inaccessible renewable chemicals and ? Increasing profitability through extending enzyme lifetime and increasing enzyme lifetime. As such, Arzeda sees the success of this project as a way to increase the adoption of bio-catalysis and thereby increase the market for its enzyme products. To achieve this, Arzeda will apply its core technology along with the proposed enzyme immobilization strategy to develop bioprocesses enabling high value, renewable chemicals from biomass.
Errata
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Addenda
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase I: High-yield Fermentation of Sugars to Levulinic Acid
Contact
2715 W Fort St
Seattle, WA 98199–1224
NSF Award
1114078 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,894
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the development of a high-yield fermentation route for the production of levulinic acid (LA). LA is one of the best-suited C5 building blocks for bio-refinery production due to higher value, broad applications, and likely quick adoption by the chemical industry. To date, no bioprocess for LA exists, and known chemical processes have not reached commercial stage due to high cost and lower yield. Arzeda, the world leader in computational enzyme engineering, has invented a new biochemical method to convert sugars to LA. The objective of this Phase I project is to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept by validating the proposed biochemical conversion in vitro. Arzeda will use its enzyme engineering platform to design the biocatalyst(s) needed, including computational modeling and design, gene assembly, and enzyme production. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are the advancement of a U.S. ?green? chemistry industry, and strengthening, economically and environmentally, of a sustainable United States bio-refinery industry. The lack of a high-yield alternative to costly thermochemical processes has been preventing a widespread adoption of levulinic acid. Because LA can be converted, chemically or biochemically, to synthetic rubber (through isoprene and butenes), bio-fuels (such as kerosene and HMF), polymers (for instance, nylons) and polymer additives (for changing polymer characteristics), the addressable market is in excess of $20B annually. When considered as the end product, LA trades at a considerable higher price than ethanol, the current product of most commercial bio-refineries, and thus can help diversify their product offering and considerably increase their margins. Application of Arzeda?s proven technology of computational enzyme design to bring to the world a high-yield fermentation route for LA will considerably advance
Errata
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ARZEDA Corp.
STTR Phase I: Synthetic Biology 2.0: A platform for the automated design of cell factories incorporating synthetic enzymes
Contact
3421 Thorndyke Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119–0000
NSF Award
1321578 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2013 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project brings together computational enzyme design with systems biology to create a fully integrated platform for novel pathway designs. The approach chosen will combine specific databases and a novel pathway synthesis tool. This computational tool will use the information present in the databases to automatically discover, or "design", novel pathways for fermenting natural renewable feedstock to virtually any chemical of human interest. In the Phase II Experimental Plan, the goal is to further advance the concept by developing a high-performance pathway prioritization module to estimate each designed pathway yield and impact on organism metabolism, and experimentally test the performance of the system. To our knowledge, the proposed research is the first attempt of combining computational enzyme design with computational pathway prospecting and modeling. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, if successful, will be to engineer biosystems and cell factories for industrial applications, especially in the field of bio-based chemicals and biofuels. Most successes to date in the field of synthetic biology have involved recombining natural enzyme building blocks into novel pathways. However, recent developments in computational enzyme design make it possible to have designer enzymes to enhance nature's catalytic repertoire. Being able to have an automated, computer-aided design tool that leverages new capabilities to create novel metabolic pathways employing synthetic enzymes will bring us closer to truly synthetic biology.
Errata
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Addenda
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ARZEDA Corp.
SBIR Phase I: Computational Enzyme Design for the Production of Butadiene
Contact
3421 Thorndyke Ave W
Seattle, WA 98119–0000
NSF Award
0946132 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,237
Start / end date
01/01/2010 – 12/31/2010
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes engineering novel biocatalysts for the production of butadiene. High value, renewable chemicals have the potential to become economic drivers for integrated biorefineries. Currently, effectively exploiting biomass is limited by the low specificity of chemical processes and the low catalytic diversity of naturally occurring dehydratases. We will apply a unique and groundbreaking enzyme design technology harnessing computational power to rapidly screen and design novel dehydratases not existing in nature. An ideal dehydratase active site targeting the substrate will be generated and grafted into a large library of proteins. The library will be computationally optimized for high substrate affinity and specificity, with top enzyme models selected for experimental characterization and assayed for catalytic activity. The anticipated result of this SBIR Phase 1 research project is a novel enzyme that converts 2,3-butandiol into butadiene in the test tube. Ultimately, this project will lead to a fermentation process to convert cellulosic sugars directly into butadiene, a higher value, renewable chemical. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will enable integrated biorefineries to more effectively use biomass, diversify revenue streams and potentially reduce hazardous waste. Our proposed approach, which uses the only proven technology for the design of novel catalytic machineries, will lead to new dehydratases for the production of commercially high value renewable chemicals. Directed evolution, the current state of the art, cannot address the enormous combinatorial complexity inherent in generating novel enzymes. Butadiene is an existing building block used in a wide variety of applications, resulting in a multibillion-dollar market ($5.56M in 2008). Bio-butadiene can be used directly as a renewable drop-in chemical in these existing applications and, therefore, offers an attractive and immediate opportunity to help built a stable and profitable biorefinery industry. Furthermore, the knowledge gained in this project will be leveraged to generate a panel of dehydratase enzymes for the production of other renewable chemicals, thereby opening up the opportunity to access new markets and develop new and innovative products. This technology will help address many of the pressing needs of the biorefinery industry: Develop new biofuels,increase profitability, and accelerate growth through efficient and effective conversion of biomass.
Errata
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Addenda
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Alchemie Solutions, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Game-based learning for organic chemistry using mechanisms
Contact
4735 Walnut Lake Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301–1328
NSF Award
1548225 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,927
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project makes the theoretical touchable for organic chemistry students by building a game for mobile devices based on mechanisms. Mechanisms are maps of bond-breaking and bond-making events illustrating how an organic reactant is transformed into a product. This underpinning concept is a powerful tool used both in the teaching and the practice of organic chemistry. Organic chemistry is traditionally the gateway class for students progressing into STEM careers, such as medicine and engineering. The course has earned its roadblock reputation with attrition rates in the range of 30-50%. The fail-rate for under-represented minorities and first generation students is even higher than that of the general student population. Students' previous learning in chemistry or other sciences does not adequately prepare them for the cognitive load of structure and pattern recognition required to master organic chemistry. This project will produce the mechanism game and bring a tactile interface to learning chemistry. The game is designed to span the entire curriculum, into graduate levels. The accessibility and relatively economical cost-structure of the mechanism game is particularly attractive to the market of students needing to excel in organic chemistry to achieve their career goals. The technical innovation of this project is delivering the content of chemical mechanisms using a touch-screen, game-based format. By layering audio, visual, and kinesthetic cues in the user interface of the game, students will 'feel' bond-breaking and making, acidity, and resonance. The mechanism game is an intrinsically motivating system for students to know when they are moving through a reaction mechanism correctly, helping students gain the intuition necessary for success in organic chemistry. The important piece of this project is the development of this new learning tool as a game, as opposed to an interactive tutorial. The research will focus on the iterative process of creating engaging game-play by field-testing with players as the game is developed. The technical challenge of the project is devising a game that can tolerate the scientific scrutiny of academic chemists while remaining appealing to even the casual game player. The key metric for success will be testing the mechanism game with chemistry professors and instructors to determine whether they would recommend the game to their organic chemistry students.
Errata
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Altaeros Energies, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Low-cost, High Performance Fabrics for Inflatable Sructures
Contact
28 Dane St.
Somerville, MA 02143–0000
NSF Award
1248528 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$155,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 09/30/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a novel low-cost, high-performance fabric suitable for long service life helium inflatable structures, including aerostats and airships. Traditional fabrics for lighter-than-air (LTA) applications utilize woven polyester or vectran basecloths laminated with various materials that improve gas retention, environmental resistance and allow the material to be thermally bonded. This combination has excellent performance, providing a useful service life in excess of seven years, but comes at a high cost, which limits the commercial application of helium inflatable structures. The proposed low-cost, high performance fabric replaces the woven basecloth with a scrim of high-strength synthetic fibers, similar to those in high-end sailcloth. This type of material has not seen wide use in helium inflatable structures where seams are subject to long-term loading from internal pressure. The impact of scrim pattern and yarn alignment on seam stiffness and long-term holding strength is considered. This Phase I research will investigate the behavior of these materials, as well as one or more alternative woven fabrics, under long-term loading, UV exposure, and mechanical wear and tear, in order to evaluate their suitability for helium inflatables. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be a step toward the widespread commercialization of LTA inflatable structures in traditional and new application areas. Helium inflatable structures are traditionally used for transporting or elevating high value payloads, such as military surveillance equipment or advertising, where the relatively high cost of the fabric envelope is not a barrier to commercial feasibility. The advent of a low-cost, high performance helium inflatable fabric will make LTA structures economically viable for a number of industries that are cost-sensitive, including remote and emergency wireless communication; low-cost freight transport; and airborne wind energy production. The research will also enhance the understanding of the behavior of scrim-based fabrics under loading conditions, which may benefit a wide range of industries that could use these fabrics, including sailing, architectural fabrics and air inflatable structures.
Errata
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Addenda
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Antheia, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Engineering biocatalysts for biomanufacturing of medicinal opioids
Contact
1505 OBrien Dr. Ste B1
Menlo Park, CA 94025–5222
NSF Award
1621560 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to enhance the supply of complex pharmaceutical molecules from nature. Over 60% of current drugs are natural products, or are derived from natural products, and of these approximately half are from plants. The therapeutic activity of a given plant molecule is encoded in its chemical structure, which is biosynthesized by a specialized metabolic pathway. Despite the efficiency of these biosyntheses, plants accumulate relatively small amounts of the potent metabolites in specialized cells and tissue types, thereby restricting the availability of essential medicines from plants. The opioids exemplify this limitation of plant therapeutics; the structural complexity of the opioids precludes chemical synthesis at commercial scale, and in the absence of this synthetic source the only viable alternative is to extract natural opiates from opium poppy. This project proposes to make the biosynthesis of medicinal opioids possible in a microbial host. This synthetic biology approach will move opioid production into fermentation facilities and free up the 100,000 hectares of arable land used each year for poppy crops. The disruptive technology resulting from this research will for the first time provide for a local, scalable, secure supply of medicinal opioids. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop a microbial production system for medicinal opioids that will displace the existing supply from opium poppies. A complete opioid biosynthesis pathway was recently constructed in Baker's yeast, demonstrating that this technology holds enormous potential for supplying the $2B opioid active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) market. The key technical hurdle addressed in this SBIR project is to enhance the activity of rate-limiting enzymes that catalyze key steps in the construction of the five-ring opioid scaffold. The target class of plant enzymes is poorly expressed in heterologous hosts such as yeast and must be membrane localized. The proposed research takes three approaches to support these enzymes: 1) tuning expression to conserve the endomembrane environment and promote activity, 2) constructing N-terminal chimeric proteins with enhanced stability, and 3) identifying partner enzymes that support the catalytic function of these enzymes. The goal is to remove the bottleneck steps in existing production strains to allow for commercially-relevant titers of greater than 1 g/L. The outcome will be a new production system that offers active pharmaceutical ingredients at lower cost, with greater availability and variety of molecules, shorter lead times, and acute responsiveness to the medical demand for opioid therapeutics.
Errata
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Addenda
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Antheia, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Production of plant alkaloid therapeutics via fermentation of engineered yeast
Contact
1505 OBrien Dr. Ste B1
Menlo Park, CA 94025–5222
NSF Award
1621559 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to provide a sustainable, secure, and low-cost supply of established and emerging plant-based medicines. The class of molecules targeted for microbial biosynthesis are the benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, a diverse group of plant therapeutics that includes the pain-relieving opioids and the anti-cancer noscapinoids. Approximately 100,000 hectares of opium poppy are grown annually to extract more than 800 tons of opiate active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). This process diverts land use from food crops and consumes horticultural supplies including water, pesticides, herbicides, and nitrogen- and phosphorus-fertilizers. The existing supply chain suffers further vulnerabilities due to crop susceptibility to climate and disease, restricted growing seasons, and the logistical and security concerns associated with transporting poppy materials across the globe. This project will develop technology to manufacture medicinal opioids and plant-based medicines by yeast fermentation. The technology will allow for year-round, market-responsive production of valuable APIs in secure, local bioreactor facilities. An independent technoeconomic model shows yeast-based production will lower the cost of opiates by 10-50 fold. Furthermore, this technology will provide for diversification into the biosynthesis of rare and novel molecules for drug discovery, with indications spanning cancer, infectious, and cardiovascular diseases. This SBIR project proposes to develop baker's yeast as a scalable production system for medicinal opiates and related plant therapeutics. While much effort has been directed to establishing yeast strains that make high levels of other plant-specialized metabolites, such as terpenoids, platform strains for this diverse class of alkaloids do not exist. The key technical hurdle addressed by this project is to engineer strains capable of synthesizing high levels of the common branch point molecule, reticuline, from tyrosine. This project will use synthetic biology tools to improve existing prototype strains by 1) engineering alternative biosynthesis routes to increase pathway flux and bypass bottlenecks, 2) protecting a key unstable building block molecule from degradation by the host cell metabolism, and 3) implementing a spatial engineering approach to promote enzyme access to target substrates. The goal is to generate a platform yeast strain that will be used to target valuable molecules at commercially-relevant titers of greater than 1 g/L. The platform strain also will be used to access previously inaccessible natural benzylisoquinoline molecules, and an even greater number of non-natural derivatives. This technology will broadly transform the approach to provision, discover, and develop needed medicines and drug candidates.
Errata
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Arable Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Advanced bioeconomic forecasting enabled by next-generation crop monitoring
Contact
40 N Tulane St
Princeton, NJ 08542–0000
NSF Award
1549035 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$170,000
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to empower farmers to capture a greater share of revenue from the marketing of their crops. Agriculture is a significant engine to the U.S. economy, and farming itself is vital to creating economically vibrant rural areas. Farmers are often at a disadvantage when it comes to capturing good prices from their crops because there are significant information asymmetries in the marketing supply chain. This project develops a combination of hardware and analytics that greatly improves crop forecasts at dramatically more accessible prices, which allows farmers and their trusted buyers to make more informed marketing decisions. An addition to the narrow application of sensing hardware and analytics for forecasting, the data collected by the platform can also be used by growers to make decisions that improve operational performance of complex agribusinesses and improve the agronomy of the farm. These tools make it easier to compare performance of crops to improve yields and reduce resource costs. Together this technology continues to raise productivity and profitability per farmer. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project integrates a novel plant and weather sensing platform with analytics that synthesizes data into actionable forms that can drive agribusiness decisions. The project bundles a suite of capabilities into a single hardware unit that includes sensing, communications, GPS, mounting, and solar power, which dramatically reduces the cost and increases the simplicity of collecting agricultural data. These data are uniquely designed to monitor crop performance and its sensitivity to weather and management. Data synthesis is a critical pain point in transforming raw numbers into insights for growers to act upon. By creating an integrated hardware platform, the data is poised to provide useful advice that allow a farmer to act on emerging situations, anticipate upcoming events, and even predict the future. A research objective will be to generate probabilistic forecasts that use the unique data from our hardware to estimate key crop growth parameters and project forward for an operational yield forecast. This coupling between highly informative quantitative in-field data and sophisticated ensemble-based parameter estimation and forecast techniques could dramatically improve marketing decisions and help farmers capture better prices for their products.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase I: High-Throughput Agile Robotic Manufacturing System for Tile Mosaics
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1113606 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
07/01/2011 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate a proof-of-concept prototype of a high-throughput agile tile mosaic manufacturing system. Mosaics have proven to be a great source of visual splendor for thousands of years. Despite its prominence in art and architecture, mosaic is arduous to design and assemble by hand. The goal of this Phase I work is to prove the feasibility of a programmable high-throughput multi-head robotic tile assembly system to enhance the production agility of mosaic tilings. Research innovation in Phase I will merge the benefits of parallel tile placement with robust high-capacity tile cartridges to radically decrease tile mosaic fabrication time and associated tile mosaic assembly costs. The measurable objective of Phase I is a 5x increase in production throughput over current state-of-the-art mosaic manufacturing technology, while enhancing tile placement accuracy. The system will be capable of producing both template and ?mass customized? mosaics. In Phase II, the prototype will be refined into a commercial grade system, integrated with an Enterprise Resource Planning system, and placed into service in Artaic?s production environment. Successful Phase I/II demonstration will significantly lower the time and cost for manufacturing mosaics and potentially revolutionize the $76B global tile industry. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project goes beyond art, design, and architecture. Robotic automation will lower the cost of mosaic and increase its societal impact in adorning public, commercial, and residential spaces. The proposed research, if successful, will have a significant impact on agile manufacturing. It will allow penetration into unforeseen markets by reducing the cost of highthroughput flexible assembly. The solution proposed by the research will be immediately applicable to customers and partners, and potentially useful in parallel industries such as medical, pharmaceutical, food, consumer products, and others that will benefit from robotic agile manufacturing enabled mass customization. Agile mosaic manufacturing capability could revitalize the U.S. tile manufacturing industry and create job opportunities. The investigators estimate that a 5x production rate increase will enable a breakthrough price of $19.99, 75% lower than the competition, and for the first time achieve broad market affordability.
Errata
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Artaic LLC
SBIR Phase I: Computer-Aided Mosaic Design and Construction
Contact
21 Drydock Avenue
Boston, MA 02210–2397
NSF Award
1047077 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$180,000
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a comprehensive software toolkit for creating digital mosaic artwork. Mosaics have proven to be a great source of visual splendor for thousands of years. Despite their prominence in art and architecture, mosaics are arduous to design and assemble by hand. The goal of this Phase I project is to build and test software tools to automate production of digital mosaic artwork. After integration with robotic assembly in Phase II, the proposed automation will significantly lower the time and cost for designing and manufacturing mosaic artwork. In Phase I, Artaic proposes to combine two leading methodologies for digital tile layout - procedural and optimization-based algorithms - to closely mimic the workflow of mosaic artists. Artists will sketch curves to denote perceptually important edges along which the tiles should be oriented, while algorithms will determine tile placement in response to user-defined parameters, rendering styles, and composition rules If successful, this work will have broad commercial potential in art, design, and architecture. Software and robotic automation will lower the cost of mosaics and increase its traditional societal impact of adorning public, commercial, and residential spaces. This will also have spillover benefits, including growing use of this artform in advertising, entertainment, and visual effects. The ultimate goal of Artaic is to leverage this software with custom robotics to create physical mosaics. This will enable Artaic to expand into a multi-billion dollar market and grow a domestic workforce. The fact that there is a software outlet for this work in addition to a proven commercial market for large-scale physical output adds to the case for the advancement of the proposed research.
Errata
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Arytha Biosciences, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Development of Biomimetic Toxin Nanosponges with Enhanced Toxin Affinity
Contact
11575 Sorrento Valley Road
San Diego, CA 92121–1963
NSF Award
1345715 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$155,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 07/31/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a cholesterol-enriched biomimetic toxin nanopsonges with enhanced toxin-binding affinity for efficient scavenging of cytolytic toxins in the bloodstream. Consisting of nanoparticle-supported red blood cell membranes, toxin nanosponges serve as a biomimetic decoy to arrest and neutralize pore-forming toxins regardless of their molecular structures. The platform can detoxify alpha-hemolysin, a major toxin in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as other toxin types with different molecular structures. Toward translating the platform to treatment of toxin-induced injuries and diseases, this Phase I project aims to enhance the toxin-binding affinity of the nanosponges for more efficient toxin removal by enriching the platform with cholesterol, a common receptor for many pore-forming toxins. The project also serves to expand the toxin nanosponge platform from the existing mouse blood model to two other non-human animal species, rat and pig. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in the unique biomimetic properties of the nanosponges and its broad applicability against multiple pore-forming toxin types. The platform possesses significant therapeutic potential owing to broad presence of membrane-damaging virulence factors in bacteria and in animal venoms. In addition, the platform presents a unique nanostructure that elegantly bridges biological materials with synthetic nanomaterials. The success of the project will bring forth a potent therapeutic option against many virulence factors and establish a new class of nanoparticulate for emerging biomedical applications. This program will benefit the field of antitoxin treatment as well as nanotechnology studies in general.
Errata
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Astrapi Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Spiral Polynomial Division Multiplexing
Contact
100 Crescent Court
Dallas, TX 75201–2112
NSF Award
1621082 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$224,878
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 02/28/2017
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to support rapidly growing wireless data usage with fixed available bandwidth through the provision of more robust synchronization. Modern high-speed communication is heavily dependent on precise synchronization between transmitters and receivers to enable efficient data throughput. This project pioneers an entirely novel technique based on ?Spiral Polynomial Division Multiplexing? (SPDM) to enable precise and efficient synchronization. It offers a new set of approaches for improving synchronization, with possible applications to any communication systems that face extreme spectral efficiency demands, or which are challenged by particularly difficult synchronization problems such as communication with high-speed vehicles such as trains. This project could lead to commercialization across a wide range of communication sectors including but not limited to wireless, mobile internet, unmanned vehicles, automotive, aviation, and Internet of Things. It has major potential applications in both civilian and defense applications. SPDM shows promise in providing more robust communications that are resistant to interference and jamming. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the problem of achieving very precise synchronization between a transmitter and receiver, while expending minimal power and bandwidth to do so. The research objective is to show that a new type of synchronization, based on SPDM, enables superior synchronization performance than is possible with previous methods. SPDM introduces a new way of combining, or multiplexing, signals based on orthogonality in the polynomial coefficient space. This results in a very large waveform design space, which can be bandlimited using polynomial convolution with a ?shaping polynomial?. Synchronization can be achieved within SPDM by checking for the time alignment which produces a ?reasonable result? when the shaping polynomial is deconvolved in the receiver, which can be a very sensitive test due to the special properties of SPDM polynomials. The research will involve systematically testing SPDM synchronization under a variety of conditions, examining performance data, and comparing against standard synchronization methods. It is anticipated that this research will show significant benefits for SPDM synchronization in at least some practically important situations, forming the basis for further research leading to deployment of SPDM-based systems.
Errata
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Astrileux Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Novel Technologies to Enable High Volume EUV Manufacturing of Integrated Circuits
Contact
4225 Executive Sq Ste 490
La Jolla, CA 92037–8411
NSF Award
1343877 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to evaluate the feasibility of customized next generation nanoscale technology which enables high volume manufacture of integrated circuits, leading to faster computing power and performance. Current progress in reaching next generation performance is limited by significant technical challenges in meeting high volume manufacturing requirements driving up the cost of electronics. These problems have plagued the industry for over 10 years. The research activity here considers alternative approaches in addressing the production rate issues which ultimately reduce cost to chipmakers and reduce energy consumption in the semiconductor industry, thereby providing greener high performance electronics at lower cost. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project are firstly to accelerate the arrival of next generation computing technology creating faster, smaller more powerful mobile devices and providing evolutionary advances in quality of life for a globally-social electronic community, and secondly to develop electronics which meet the world?s demand at reasonable cost and without substantial adverse impact on the environment, and thirdly to maintain the competitiveness in global supply and accessibility of next generation electronics.
Errata
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Astrileux Corporation
SBIR Phase I: High Fidelity EUV PhotoMasks
Contact
4225 Executive Sq Ste 490
La Jolla, CA 92037–8411
NSF Award
1747341 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2018 – 06/30/2019
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to drive the next generation of advanced computing power and performance, by manufacturing integrated circuits, the fundamental units of electronic systems, at length scales of 7 nm and smaller. Today?s central processing units (CPUs) each contain 7.2 Bn chips and over 1.2 sextillion chips are manufactured per year to meet computing demands. Next generation technology is expected to enable artificial intelligence and machine learning through both conventional computing and potentially neuromorphic paradigms, bringing to reality transformative applications such as self-driving cars and smart buildings. As Moore?s law continues to set the pace of technological advancement, chipmakers will deploy new EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography tools, using light of 13.5 nm to pattern integrated circuits or chip architecture into silicon wafers, for the next three generations of technology. Chipmakers strive to bring about the readiness of EUV technology in 2019. The global demand for next generation electronics is forever increasing as the population grows above 7 Bn. However, the global supply of electronics constantly faces challenges to reduce costs and deliver technology beyond Moore?s Law. The proposed project addresses the challenges related to high volume manufacturing at the 7 nm node for lithography tools and its components. For example, an EUV photomask, a high commodity component, patterns and replicates integrated circuit design into silicon wafers. Current EUV photomasks have a sub-optimal manufacturing yield of ~60% and suffer from defectivity which arises during fabrication of its architecture. During operational use the photomask sustains damage from the debris generated by the EUV plasma light source that implants in the mask and inevitably replicates in the wafer, destroying the integrated chip pattern. In high volume manufacturing, these issues manifest in the wafer yield, the reusability of a mask, and drive the need for high cost real-time inspection and metrology. A new EUV photomask which promises greater robustness to defects, a higher manufacturing yield, more reusability of masks in operations and a longer lifetime is presented. The goals of the project are to evaluate new integrated architecture for the EUV mask design, develop a higher yield fabrication process and characterize the EUV performance. More robust photomasks reduce the capital outlay required for in-situ metrology and inspection and ultimately bring down the cost of next generation electronics.
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Azimuth1, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Envimetric - Soil and water contamination predictive modeling tools
Contact
501 Church St NE
Vienna, VA 22180–4711
NSF Award
1721607 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2017 – 06/30/2018
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to help environmental engineers identify and delineate the bounds and concentrations of soil and groundwater contaminants with greater speed and accuracy. Over 30,000 contaminant spills have been identified in the United States alone, with thousands yet to be investigated and returned to safe levels. The resources and effort being applied to these sites is insufficient to ensure the safety of the affected communities across America. Focusing the remediation resources available, in the right place increases the rate at which federal and state regulators can close site investigations. As a result, environmental professionals will perform remediation earlier, making the site safe and productive again for local communities. The innovations developed in this project will enhance understanding of contaminant migration and develop a technical capability to use these findings to prepare more accurate conceptual site models during a contaminant investigation. Faster site models resulting in successful remediation directly translates into cost savings for environmental clean-ups, reduction in damage to the environment, as well as increased throughput and efficiency for the environmental engineering industry. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to create unique summary models for the flow, extent, depth, and shape of contaminant plumes, with the goal of targeting resources to accelerate the remediation process for local communities. The project leverages algorithmically derived models of contaminant migration combined with public and private data from decades of environmental investigations across the country. Once the data are aggregated and analyzed, the project team will produce a collection of guideline statistics and software tools for use by engineers investigating future sites that are mathematically similar to those in the combined database. The project uses predictive algorithms to determine the likely extent of underground contaminations and applies statistical uncertainty measures to the conceptual site model. These mechanisms will enable environmental professionals to understand when and where additional data is required. In addition, by using a more accurate and sophisticated measure of uncertainty, the project?s models will provide definitive guidance to field engineers on where to collect new sample data and where they have sufficient certainty to remediate the site using excavation or other means. These innovations will lead to the goal of safer and cleaner communities in less time, with fewer costs, with reduced environmental damage.
Errata
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BLUE CRANIUM, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Cognitive Communications Payload Module for CubeSat Applications
Contact
20525 CENTER RIDGE RD STE 614
Rocky River, OH 44116–3424
NSF Award
2025828 – SBIR Phase I
Award amount to date
$255,937
Start / end date
08/01/2020 – 04/30/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to advance communications and on-board processing capabilities for small satellites or CubeSats, which is important with growing civil and commercial demand for satellite communications services. The proposed payload module provides a number of cognitive communications functions focused on intelligent networking capabilities for CubeSat platforms and swarms. These functions enable robust, reliable global connectivity by allowing for customer CubeSats to efficiently and autonomously communicate within swarms and with other networks for applications including Earth observation, sensing, situational awareness, new space, and communications. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop and demonstrate a flexible, comprehensive cognitive communications payload module to enhance communications functions in networking for CubeSat platforms and swarms. This project will demonstrate the technical feasibility of the proposed innovation, apply advanced and emerging on-board processing and communications technologies, and develop and integrate hardware and software to develop a prototype payload module for CubeSat applications. The prototype will perform several cognitive functions allowing for intelligent networking for CubeSat platforms and swarms: intelligent routing, network self-healing, ad-hoc networking with other available networks, and data store and forward capabilities for sparse networks and network build-up phase. Autonomous operation will improve data transmission, data packaging and routing, latency mitigation, and user-initiated services for commercial, government, and academic CubeSat operators. This effort will focus on three key areas: 1) developing the cognitive engine architecture and software, 2) acquiring and integrating a software-defined radio and single-board computer, and 3) developing an appropriate API. The objective of this project is to prototype the cognitive communications payload module in preparation for testing, demonstration, flight qualification, and commercialization. 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.
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Bay Labs, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Semantic Video Analysis for Video Summarization and Recommendation
Contact
1479 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103–3734
NSF Award
1416612 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$148,754
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 06/30/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is considerable because a variety of complementary new technologies is ushering in a new era in which visual messages are becoming a first-class media type along-side text and speech. Today, both amateur and professional videographers still have to enter the virtual darkroom to sift through video, edit it, and produce engaging content. Video creation is waiting for its Polaroid moment, when a technological solution will transform the post-production time required to create engaging video. If successful, the technology developed in this project will greatly increase the utility of any video capture device and would have implications outside of Internet media in areas such as life recording and knowledge transfer. The countless video clips of important or memorable events that are today commonly archived and forgotten could instead be automatically summarized and made available in a usable and engaging format. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to evaluate the technical viability of an automatic video summarization system based on neural networks and adapted to measurements of human psychology. As people collectively record more videos than they can possibly consume (the video deluge problem), a technology that automatically turns raw videos into relevant and engaging summaries becomes increasingly critical. The company's proposed platform would streamline video sharing, search, and viewing, all of which are staples of our online lives. Scientifically we are at a unique time in the capabilities of artificial visual systems, with some systems rivaling human performance in limited domains. Furthermore, the field of visual psychology has also seen recent progress in relating visual semantic information to cognitive phenomena, like memorability of images. Taken together, it may now be possible to automatically predict the cognitive relevance of visual information and produce effective video summarizations. This project combines deep neural networks for visual object recognition, recurrent networks for contextually embedded temporal information, and user measurement of interest, memorability, and uniqueness. The primary technical objective is to determine whether a system can automatically predict human-produced video summarizations.
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Big Blue Technologies LLC
STTR Phase I: Continuous Production and Collection of Magnesium via Carbothermal Reduction
Contact
10526 W 106TH Pl
Westminster, CO 80021–3604
NSF Award
1622824 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
07/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
This STTR Phase I project addresses the problem of embedded energy in the manufacture of magnesium metal for use in vehicle light-weighting. Improving fuel economy by incorporation of light metals, especially magnesium, does not save on total lifecycle energy consumed if the magnesium was produced using conventional methods. The most energy efficient production method known is a process technology that was commercially viable during the 2nd World War but not at any other time in history. The project innovation is based on reinvestigation and reinvention of this dated process, discovering and addressing the reasons for technical and economic failure. Domestic magnesium production using the proposed state-of-the-art energy-efficient practices will lead to opportunity and growth for downstream manufacturing methods that support a wide range of military, industrial, and consumer products such as car parts, electronic devices, titanium production, and canned beverages. The economic and environmental benefits of the innovation in the long term will be ever more prescient given the unprecedented rise in use of magnesium metal over the past 100 years and expected continuance of this rate of adoption. Production of magnesium using carbothermic chemistry can be realized at temperatures below 1250 degree C using a combination of three operational parameters: 1) reduced pressure atmosphere, 2) addition of a catalytic material, and 3) extensive size reduction of the reactant materials. In conjunction with a continuous condensation and collection system, magnesium produced from this process entails at least a 50% reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions compared to the predominant Pidgeon process. The project will employ a variety of high temperature experimental systems and methods to investigate performance of pelletized reactant materials and obtain recovered metal yields above 85%. An optimized composition will be statistically determined and used in a low-temperature prototype reactor system for continuous production of crude magnesium. The goal of the project is to produce a casted magnesium product and prove the reduction of energy intensity and economic feasibility with a techno-economic analysis.
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Bioinfoexperts, LLC
SBIR Phase I: RAPID Integrated and automated genomics platform for hospitals responding to COVID-19
Contact
PO BOX 693
Thibodaux, LA 70301–4904
NSF Award
2027424 – SBIR Phase I
Award amount to date
$256,000
Start / end date
05/01/2020 – 03/31/2021
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be a user-friendly and scalable infection control surveillance software platform using advanced biotech and data analytics for monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for rapid testing, analysis, and tracking. The innovation provides access to next-generation sequence technologies to healthcare facilities, as well as a centralized system to integrate and share hospital-level data with microbial information to be shared on any geographic scale. The platform automates the analysis of bacterial and viral data, delivering simplified and clinically relevant results via interactive web interfaces. The proposed technology offers important data to clinicians and other experts. The intellectual merit of this SBIR Phase I project is to generate the largest collection of SARS-CoV-2 whole genomes with matched respiratory microbiomes for clinicians to rapidly test medical hypotheses for diagnostic and prescriptive use. Our project has three major objectives: 1) incorporate an automated analytical pipeline to process whole genomes of infecting strains of SARS-CoV-2; 2) integrate viral genomes with patient microbiomes and clinical records, and; 3) deliver clear, easy-to-interpret results via an interactive web interface. The infection control cloud-based software platform solution enables “precision epidemiology” integrating pathogen genomics with clinical and patient demographics to improve patient outcomes and enhance the capability of the health system for infection control and surveillance. 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.
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Amplification-Free Small RNA Sequencing
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1248728 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 12/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to make next generation sequencing technology for small RNA more quantitative and less biased. High throughput sequencing has transformed the landscape of genomic research with its ability to produce gigabases of data in a single run. This has enabled researchers to perform genome wide and high depth sequencing studies that would normally not be possible. Despite this capacity, amplification artifacts introduced during PCR increase the chance of duplicate reads and uneven distribution of read coverage. Accurate profiling using deep sequencing also has been undermined by biases with over or under-represented miRNAs. The presence of these biases significantly limits the incredible sensitivity and accuracy made possible by next generation sequencing. The goal of this proposal is to develop novel, bias-reducing technology for making amplification-free small RNA libraries. The company's kits and protocols will ramp-up considerably the rate at which global microRNA profiles can be determined, and that between-sample and within-sample differences (as well as newly discovered small RNAs) can be subsequently validated. This product will result in a major shift in the way small RNA sequencing is performed and pave the way for unbiased measurements in the clinic. The broader impact of this project will be the accurate measure of small RNAs, and the clinical utility of such a profile. Products of the same microRNA gene that vary in length by one or two nucleotides are involved in a whole host of diseases, including cancer. The value for developing a method to measure the true profile of microRNAs in a sample would be immense for the research community studying transcriptional regulation, and would open the doors to clinicians interested in capitalizing on the diagnostic value of microRNA profiling. Companies whose sole model is to extract prognostic information from microRNA profiles would benefit from the wealth of date generated from accurate non-biased high throughout sequencing. The size of the next generation sequencing market is expected to pass $4 billion by 2014. Growth in the sequencing diagnostic market is just beginning. Unique diagnostic kits developed from this technology will fulfill an unmet market opportunity with the potential to exceed $15 million in the first 3 years.
Errata
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Addenda
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Biomolecular Detection of microRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
1047285 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2011 – 12/31/2011
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to examine high throughput methods to quantify intacellular microRNA (miRNA) concentrations in cells that have shown to be associated with normal physiological processes as well as diseases including cancer. Currently, there are no rapid, quantitative methods available to measure miRNA expression in living cells or tumor tissue. All current in vitro approaches require extensive preparation involving extraction, reverse transcription of miRNA into cDNA, and amplification. These methods are not only time consuming, but require that the low abundance miRNA be several fold greater than background to give a significant result. To meet the demand for a diagnostic/prognostic tool, we propose development of a biomolecular detection device based on a single electron transistor to bind and measure the concentration of miRNAs, giving a researcher or clinician an accurate profile to make proper clinical assessments. In addition, we propose development of fluorescent probes designed to bind to miRNAs intra-cellularly and fluoresce upon recognition. Developing these high-throughput methods to detect miRNA at the single cell level will give us direct information on intracellular miRNA levels, miRNAs that are essential for identifying tumor maintenance or metastasis, thus creating new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be to enhance current diagnostic and prognostic tools for early detection of disease. Today, early cancer detection and treatment offers the best outcome for patients. This has driven the search for effective diagnostics. The identification of a universal tumor-specific epitope or marker has remained elusive. While many types of serological and serum markers have included enzymes, proteins, hormones, mucin, and blood group substances, at this time there are no effective diagnostic tests for cancer that are highly specific, sensitive, economical and rapid. This deficiency means that many cases of malignancy go undetected long past the time of effective treatment. The goal of this research is to develop clinical diagnostic tools where miRNA profiles can be examined from patient samples immediately in a hospital or clinical setting. The current size of the in vitro diagnostic market is estimated to be over $40 billion. Unique diagnostic kits developed from this technology will likely fulfill an unmet market opportunity with the potential to exceed $100 million in the first 3 - 5 years.
Errata
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Bioo Scientific Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Improved in Vivo Delivery of SiRNA
Contact
7050 Burleson Road
Austin, TX 78744–1057
NSF Award
0738167 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$146,910
Start / end date
01/01/2008 – 12/31/2008
Abstract
PARS Summary This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project aims to develop an improved method for the delivery of small inhibitory ribonucleic acids (siRNA) into cells. The proposed methodology will utilize chemically induced immuno-conjugates or direct linking of siRNAs to antibodies as the mechanism for improving siRNA delivery into the cells. Use of siRNA to silence genes of interest has become a very important mechanism to regulate gene expression both in experimental settings as well as in diseases. One of the current limitations to using siRNA therapy in vivo is the low uptake by the cells. Methods that improve siRNA uptake by target cells would therefore be of great benefit to the scientific and medical communities. The use of the cellular uptake mechanisms for the delivery of these potent regulatory molecules into cells further opens the possibility of using specific gene silencing molecules as therapeutic modalities in vivo.
Errata
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Blue River Technology Inc
SBIR Phase I: Use of Machine Learning Techniques for Robust Crop and Weed Detection in Agricultural Fields
Contact
575 N Pastoria Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94085–2916
NSF Award
1143463 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2012 – 06/30/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to understand the fundamental visual cues and characteristics of plants found in agricultural facilities for the purpose of rapid automated identification of plant species. The human eye, coupled with the brain?s processing power , can readily distinguish between different plant species. This capability was one of the basic needs for humans to become an agrarian society (farming requires weeding), which helped start enormous social advancement. Similarly, to bring automated systems to the next generation of capability, computer vision must interact with the natural world with greater fidelity. Today?s computer vision has ability to detect a ?splotch? of vegetation versus no vegetation. This project will advance computer vision by developing the equipment and software algorithms necessary to automatically distinguish plant types. The project team will build a computer vision algorithm based on a field customized support vector machine (SVM) that can automatically and reliably identify a known crop versus a foreign plant (i.e. weed) for use in a larger system for automated weeding. By creating the ability for computers to distinguish between plant types, we will enable food to be grown with reduced amounts of chemical herbicides. The broader impact/ commercial potential of this project is to increase the competitiveness of vegetable farms, particularly organic ones, while improving human health and the environment. Today, organic farms represent 5% of the U.S. agricultural economy and are growing at a pace to double organic acreage every 4 years. A key feature of organic farming is the lack of herbicides. Consequently, organic farms are normally weeded by hand. Weed control represents approximately 50% of operating costs for organic farms, compared to less than 10% for conventional ones. With an estimated $700M spent annually on weeding organic farms, there is a substantial commercial opportunity to create a system that can weed farms automatically. This project will develop a system that uses a computer system towed behind a tractor to automatically detect and eliminate weeds at early plant stages. The system can be developed and deployed at less than 1/5 the life-cycle costs of hand weeding. The technology is also applicable to conventional crop thinning where it can significantly reduce the amount of herbicides used. Additionally this technology has a profound health and sustainability benefits by eliminating human exposure to chemical herbicides through food and avoids herbicides leaching into the soil.
Errata
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Bluefin Lab, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Semi-Automated Sports Video Search
Contact
21 Cutter Ave
Somerville, MA 02144–0000
NSF Award
0810428 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2008 – 06/30/2009
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop new technology that will enable precise search of sports videos. Users will be able to search for specific players, teams, and plays from large archives of recorded video sports broadcasts. The proposed research will build on early results of a sports video search engine developed by the team at MIT. The approach combines semantic information mined from speech transcriptions with visual information extracted using video analysis algorithms. The proposed research will extend the existing software algorithms that have been developed for baseball video to other professional and college sports. Additional software tools will be developed to increase the accuracy of the search system, and new user interfaces based on natural language processing algorithms will be designed to enable simplified user access to video. The anticipated result of this research is a method for accurate video search and indexing that enables queries by natural language and requires significantly less human labor to initially tag video than existing techniques. The broader impact of this research comes from the commercialization of this technology as a service layer which provides search and indexing solutions to multiple market segments that together represent a multibillion dollar industry in the United States. The research meets the needs of at least three market segments: (1) Sports professionals, who will gain powerful video access tools enabling better player evaluation, recruiting, coaching, and game analysis; (2) Sports news providers, who will be able to link news stories to related video clips thereby adding value to their media offerings; (3) Sports fans, who will be able to search and browse sports video archives with ease, providing new opportunities for advertising. Initial market research suggests that the access enabled by this technology would have broad impact on how sports video is used. Furthermore, the approach may later be extended to apply beyond sports to other video domains.
Errata
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Branch Technology LLC
SBIR Phase I: Additive Manufacturing in Construction
Contact
100 Cherokee Blvd
Chattanooga, TN 37405–3878
NSF Award
1520482 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in the availability of an additive manufacturing (3D printing) process suitable for full-scale building construction. The construction industry represents a critical nexus in the American economy. Building construction impacts nearly every economic sector, particularly manufacturing, transportation, energy, consumer products and appliances, and real estate. Simply, a building is perhaps the most essential economic stimulus there is. Yet, the practice of building has seen little of the technological revolution that has transformed virtually every other industry. As a result, the construction industry produces significant material and financial waste, and its productivity has steadily declined over the past several decades. Additive manufacturing is the most efficient and cost-effective approach to creating custom products, of which buildings are by far the most valuable and most widely purchased. Customization is increasingly driving demand by today?s consumers. Additive manufacturing in construction could reduce costs and material waste while providing unparalleled design freedom and driving innovation through the consolidation of many isolated industrial activities into one highly flexible and efficient manufacturing process, which directly serves industry professionals and clients at an individual level. The intellectual merit of this project stems from the vast potential of Additive Manufacturing to transform design and making. In a broad sense, the proposed method of construction aims to make the complexity, efficiency, and freedom of digital architectural design accessible to the average consumer. Phase I research will serve to scale and develop a new large-scale additive manufacturing process, and to evaluate the performance of the physical products in their functions as building components. The proposed method may potentially impact other types of large-scale manufacturing as well, including aerospace and automotive. Our technology is rooted in observations of the processes in which forms are created in the natural world. Structures in nature have long fascinated scientists and engineers, due to their remarkable efficiency and complex forms. 3D printing now allows us to manufacture products of similar efficiency and complexity which reflect our observations of nature. We believe that if the genius of natural organisms can be applied to the way we create shelter, provide transportation, design infrastructure, or construct cities, the resulting innovations could profoundly, and very literally, shape the way our societies develop, and transform our relationship with the natural world.
Errata
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BriteSeed, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Label-free imaging for real-time, intraoperative blood vessel visualization
Contact
4660 N Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640–4510
NSF Award
1520502 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$174,997
Start / end date
07/01/2015 – 04/30/2016
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a novel, intraoperative imaging technology to addresse the problem of inadvertent cuts to vasculature during minimally invasive surgeries. Patients who suffer vascular injury face increased risks of developing nosocomial infections and, in up to 32% of cases, mortality. These patients are burdened with longer hospital stays and corrective procedures that add tens of thousands of dollars to their healthcare expenses. This is compounded by obesity, a risk factor that is associated with higher rates of conversion from minimally invasive to open surgery due to limitations in the surgeon?s ability to visualize and navigate vasculature. Hence, there is a critical need to identify and assess hidden vasculature in real time. The proposed technology provides users with blood vessel visualization and size metrics before a cut is made. Importantly, this system will be designed for seamless integration into a suite of surgical instruments for multiple applications. Long term, the company aims to provide surgeons with the preeminent imaging platform to view, assess, and characterize a range of vessels (i.e. arteries/veins, ureters and bile ducts) in real-time for improved surgical guidance and outcomes. The proposed project will develop a novel blood vessel detection and visualization platform using low-cost optical imaging sensors and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The proposed technology will provide visual and quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time that can supplement a surgeon?s technique. This system will be simple, cost-effective, easy to employ, and highly accurate, and will be based on science similar to that found in pulse oximetry technology. Traditionally, the avoidance of blood vessels during minimally invasive surgery is accomplished by visualization or costly intraoperative imaging. The proposed technology will use pulsatile light absorption characteristics of blood vessels to provide quantitative information about vessel presence and size in real-time, supplementing a surgeon?s technique. This project will also add significant value to the body of research conducted in the areas of signal processing and image analysis. In addition, the proposed technology will remove the risk of data loss due to artifacts in general and motion artifacts in particular. The proposed technology will be validated ex vivo and in vivo using a porcine animal model.
Errata
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CYPRIS MATERIALS, INC.
SBIR Phase I: Paintable Solar Reflective Coatings for Cool Roof Retrofits
Contact
626 BANCROFT WAY STE A
Berkeley, CA 94710–2262
NSF Award
1940383 – SBIR Phase I
Award amount to date
$225,000
Start / end date
01/01/2020 – 12/31/2020
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will bring a new family of "structural color" coatings to the commercial marketplace as an alternative to toxic pigments and dyes, as well as a new paradigm for controlling the flow of light. This project aims to improve the energy efficiency of buildings through a coating that can be applied to residential roofing materials during installation or at the original equipment manufacturer level. The technology is a bottoms-up approach to the formation of reflective materials offering significant advantages over state-of-practice cool-roofing alternatives by retrofitting without changing the facade's appearance. The resulting product will rapidly increase adoption of cool-roof technologies due to improved performance without aesthetic loss, a key homeowner concern, leading to substantial energy savings. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses key risks and technical challenges associated with commercializing brush block copolymer based photonic crystals. This forms an ideal advanced materials platform for large-area dielectric mirrors due to the low costs of the raw materials and the simplicity of "bottoms-up" fabrication by macromolecular self-assembly. To realize commercial applications, the chemistries for these reflective organic materials need to be optimized for exterior coating applications to resist degradation from natural weathering conditions such as ultraviolet radiation, rain, thermal cycling; furthermore, the formulation must be optimized for standard application. This proposed activity will develop new synthetic routes, stabilization strategies, and the first manufacturing processes to demonstrate these unique advanced materials. 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.
Errata
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Camras Vision, Inc.
SBIR Phase I: Feasibility of The Use of a Debris Cartridge in an External Drainage Device
Contact
PO Box 12076
Rtp, NC 27709–2076
NSF Award
1248632 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,978
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 10/31/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of the use of a debris cartridge in an implant to prevent obstruction in debris-releasing glaucomas, such as uveitic, pigment-dispersion, and pseudoexfoliation glaucomas. Glaucoma is a group of chronic eye diseases that result in permanent vision loss for millions of suffers in the US alone. The innovation of this device lies in its potential ability to provide predictable, adjustable and personalize care to minimize disease progression. However, the device requires a filter to prevent infection that may clog overtime, especially with debris-releasing glaucomas. This Phase I research project will test the feasibility of a novel filter to prevent clogging and its safety in an animal model for debris-releasing glaucoma. The validation of the cartridge will provide the option for glaucoma suffers that may have been otherwise excluded from the advantage that this implant would provide. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be, if successful, a more effective treatment for patients with an advanced, cumbersome and difficult to treat type of glaucomas. In 2015, the US glaucoma market is estimated to be over $2 billion and our addressable market, glaucoma surgical therapies, is estimated to be $534M. The incidence for glaucoma increases with age, and as the baby boomer population gets older, there will be a growing need for glaucoma treatments. Debris-releasing glaucomas are especially difficult to treat and can affect children. These patients often are required to endure invasive surgeries throughout their lives that are difficult to manage with current therapies. If successful, our novel device and cartridge would radically change the treatment paradigm of glaucoma, providing the first personalized, long lasting, and adjustable therapy that can treat the most advanced cases of glaucoma. Ultimately, the advancements with the filter will minimize the risk of blindness and improve the quality of life for glaucoma patients.
Errata
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Camras Vision, Inc.
SBIR Phase I:Feasibility of Adjustable Eye Pressure Control within an External Shunt
Contact
PO Box 12076
Rtp, NC 27709–2076
NSF Award
1447738 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2015 – 12/31/2015
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project allows for a more effective glaucoma treatment by tailoring eye pressure based on disease progression for each patient. In 2015, the US glaucoma market is estimated to be over $2 billion and our addressable market, glaucoma surgical therapies, is estimated to be $534M. The incidence for glaucoma increases with age, and as the baby boomer population gets older, there will be a growing need for glaucoma treatments. To treat the glaucoma, patients will undergo lifelong drug regimens, multiple laser procedures, and invasive surgical procedures. However, even with all these treatment options glaucoma patients still go blind from glaucoma. Our novel design and approach to glaucoma will personalize the treatment for patients and remove the need for numerous and costly procedures. Most importantly, the personalization of glaucoma therapy will optimize visual protection for every patient. The proposed project will demonstrate the feasibility of the first external glaucoma drainage device to adjust and set pressure in the eye. Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness and is only treatable by reducing eye pressure. Surgical treatments are unpredictable with suboptimal success rates based primarily on the choice of drainage site. This novel device drains to a new area of the eye to avoid the complications and unpredictability associated with the current glaucoma surgeries. The device also can provide the first-ever personalized treatment for millions of glaucoma suffers by fine-tuning pressure based on the needs of the patient throughout his or her lifetime. Preliminary studies have shown safety and feasibility of the device; however, the customizable and adjustability of replaceable component has yet to be investigated. Therefore, this Phase I research project will test and optimize the replaceable component within the device and determine the risk of biofouling. The ability to set a stable pressure safely, reliably, and predictably would be a major advancement in glaucoma treatment.
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Care Progress, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Leveraging health information technology to improve communication between cancer patients and providers
Contact
7315 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20814–3202
NSF Award
1415819 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$149,683
Start / end date
07/01/2014 – 12/31/2014
Abstract
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve outcomes for patients in cancer treatment. Such patients often suffer from side effects of cancer treatment, such as dehydration and nausea. By enhancing communication between providers and patients, the project seeks to better manage such symptoms and thereby improve outcomes for patients, including lower readmission and emergency department visits and associated costs for Medicare, Medicaid and private payors. The project will enhance scientific and technological understanding by creating a knowledge base of symptoms patients are experiencing. If we are successful we will be able to improve cancer treatment and lower costs in the United States at a time when the number of cancer patients is projected to increase significantly. These benefits are likely to create strong commercial demand for our product from hospitals, Accountable Care Organizations and outpatient cancer centers, which are increasingly under pressure by legislation and private payors to reduce treatment costs. The proposed project seeks to address the problem of poor communication between providers and cancer patients (which is partially responsible for extremely high readmission and emergency department visits) who are experiencing nausea, dehydration, neutropenia and other side effects. The project seeks to obtain patient symptoms and report them to providers for potential earlier intervention and outcome improvement. The methods to be employed include assembling an expert panel, creating software and then conducting a feasibility trial. Key goals include demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining patient symptoms and that providers find the information useful and actionable.
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Chirp Microsystems
SBIR Phase I: Ultrasonic 3D Rangefinding for Mobile Gesture Recognition
Contact
1452 Portland Ave.
Albany, CA 94706–1453
NSF Award
1346158 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2014 – 06/30/2014
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes the development of an ultrasonic three-dimensional (3D) rangefinder system for mobile gesture recognition. Optical gesture recognition has been introduced for gaming and will soon be launched for personal computer (PC) interaction, but optical gesture sensors are too large and power-hungry to be incorporated into tablets, smartphones, and smaller devices. The proposed 3D rangefinder uses an array of tiny piezoelectric ultrasound transducers which are built on a silicon wafer using microfabrication techniques. Custom electronics are used to control the transducers. In operation, the system emits sound into the air and receives echoes from objects in front of the transducer array. The system infers the location of the objects by measuring the time delay between transmission of the sound wave and reception of the echo. The system will be designed for incorporation into smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to bring contextual awareness to everyday devices, which currently have very little idea about what is going on in the space around them. The proposed ultrasonic 3D rangefinder has the potential to be small and low-power enough to be left on continuously, giving the device a way to sense the physical objects surrounding it in the environment. While today's optical 3D ranging systems work across a small room and are capable of sufficient resolution, they are too large and power hungry to be integrated into battery-powered devices. Mobile contextual awareness will enable 3D interaction with smartphones and tablets, facilitating rich user interfaces for applications such as gaming and hands-free control in automobiles. Looking beyond the smartphone and tablet market, the proposed rangefinder would be well-suited for wearable devices that are too small or simply don't allow for a full-function touchscreen, such as head mounted displays and smart watches. These products currently have limited input options since the area available for buttons and touch-sensor inputs is only slightly larger than a finger. Ultrasonic contextual awareness has the potential to revolutionize the user interface for tiny consumer electronics.
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Clerio Vision, Inc.
STTR Phase I: Refractive correction using non-invasive laser-induced refractive index change
Contact
312 Susquehanna Rd
Rochester, NY 14618–2940
NSF Award
1549700 – STTR PHASE I
Award amount to date
$269,999
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 06/30/2017
Abstract
This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project enables the development of laser-induced refractive index change (LIRIC) for non-invasive vision correction in cornea and hydrogel materials. In the United States, 150 million adults use some form of vision correction, and this number is projected to increase steadily with the aging population. LIRIC has the potential to transform how laser refractive surgery is performed and how hydrogel-based solutions (e.g., contact lenses, intraocular lenses) are produced. For use in the cornea, LIRIC is a process that can alter the optical quality of the cornea without cutting, ablating or removing tissue. Also, only a thin layer of the cornea is treated, which allows a patient to continuously adjust their optics as their prescription changes over their lifetime. This is vastly different from current laser refractive surgery techniques, which are highly invasive and do not allow for future adjustment. In hydrogel materials, traditional manufacturing techniques use diamond-turned molds to achieve desired lens shape. LIRIC can change the production paradigm by enabling just-in-time manufacturing, reducing inventory costs. Additionally, because arbitrary refractive corrections are achievable with LIRIC, patients will be able to receive prescriptions with customized corrections. This capability is unavailable using today's typical manufacturing methods. The intellectual merit of this project resides in operating an ultrafast femtosecond laser below the damage threshold to modify the refractive index of corneal or hydrogel material. By dynamically changing laser parameters (power and/or scan velocity), it is possible to create arbitrary refractive-index profiles in cornea or hydrogel, enabling the optical correction of myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, presbyopia and higher order aberrations. Research objectives for this proposal are centered around the optimization of the LIRIC process. By investigating the impact of laser parameters and optical design of the laser delivery system, it will be possible to enhance the efficacy and safety of in-vivo LIRIC. In addition, visual performance will also be assessed in eyes wearing LIRIC contact lenses. By correcting the eye's wavefront aberrations, LIRIC optical devices are expected to significantly improve visual quality in patients beyond the capacity of currently available techniques.
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Construction Robotics, LLC
SBIR Phase I: Automated Mortar Dispensing for a Semi-Automated Masonry Robotic System
Contact
3966 Kinder Lane
Jamesville, NY 13078–9664
NSF Award
1215340 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
07/01/2012 – 12/31/2012
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing an automated mortar dispensing system, a major component of a semi-automated masonry (SAM) robotic system. The current technology challenge is the development of a mortar dispensing system that can accurately replicate the art of manual mortar preparation and application. This means a system that can account for the variability of mortar batch production as well as maintaining the chemical and material requirements to relevant standards. This technical effort will focus on key variables involved, such as reaction heat, pH, viscosity, moisture retention, time variables and temperature/humidity conditions. One of the major challenges of an automated mortar dispensing system is the variability created by onsite weather conditions. This Phase I project will allow us to investigate the feasibility of developing a measurement and control system that can accurately determine the quality of the mortar and adjust as necessary to produce consistent mortar that meets the requirements of the SAM system. Masonry jobs are dynamic work environments that need to be adjusted and corrected in real time, presenting numerous challenges for automation, but if successful, the potential benefits are enormous. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, the SAM robotic system, is intended to revolutionize the masonry construction industry. The system will significantly increase the throughput of brick masonry production. Our core technology incorporates proprietary sensing and control systems, with the dispensing of mortar to achieve information-driven automated bricklaying. Brick-based construction represents a significant portion of the global and US economies with over $20 billion spent on all masonry work in the US, and over $5 billion spent on commercial brick masonry. This segment of the construction industry has seen little innovation over the recent decades. The SAM system will provide a per-job cost savings of over 30% based on increased productivity of the masonry crew. This significant increase in the efficiency of masons will make brick masonry more affordable. By using more technology in the masonry industry, it will be easier to recruit younger talent to an industry with an aging work force. The increase in the use of bricks in construction, especially in regions that are susceptible to extreme weather conditions, will provide many environmental and customer benefits such as increased durability, insulation, fire resistance, and lower maintenance. These in turn will lead to energy and resource conservation.
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Couragion Corporation
SBIR Phase I: Couragion STEM Career Literacy
Contact
649 Marion Street
Denver, CO 80218–3431
NSF Award
1548757 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$179,999
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project will improve the awareness and perception of careers that require science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competencies. Career influencers such as parents, educators, and counselors are often not in the position to inform students of potential options and expose unnecessary bias. If kids understood the opportunities, they could pursue academic pathways to amass skills that better prepare them to enter the workforce. STEM competencies are in high-demand and many high-skill jobs sit vacant for long periods of time. This results in lost productivity and exorbitant recruiting fees to pluck qualified candidates from existing jobs. Our nation could be more successful with access to highly skilled resources, especially in the face of the retiring baby boomer population. Career exploration and readiness focused on helping individuals select rewarding and suitable degrees, training, and careers will increase the likelihood that individuals stay in those careers, exhibit greater creativity, and decrease the number of people who invest in education they never use. As more individuals are inspired to pursue STEM, taxpayers will benefit from increased innovation which in turn will provide tax dollars to invest in such things as healthcare, national security, education, or humanitarian assistance. The project will combine big data, perceived capacity building, continuous STEM programming, and self-reflection to create a commercialized STEM career and self-discovery application and companion data visualization tool. Together, the career application and visualization tool will boost the intent of students to pursue STEM competencies and careers and improve the retention, productivity, and innovation of STEM workers. The project will address the technical hurdles of amassing and managing massive amounts of structured and unstructured data, designing a notification and tracking mechanism to deliver students ongoing programming, developing a smart recommendation engine to drive the best fit STEM careers for students, performing database mining and predictive modeling and creating data visualizations to derive meaningful workforce development insights. The research team will design survey tools and conduct controlled experiments and usability tests to collect student data and business/education entity feedback. The team will analyze experimental, historical, and survey data to validate and refine the data models, scoring algorithms, and application content and functionality. The ultimate goals of the R&D and experiments are to validate that the resulting application, predictive models, scoring algorithms, and data visualizations have the desired result of boosting student outcomes regarding STEM intentions and pursuits.
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CueThink
SBIR Phase I: Development of a Media-Rich, Game-Based Social Learning Paradigm for Improving Math Process Skills Both Inside and Outside the Classroom
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1248801 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$150,000
Start / end date
01/01/2013 – 06/30/2013
Abstract
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposal explores an innovative approach to improving math problem solving skills using a game-based peer-to-peer mobile learning platform. Mathematics education is struggling in the U.S today. By the time our students reach middle school, many of them are already disengaged with and even afraid of mathematics. Research shows that schools often emphasize low-level procedures over higher order problem-solving skills and learners are taught using a top-down, one-strategy-fits-all approach. However, students bring their own strategies and techniques to problem solving and need opportunities to share these processes and get effective feedback. In Phase I, the firm will prototype a mobile version of a social learning platform that supports a student's thinking and learning process for pre-algebra topics in grades 6-8. The core of the platform is the scaffolded creation, curation and evaluation of multimedia vignettes of a student's thought process. The Phase I research will focus on evaluating this approach and concept framework and developing data mining algorithms required to convert inherently qualitative information into measurable and actionable data. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project offers tremendous promise for changing math education and engagement both in and out of the classroom. The CueThink platform should help students develop confidence and skills in solving complex problems, refine their math communication and improve their meta-cognition through the review of other students work and equip teachers with real-world examples of multiple learning styles and typical student errors and misconceptions. This enables CueThink to harness a substantial market opportunity for online instructional technology for math both inside and outside the school classroom - $2.4 billion market in 5 years. In addition, the team has identified portable opportunities for their solution in special education and higher education STEM learning, both of which should have a strong positive social impact while offering a huge scale-up potential via new markets. The company team brings to the table a diverse mix of educational, technical and business skills that will be critical to successful commercialization of the proposed math education innovation.
Errata
Please report errors in award information by writing to awardsearch@nsf.gov.
Addenda
If you're a member of this company, you may submit updates and supplemental company information via GitHub.
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CueThink
SBIR Phase I: An embedded and in-context professional learning platform for math problem-solving instruction
Contact
8 Furbish Pond Lane
North Reading, MA 01864–2636
NSF Award
1549094 – SMALL BUSINESS PHASE I
Award amount to date
$177,500
Start / end date
01/01/2016 – 12/31/2016
Abstract
This SBIR Phase I project proposes to research and develop a web-based prototype that provides teachers with individualized, interactive, and timely supports for improving students? problem-solving skills and math communication. Despite the expectations placed on math teachers by the Common Core State Standards, most of them are insufficiently prepared to teach students how to become effective problem solvers. Research shows that the largest struggle for teachers is not learning new strategies to teaching but actually implementing them in the classroom. This project addresses this challenge by offering professional development that is embedded and ongoing and sets the stage for educators to develop essential 21st Century skills including critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. These are essential job skills not only for educators but for the young minds they coach and mentor. Additionally, teachers who themselves approach problem solving with confidence and enthusiasm inspire students to do the same. This has great implications for how many students will continue to seek and enroll in STEM programs. The annual market for professional development is expected to grow to $1.8 to $2 billion dollars within 5 years just for math and science in K-12 schools, a significant market for this project to target. The proposed project will result in a prototype that works seamlessly with the existing student-facing peer-to-peer application, developed by the same company and already in the marketplace. In order to achieve this level of embedded instruction, the project intends to build a sophisticated recommendation engine that not only analyzes the teacher's user profile but also their actions in using the student-facing platform and responds with suggested pathways to improve their teaching. This is a unique approach to professional development, enabling educators to determine how to introduce, instruct, and assess problem-solving skills in a sustained manner. This study is anchored in National Council on Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM) "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All" and is designed to directly address three of their eight recommended essential practices and six of the specific recommended actions. The proposed project consists of a five-month iterative, formative evaluation-based development phase followed by a one-month pilot study where classroom teachers will evaluate the functional prototype.
Errata
Please report errors in award information by writing to awardsearch@nsf.gov.
Addenda
If you're a member of this company, you may submit updates and supplemental company information via GitHub.