AI boosts safety by monitoring drivers’ cognitive state
CategoriesSustainable News

AI boosts safety by monitoring drivers’ cognitive state

Spotted: Each year, around 1.19 million people lose their lives in car accidents around the world. Recognising the severity of this issue, the United Nations General Assembly aims to cut road deaths in half by 2030. Israel-based startup CorrActions could play a pivotal role in achieving this target by helping to tackle the main cause of road accidents: human error. 

CorrActions has developed a software, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), that detects cognitive abnormalities in drivers and passengers. Using human-motion sensors in vehicles, such as those in the steering wheel, seats, and other devices, the software analyses micro muscle movements reflecting brain activity. These movements can indicate various cognitive states, including driver intoxication, fatigue, and distraction. 

As Volvo, a key investor, recognises, this technology has the potential to become a crucial and widespread feature in safety systems globally. The company has recently raised $7.25 million in its Series A funding round, led by Volvo Cars Tech Fund. CorrActions is currently engaged with multiple automakers to implement the solution into their vehicles.  

Springwise has previously spotted other innovations that have harnessed AI to make transport safer, from an assisted train driving system to a real-time AI feature for a rideshare system.

Written By: Georgia King

Reference

A VR brain training app to test cognitive skills
CategoriesSustainable News

A VR brain training app to test cognitive skills

Spotted: Lisbon-based Virtuleap is a health and education startup using artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) to elevate the cognitive assessment and training industry. The company believes that VR brain training can add value to any healthy lifestyle as a frequent activity taking up less than 10 minutes per session.

Virtuleap’s core product, Enhance, is a VR app with a library of brain training games that test and train various cognitive skills like memory, problem-solving, spatial orientation, and motor control. The company says that VR “engages multiple learning systems, which makes it a more effective and natural environment for cognitive training than 2D screen-based brain training apps”.  

Enhance’s games are designed by neuroscientists and game designers with the intention of being both fun and effective. The app currently offers more than 14 short games across nine different categories: memory, problem-solving, flexibility, working memory, spatial orientation, motor control, auditory cognition, task switching, and planning – with Additional skills to be introduced in the near future.

The app also allows users to track their progress with reporting tools to know how their quality of sleep and moods affect their cognitive performance.​

In 2020, the company published a white paper citing 76 peer-reviewed studies explaining why they believe that VR cognitive training systems may transfer and improve specific domains or global cognition. 

Parallel with Enhance, Virtuleap also developed a web-based dashboard for corporations, such as senior living communities, hospitals, clinics, and educational institutions, to access reporting and data tools. The company hopes its platform will provide caregivers with additional capabilities to help the aging population with cognitive conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

Other medical uses of VR spotted by Springwise include a virtual environment for treating phobias, gamified neurology treatments, and a VR live stream of surgical procedures for remote learning.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Email: support@virtuleap.com

Website: virtuleap.com/enhance

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