Partnership with Sproutel & Rhode Island Innovation Voucher

Right before leaving for vacation a few weeks back, I worked with the team over at Sproutel, a local Rhode Island medical tech company, to submit a proposal for funding via a Rhode Island Innovation voucher.  Sproutel is a small team of tech engineers, artists, designers, and business minded people (they wear many hats) who make a robotic and AR learning toy called Jerry the Bear. Jerry is designed to provide educational and psychosocial support for children who have been recently diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.  Together Sproutel and Brown's Humanity Centered Robotics Initiative are partnering to complete a user study deploying a new iteration of Jerry the Bear in patient homes. I am really excited about this project and looking forward to working on an industry-academia partnership. We're hoping to hear back about funding soon. 

Grant title: Evaluating Psychosocial Support Provided by Jerry the Bear for Type I Diabetes, submitted to Rhode Island Commerce Corporation

Project Summary 

Sproutel has developed and produced Jerry the Bear, an interactive toy for children with type 1 diabetes that helps them learn about their medical procedures and treatment through play. Sproutel and Brown University’s HCRI are partnering to assess the effectiveness of the Jerry the Bear platform and a new prototype for delivering healthcare information to children. The effectiveness of the current iteration of Jerry the Bear and the new prototype will be tested against one another, and against participant baselines regarding diabetes management prior to receiving Jerry the Bear. This research will help Sproutel improve their Jerry the Bear product, will assist in the sales process and expansion of the Jerry the Bear platform, and should help the team gain knowledge regarding the psychosocial benefits of Jerry the Bear.