Jolt (St. Louis, MO), is developing a head-worn sensor to better diagnose sports related concussions. The Jolt sensor, which originated as an engineering lab project at MIT, consists of a small clip that can attach to sports headgear such as helmets, goggles, and head bands. After an athlete’s head accelerates in an unusual manner, the sensor vibrates to notify the athlete of a potential head injury. The sensor also connects through low energy Bluetooth to the smartphones of parents and coaches on the sidelines, to immediately notify them when a potential head injury occurs. The Jolt mobile application allows for parents to grant sensor access permission to other parents as well if they are not able to make it to their children’s games.
When notified by the mobile app of a potential concussion, coaches or parents can immediately pull their kids out of practice or game to perform concussion evaluations on the sideline using the app’s built-in cognitive test. The mobile app presents the results of the cognitive test in simple terms that can be understood by someone without medical training. After the cognitive test, an athlete with signs of a concussion will be advised not to return to the game and will need the attention of a doctor. The doctor, who then examines the athlete, will have access to all the motion information obtained by the Jolt sensor to better diagnose the severity of the injury. The Jolt sensor is water proof and has a silicone rubber back to protect itself from impacts during sports activities.
Jolt ran a successful Kickstarter campaign that ended this month to raise funds to take the product from the prototype stage to large scale manufacturing.
Kickstarter campaign: Jolt Sensor – Better Concussion Detection for Youth Athletes…
Product page: Jolt…