Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Spxtrm AI is a Canadian based software company committed to improving elder care and safety by advancing leading-edge software capable of autonomously monitoring seniors and other high-risk patient populations. As the median age of Canadians continues to climb, intelligent monitoring systems are becoming increasingly attractive as cost-effective means of ensuring the safety and independence of elders and others. A critical challenge is the lack of robust datasets of recognizable human actions (i.e. video images of falls, or of actions that relate to elder abuse) that can be used to train a computer vision system to accurately recognize these actions. Spxtrm seeks to collaborate with a research team at Sheridan College's Screen Industries Research and Training Centre (SIRT) to develop a cost-effective process for creating ""synthetic datasets"". Researchers will determine if techniques used in motion capture for film production can be adapted to address dataset creation. Using virtual cameras, researchers will multiply the output of limited recorded actions, creating multiple viewing angles for a given action that can be used to ""train"" Spxtrm's computer vision system. SIRT and Spxtrm aim to develop best practices for capture, processing and rendering of motion capture data to minimize creation time and maximize output. Devising a cost-effective way to create difficult-to-obtain datasets is a huge business opportunity for Spxtrm as the solution can be tailored to address individual institution's key monitoring issues, while achieving a much higher classification and recognition rate than is possible with existing solutions. The ability to economically create synthetic datasets has potential for immediate payback as it would dramatically reduce time-to-market of solutions and machine learning training time/setup costs, all while improving recognition accuracy. This promises significant quality of life improvements for Canadian seniors, while helping combat rising per-capita healthcare costs associated with care for the aging. Global market potential for Spxtrm's proposed innovation is significant and will help position Canada as a world leader in providing better elder care through autonomous computer vision monitoring.*