Fauxsee Innovations Awarded $100k in SBIR Funding
Innovate Arkansas client firm Fauxsee Innovations of Magnolia was been awarded SBIR Phase 1 funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Fauxsee develops assistive devices for the visually impaired. The SBIR grant is for $100,000 to further develop its Roboglasses prototype.
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The $100,000 USDA SBIR grant is the second SBIR Phase I award for assistive device company Fauxsee Innovations. Fauxsee won SBIR funding from the National Science Foundation in 2013 that allowed the company to develop a working prototype of its Roboglasses™ product. The visually impaired can wear Roboglasses just like sunglasses to receive sensory feedback that alerts them to upper-body obstacles.
The USDA funding will allow Fauxsee to expand on the Roboglasses prototype to develop a new product called RoboFind™. Out of 32 applications for USDA’s Community and Rural Development program, Fauxsee’s was one of just six that received funding, according to the agency’s national SBIR program leader. The new assistive device will address USDA’s goal to improve living and working conditions for individuals with sight impairment in rural areas and communities.
“RoboFind will allow the user to more efficiently find places and things in a rural setting, where it is much more difficult for an individual who is sight-impaired,” said Brandon Foshee, Fauxsee’s CEO and president.
For the RoboFind project, Fauxsee Innovations will partner with the engineering department at Southern Arkansas University. “Dr. Mahbub Ahmed will use SAU facilities and equipment to design and fabricate all the plastic components for this device,” said Foshee.