WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – A Purdue-related startup is developing a one-of-a-kind app, aimed at detecting concussions.
“You cannot download an application on your phone right now that can diagnose you, our aim as a company is to change that,” Brightlamp CEO Kurtis Sluss said.
Brightlamp has one mission – making the world more medically mobile.
Sluss said the idea of creating the company was sparked last year during the Greater Lafayette Startup Weekend.
“The medical industry hasn’t kept up with the speed of technology, you have a very powerful computer that takes in thousands of data points every minute from your body, in your pocket,” said Sluss.
The company’s latest project – developing Collide, an app capable of detecting a concussion in real time.
“Concussions are a huge problem today, and so we started determining a solution for that,” he said.
The app will work by flashing a light from a smartphone into the individual’s eye, measuring the pupil’s dilation and constriction. The app can determine the eye’s pixel-per-second rate, providing results in under 30 seconds.
There are plans to use the technology on a local level, with some Lafayette-area high school football teams using the app next season.
“This is something you do on the sidelines or immediately after the game, and do it continually because of how rapid it is,” said Sluss.
He said the technology has been around for years, but has yet to be available to the public.
“We wanted to come up with a better solution, something that’s more quick, something that you can use on your cellphone that’s open to everybody,” Sluss said.
If everything goes as planned, the app will be available to consumers by the end of next year.
But the company doesn’t want to stop at just detecting concussions. Down the road, there are plans to move into other fields of medicine, including autism detection.
“We’re really excited and open-minded about where we can take our mobile technology platform,” said Sluss.
