I am currently leading a project to tackle social isolation and anxiety in hospital children. Additional information coming soon!

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Project Pitch:

Everyday social interactions are crucial to overall mood and happiness. For children suffering from a debilitating illness in a hospital, these interactions are taken away abruptly, leaving them emotionally vulnerable. Hospitals address these feelings with supportive care teams, entertainment options, and activities, but unfortunately, they are unable to facilitate a social connection for these children with the outside world. Teleport aims to capitalize on robotics and virtual reality technology to allow children in hospitals across the nation to ‘teleport’ to familiar environments, reducing anxiety and social isolation and thus improving mood and recovery time.

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Our device consists of two components, a robotic avatar and a virtual reality headset. The robot can be carried by the parent out of the hospital and will provide the child with an immersive livestream through the VR headset. At the end of their hospital stay, the child will have the opportunity to virtually attend a live event such as a sports game or a concert using their avatar. The shell of the robot is completely 3D printed which allows the child to customize it using clothes, paint, stickers, etc. When the child’s hospital stay is completed, the shell of the bot can be removed, given to the child, and replaced with a new shell for the next child.

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The concept of a robotic avatar has already been validated by the RobotsForGood Project and No Isolation, a company that makes robotic avatars for the classroom. However, Teleport provides a unique immersive virtual reality stream, cheaper cost, and customization.

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Our team, composed of UC Berkeley undergraduates, just finished our first prototype. On the business side, we are currently in talks with CHARIOT program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Additionally, we have received Berkeley Haas Impact Venture Partners Resource Award, received $500 in funding from UC Berkeley Engineering Student Council, and are collaborating with NVIDIA.