A Napa nonprofit’s student interns are not just padding their résumés. They have been helping build a prototype “Virtual Neurologist” headset that organizers say could shave crucial minutes off stroke diagnosis and is now inching toward commercialization. The wearable blends augmented-reality hardware, computer vision and conversational AI to walk patients through quick exams in places where neurologists are not on hand. Local high-school and college interns have been spending weekdays and some Saturdays working on the system’s sensors and analysis tools.
Nonprofit internship pipeline
NeuroSpring, the Napa-based 501(c)(3) research nonprofit behind the project, runs a multi-year program that funds promising ideas and pairs them with interns to move prototypes toward clinical testing, according to NeuroSpring. The organization’s site notes that its high-school internship launched in 2018 and that most participants go on to study STEM fields.
How the headset works
Ody‑C, the commercial offshoot packaging the research, is building an AR headset that “speaks” with patients…..