The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced a Phase 1 Other Transaction award of $199,730 to Volt Athletics, Inc., a Seattle-based company, to further develop its Artificial Intelligence powered software system, “Volt,” that will help the DHS workforce improve its overall health and wellness, especially for personnel who operate in high-stress and dangerous conditions.
Under its “Human Performance and Resiliency” solicitation, the S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) sought groundbreaking solutions to identify and resolve issues before reaching crisis levels, and to promote resilience and wellness tools that could serve the mission needs of DHS components and programs, including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“DHS recognizes that wellness is a complex issue and is engaging the private sector to identify and/or develop capabilities to help employees manage stress, performance, and wellness levels,” said Melissa Oh, managing director of SVIP. “SVIP is excited to leverage Volt’s individualized physical fitness and training programs that will help keep our personnel at a high level of physical and mental readiness needed to tackle the Department’s mission set.”
Volt Athletics will adapt its commercially-available physical training solution to improve the fitness and readiness of DHS users, with a mature platform that each person can tailor for themselves. This aligns with one of the technical topic areas of the solicitation that sought solutions through an AI-enabled mobile application. The mobile application lets a person enter personal information (diet, exercise, mood, etc.) along with data captured from various wearable physiological monitoring devices to get information about factors that contribute to their overall wellness.
“Offering Volt’s wellness programs to the DHS workforce gives them the added support needed to maintain their health and stay engaged in their personal health journey,” said Jeremy Ocheltree, acting director of the Customs and Border Protection Innovation Team. “This will lead to long-term positive health outcomes for our employees that last beyond their time with DHS.”
