Juggernaut Life Sciences, LLC. Awarded Competitive Grant from the National Science Foundation

Small Business Innovation Research Program Provides Seed Funding for R&D

[Iowa City, Iowa, USA], March 1, 2022 – Juggernaut Life Sciences, LLC has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) – Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant for $256,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on developing a unique, semi-autonomous robotic platform, named Yantra 1, that will be adaptable to many medical procedures.

As envisioned, Yantra 1 will lead to key advances in artificial intelligence (AI) driven robotic surgical systems. Yantra 1 is a novel surgical robotic system that can translate the navigational inputs accurately and in a safe way during needle placements. This poses significant technical and engineering challenges, as the robotic driving system needs to be responsive to the sensory feedback and must generate sufficient force with miniaturized components. Based on the preliminary work done by our multidisciplinary team of medical, robotic, and artificial intelligence (AI) experts, we aim to create a compact robotic device with the required sensory and driving components.

“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, Division Director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”

Dr. Sandeep Laroia, Founder and President of Juggernaut Life Sciences, LLC and a practicing interventional radiologist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) said, “One of the major priorities in pandemics is to ensure the safety of healthcare providers. In the coming years, more focus is bound to be placed on the development of next-generation intelligent systems that can perform procedures without exposing the healthcare personnel to unnecessary risks. We are incredibly thankful for the backing of the National Science Foundation, University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, BioConnect Iowa, Department of Radiology at UIHC, and University of Iowa Ventures who have supported our pursuit to build a safe and reliable surgical robotic system that will lead to key advances, including improved patient outcomes and levels of care while increasing procedure/staff efficiency and reducing medical costs."

Once a small business is awarded a Phase I SBIR/STTR grant (up to $275,000), it becomes eligible to apply for a Phase II (up to $1,000,000). Small businesses with Phase II funding are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales. Startups or entrepreneurs who submit a written Project Pitch will know within one month if they meet the program’s objectives to support innovative technologies that show promise of

commercial and/or societal impact and involve a level of technical risk. Small businesses with innovative science and technology solutions, and commercial potential are encouraged to apply. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program, also known as America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, undergo a rigorous merit-based review process. To learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF, visit: https://seedfund.nsf.gov/

About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by NSF awards $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $2 million to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $8.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.