Pubdate: Fri, 07 Oct 2016
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: David P. Ball
Page: 14

GOGGLES WILL DETECT HIGH DRIVERS

Vancouver firm designs new tool for law enforcement

Turns out there's an easier way to catch motorists driving high than
offering them munchies.

A Vancouver start-up has invented what it claims is the world's first
device that can tell accurately if you're either drunk or on drugs -
based on an eye test inside a headset.

"We made this device to make the current sobriety test better," said
Ehsan Daneshi, co-founder of Ophthalight Digital Solutions Inc., at a
press conference Thursday. "We cannot determine what drugs the driver
has used; only a blood test can find that.

"But in less than two minutes, it gives them an answer to see if they
need to do a blood test or not."

Daneshi, an SFU computational neuroscience doctoral student,
co-founded the company with Dr. Amir Vejdani, an ophthalmologist,
since the entrepreneurs originally intended it be used for optometry.

Vejdani "came to us with a need he was facing for several years in his
practice," Daneshi said. "Eye exams being done manually are quite
subjective and inaccurate. So we made an engineering solution."

Soon, the pair started thinking about other uses for their invention
that uses moving "patterns of light" inside what looks like a virtual
reality headset. However, he wouldn't provide further description,
citing intellectual property.

At $4,500 a set, plus software subscription fees, the device would
likely be beyond the reach of anyone except eye clinics or
researchers. But the company expects that if the idea takes off beyond
its current "early stage of development," they can bring the costs
down to what a police department could afford.

With current police breathalysers only able to detect alcohol, and
police eye-response tests "subjective" and not recorded - therefore
often disputed in court - the device could prove useful if the federal
government legalizes marijuana as promised next year. It also detects
abnormal eye movements from cocaine and LSD, Daneshi said.

The start-up got a boost from SFU's Graduate Certificate in Science
and Technology Commercialization.
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MAP posted-by: Matt