Below is a transcript of our conversation with Bill Murray, a 2014 graduate of CMU
David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. Bill Murray is a 2014 CMU graduate, now living in Texas with his family and working as a technical sales rep for a large tech company. His daughter Rowan was diagnosed with autism at age 3, and this led Bill to learn about the disorder, advocate for his daughter and now to develop a supportive app to help children navigate the many challenges they face. I spoke with Bill via zoom to learn more…
So brighter buddy itself, he launched it in April. And it's as described here. A supportive app paired with a sensory plush toy. How did that what Brighter Body has emerged as? How did that idea come together?
Bill Murray:
So that first started for me of (of) thinking of, OK, she's constant an application from application side. How can we get something that helps her maximize her potential? Of course, but also is sensory friendly, right? That's a big thing. So sensories a lot of kids have autism, can't regulate their nervous system, right? Have stimulants which are either flapping their hands. Or spinning or something to (to) regulate themselves. They can't self-regulate. That's just one of the facts of it and also having limited speech. You know, if she's hurt or something she's trying to use phrases that she's learned a lot of kids use scripting, which is a these that they (they) don't, they don't learn speech the same way neurotypical people do. Phrases they'll, she'll watch videos and rewatch them to get, you know that phrase down. Then she'll start testing it out, saying it out loud, and then she'll start using it in certain scenarios and figure out, oh, does this get what I want? Does this cause and effect? So, the (the) plush came into fact. If you can use that plush that is. The exact same, you know, look as the character of the avatar that they're building on screen and watching the avatar interact with their friends. So, the connection between the kid, you know, stuffed animals, of course, are always the thing. But there's the NPC which is the near kind of connection between the application, the (the) device and the plush that connects to it. So, if the kid gets overstimulated, it'll vibrate, or if they're really into a lot of kids who are no divergent, like heavy like blankets or heavy objects to land them because it helps them self-regulate or there's a heating or cooling kind of like (like) a heating pad or a cooling pad helps them if they need to regulate in certain other ways, but there's various options but the plush is really to bring with them throughout the day, right? If they're not on the application, they're they have the plush and the plush can connect to the application. So, if they're at school, they can have the plush with them and then also bring that to therapy, bring it to school and then also connect to the app, which they'll see their character that they built physically on the screen, going through how to meet with their friends, how to ask to go to the bathroom, how to do simple tasks in terms of social situations. And it helps them build that confidence. The big thing about Brighter Body is building confidence through being themselves, and that's where the growth of this whole Brighter Body from concept to where we're at now is helping kids be OK and don't mask whatever stimulants they have or whatever deficiencies they do have. And (and) really, you know, be (be) OK with the way they are.
DN:
You have then at this point a (a) working prototype. As I understand how much more in the development process do you expect is still in front of you before you can share this and make it accessible for other fans?
BM:
So, we're at the point now, like I said, we have a working MVP as I call it. You know, a prototype that it, it goes through the pages, it goes through the various screens of you know the various zones in the parent mode type stuff showing screenshots. I'm actually in conversations now. With software development team that's looking at it from a development standpoint and they said if, and again, I'm waiting for them to give me the green light to say, OK, we can move forward, it would be give or take a couple of months for that to be developed and then we can roll that out to a testing group. I have enough going on (on) the back end making sure we have the company side up and running and also you know the software development team ready to roll, but. I would say overall it'd be a couple of months before. We're my (my) goal is the end of the year to have an application ready and out and available. But it really comes down to the development side with the software.
DN:
As the project moves forward and certainly all the best in particular for Rowan and the other young people you come in contact with as you go along and we thank you for the time.
BM:
Thank you, Dave. It's great. Thank you for the time.
