Our Mission and Vision at Reflexion

If retired heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield’s next-gen fitness plan from 35 years ago was worthy of its name “Omega Project”, then his son Evan Holyfield’s sports cognition training program should probably be called something like “Project Z”.

Because where the elder Holyfield’s training methods were cutting edge stuff back then, the neuro-fitness regimen his son is doing through a company called Reflexion makes all that stuff seem like ancient history.

World’s shortest elevator pitch: “Reflexion is a cognitive sports training company focused on improving athletic performance while keeping athletes healthy and safe.”

Company: Reflexion

Location: Lancaster, Pa.

Year founded: 2015

Website/app: reflexion.co / iOS

Funding round to date: “We’ve raised approximately $3 million in series seed to date.”

Who are your investors? “Notable investors would be 1855 Capital. They’re an affinity fund related to Penn State University, that was one of our earliest customers. Bill Besselman, he’s the former VP of connected fitness integrations and strategy at Under Armour, multiple family offices in the Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey areas, as well as Ben Franklin Technology Partners.”

Matt Campagna, Founder and CEO of Reflexion, joins 'Cheddar Reveals' to discuss how it tracks reaction time and relays data back to athletes in order to improve their performance.

Two high school friends come up with what they believe is the next Big Idea. Driven by imagination and ambition, they are determined to make their dream a reality. Starting in a home basement, they develop their idea. Mentors and backers are found. Early success leads to total commitment and rapid growth. What began as the brainchild of two high school friends has grown into a nationwide business that is poised for further expansion and development. It’s the Big Tech story writ large – but it isn’t Apple – it’s Reflexion, a Pennsylvania based company that on the cutting edge of cognitive sports training.

Do athletes have a sixth sense when it comes to anticipating a penalty kick or deciphering whether to swing at an iffy strike zone pitch? Yes and no — it’s a mix of stellar hand-eye coordination, past experience that helps athletes anticipate the ball, and training. But not simply athletic training; visual-motor reaction time training.

We met Reflexion and its Edge screen last year, and even then we were pretty taken with the idea: A Whac-A-Mole-style test for athletes that improves coordination and helps spot concussions after a big hit? It's uniquely odd, but valuable nonetheless. This year, the team is back with an essentially final version of its six-foot-long display, and it has one crucial trick its predecessor didn't: You can fold it up and squeeze it into a backpack, perfect for high school coaches who need to lug these things to games.

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Jan 3, 2017) - Reflexion Interactive Technologies will exhibit The Reflexion Edge, a portable concussion detection machine, at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada January 5 - 8 at the Las Vegas Convention. Reflexion will be part of the Case Western Reserve University Booth #51102 in the University Innovations Section in the Sands Expo Center.

"We are looking forward to showcasing our new patent pending prototype of the Reflexion Edge, a robust concussion monitoring system, at CES in the Innovations Area and talking to attendees, the media and potential investors about our clinical study with Penn State University," said Matthew Campagna, co-founder of Reflexion Interactive Technologies. "Athletes are our primary focus and we plan to protect them by providing a fast, portable, and affordable solution to keep them safe. We recognize that millions of concussions are reported each year and that these are only a fraction of all concussions that athletes face in reality."

Concussions continue to plague sports of all kinds, with occasionally tragic outcomes. A new piece of technology, unveiled at CES 2017, may be the key to catching concussions that would otherwise go undetected.

The Reflexion Edge, from the Reflexion Interactive Technologies, aims to shed light on some of the darker areas of concussion protocol that leaves mild concussions often undiagnosed—leaving an athlete exposed to potentially devastating, compounding effects down the line.

American high school football is 47 percent of all reported sports concussions and 33% of those happen during sports practice. Ice hockey and soccer closely follow concussions in high school sports. Athletes can go to the hospital for an MRI or CT scan to determine if they've suffered a concussion, but it's difficult to detect a concussion in the moment.

There is dectection technology for concussions ranging from the King-Devick test, ImPACT test and BrainScope's EEG technology which all use single symptom diagnosis like eye movement, brain waves or a test-retest variance to determine concussion. Even with these tests, environmental conditions can have an impact on diagnosis. By example, if someone is tired or has a headache, the rapid movement of the eye between fixed points may be slowed down, but peripheral vision could be just fine. This makes it hard to detect mild concussions.

Reflexion Interactive out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania is showing off a novel touch-based concussion assessment system. It consists of a series of panels with LEDs that light up for the person using it to touch. The system lights up patterns that have to be reached out for and touched. Because it is so wide, it often requires the user to physically move to reach different spots on the system. It measures accurately the user touches the targets, as well as how fast.

The current device weighs less than 20 pounds (9 Kg) when broken down and can be stuffed inside a carrying bag.

Matthew Roda experienced a late-diagnosed concussion in high school and now is leading the charge on early detection for athletes. He has developed a six-panel touch screen array that uses the latest theories on brain trauma to test the peripheral vision and reflexes of an athlete who could be concussed.

Reflexion Interactive Technologies, founded by Penn State junior Matt Roda, has been nominated by Engadget as one of the best startups of the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show. Reflexion Interactive’s “Reflexion Edge” device is a foldable, lightweight panel that displays lights the user touches to gauge their response times and other brain functions to improve performance and check for a concussion.