By Vishnu Mar 31, 2005, 19:41 GMT
The Defence Sciences Office (DSO) a subsidiary of Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has taken a significant step towards the development of an automated medical treatment system that does not require onsite medical personnel on the front lines of battle, and is ready to receive, assess, and stabilize wounded soldiers during the critical hours following injury, by awarding an SRI International-led multi-organization team a $12 million, two-year contract to develop such a revolutionary system. The team would include a consortium of universities and high-tech firms (General Dynamics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Universities of Texas, Maryland and Washington).
The groundbreaking program is an important step toward ensuring a future generation of battlefield-based unmanned medical treatment systems, or "trauma pods," to stabilize injured soldiers within minutes after a battlefield trauma and administer life-saving medical and surgical care prior to evacuation and during transport.
SRI has prepared a video for the Pentagon showing how a robot might operate on a wounded soldier in the middle of enemy fire and then evacuate them. They have prepared a futuristic "concept video" that seems straight out of a teen fantasy game, showing with full colour and sound effects the notion that robots in unmanned vehicles can operate on soldiers under enemy fire and then evacuate them. The video is available at http://www.xvivo.net/Medical2004/Index.html.
SRI researchers caution that the project remains at least a decade away from appearing on any battlefields. Surgeons will need to manipulate the robot in real time, using technology that prevents any delays between their commands and the robot's actions. The Pentagon request comes amid mounting military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, where US troops are trying to hunt down Islamic militants. The two wars have already claimed the lives of 1,686 US servicemen and left a total 11,877 others wounded, according to the latest Defence Department figures.
The first phase of the program is an effort to develop robotic technology to perform a totally unmanned surgical procedure within a fixed facility. When fully developed, the Trauma Pod will not require human medical personnel on-site to conduct the surgery, and will be small enough to be carried by a medical ground or air vehicle. A human surgeon will conduct all the required surgical procedures from a remote location using a system of surgical manipulators. The system's actions are then communicated wirelessly to the surgery site. Automated robotic systems will provide necessary support to the surgeon to conduct all phases of the operation.
The concept is a step up from the Da Vinci surgical system approved by the US Government five years ago and already used in dozens of hospitals, officials said. While sitting at a Da Vinci console, usually just a few feet from their patients, surgeons look into a binocular-like monitor to view three-dimensional images transmitted from inside the patient by a camera at the end of one of the robot' s arms. The doctors slip their hands into stirrups to guide the robotic arms armed with the camera and precision surgical tools. To get something like this into battle, researchers will spend the next two years modifying the Da Vinci so that only one surgeon is required to operate the robot.
When fully developed, the "trauma pod" will dramatically reduce the need for human medical personnel on the battlefield, officials said. It will be small enough to be carried by most Army vehicles or a helicopter. A doctor will use a system of surgical manipulators to operate from a remote location via video link. One of the major challenges, according to scientists, will be to make these video links stable and reliable enough and to teach the robot to change instruments without the help of a nurse.
NASA also appeared to be interested in this project.
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