Autonomous
Robotics Programs
Trauma Pod–Life Saving Technologies for the Future
Now in the beginning stages of development under a DARPA Defense Sciences Office Initiative, Trauma Pod’s program objective is to provide the most advanced medical treatment possible to all battlefield casualties. With advanced technologies such as robotic surgical manipulators teamed with automated supply dispensing, the Department of Defense hopes to be able to treat even the most severely injured casualties – those who need immediate life-saving procedures including surgery in order to survive evacuation to a hospital.
The research being undertaken in the Trauma Pod program will allow the military to provide medical care in any battlefield situation and to deliver the type of care that is equivalent to that available in the best hospital emergency care units.
A robotic scrub nurse will augment and assist an operating room scrub nurse, allowing the human nurse to attend to more complicated surgical room tasks. The robotic arm scrub nurse will perform such tasks as removing pieces of used gauze after a surgical procedure. A supply robot or Supply Dispensing System (SDS) will dispense supplies as needed during the surgery.
General Dynamics Robotic Systems is developing the design for the supply robot system. SDS will handle all aspects of supplies, including dispensing sterile supplies, disposing of used supplies into a medical waste container, and issuing restocking orders as determined by the automated Supply Chain Management System (SCMS).
GDRS Manager:
Program Sponsor: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
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