Snakelike Robot To Treat Soldiers During Battle

Al writes "Technology Review has an article about a snake-like robotic arm that could soon be used to treat injured soldiers as they lie on the battlefield. Developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the snakebot attaches to a stretcher and is controlled remotely using a joystick, allowing a doctor to assess a soldier's injuries as the bullets fly by. In future, the robotic arm will be fitted with sensors allowing it to measure vital signs and probe for internal bleeding. Here's a brief video of a prototype arm in action. The arm will become part of the US military's high-tech stretcher, called the Life Support for Trauma and Transport system. This is essentially a portable intensive-care unit, with a ventilator, defibrillator, and other physiological monitors, and it's currently being used in areas of Iraq and Afghanistan."

Comments

thats nice.

[gandhi_2]

between the chair force in Nevada and now the medics with joysticks, everyone but the Infantry can finally be safe!

Re:thats nice.

[xch13fx]

yea why not replace the infantry with robots and the doctors with mechanics.

Re:thats nice.

[Cowmonaut]

High latency is really going to get you killed now...

Re:thats nice.

[thewiz]

Technology Review has an article about a snake-like robotic arm that could soon be used to treat injured soldiers as they lie on the battlefield.

Now all the battlefield proctologists will be able to sit safely in the rear.

Re:thats nice.

[easyTree]

Developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the snakebot attaches to a stretcher and is controlled remotely using a joystick, allowing a doctor to assess a soldier's injuries as the bullets fly by.

(a) Clearly I'm insane in the membrane but a more surefire way to enhance the health of soldiers seems to me to AVOID GOING TO WAR EVERY FIVE SECONDS (omg caps)

(b) Of course, presumably this is just another "hey mr and mrs taxpayer, whilst we have your child away from home on a foreign battlefield, we're going to invest your money in an amazing new technology which will help keep him safe. years down the road, no such product appears but lots of 'important people' make billions from spin-off technologies funded by the taxpayer family" - type scenario.

(c) According to Noam Chomsky, America has been involved in one war or another since the Civil War (*) - coupled with (a) and (b) this makes for an excellent business plan in today's modern world for the big-thinker.

* - I forget the actual point in time Chomsky used as a reference point but suffice to say it was over a hundred years ago.

Re:thats nice.

[easyTree]

America has been involved in one war or another every year since the Civil War

There, fixed that for myself.

Re:thats nice.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Working on it.

Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED..

[Anonymous Coward]

When I've been shot in a combat zone, the first thing I want to see is a nice, reassuring ROBOT SNAKE to tend my wounds.

Re:Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED..

[Clandestine_Blaze]

Don't worry, the enemy will soon deploy ROBOT clones of Samuel L. Jackson to deal with the snake problem... ;)

Re:Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED..

[Zakabog]

When I've been shot in a combat zone, the first thing I want to see is a nice, reassuring ROBOT SNAKE to tend my wounds.

A nice, reassuring, bullet-proof snake, that isn't an easy target about to get shot and land in the same situation as yourself, requiring medical attention and unable to move to safety.

This technology is a good thing, I don't want my doctor drawing fire from the enemy, or getting injured and unable to save my life. Yes I know it's illegal to shoot at a medic, but it's a lot easier having a virtually indestructible robot snake than asking the enemy to play fair.

Snake robot kills soldier!

[hoggoth]

If you actually WTFV (watch the video) you can see that after giving the soldier a thorough checking over, the snake-bot PLUNGES THROUGH HIS STOMACH AND UP UNDER HIS RIB-CAGE! Is THAT the kind of behavior we want from our snake-bots?!
Who is running this thing? Skynet?

Re:Snake robot kills soldier!

[Joe the Lesser]

Oh no, not again...

War is good for technology

[Locke2005]

I foresee this technology currently being developed by the military leading in the near future to great advances in the field of teledildonics!

Has to be said...

[rwalker429]

"Pleassssse ssstate the nature of the medical emergency."

Re:Has to be said...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Be very sssstill ssssoldier, while I sssstich you up."

War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq

[glueball]

I'm a subcontractor biophysicist on a battlefield medicine project.

Looking at the injuries sustained on the battlefield, http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/04/america/wounded.php one should conclude they require massive repairs. As my colleague (one of the authors of the book) has stated, the single most important item to have to survive an injury in a battle is a tourniquet.

Most people go out past the wire with a tourniquet pre-applied (but not tightened) on each limb. When I was there, it was a strong suggestion and may now be a requirement.

Now, I'm not on a snake-like project. If it is more complex (and costs a lot more) than a tourniquet, I'd say it is not going to have the promised outcome any greater than a tourniquet.

Re:War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq

[wufpak]

When I received Red Cross first aid training, I was taught that applying a tourniquet is a decision to "sacrifice a limb to save a life." Having to pre-apply one of those things to each of your limbs before going into combat has got to be immensely sobering.

For an 18-year-old kid, the theoretical possibility of getting killed in combat probably doesn't hold as much dread as the very real possibilities of traumatic amputation symbolized by those tourniquets.

I hope that they built Hell large enough to contain all those national leaders who enter "wars of choice," as well as all military recruiters who play up the "money for college" aspects without mentioning the "wear four tourniquets to work" bit.

--
"A rational army would run away." -- Montesquieu

Re:War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq

[NoisySplatter]

I've been there, and we didn't pre-apply them. We did each carry one in our cargo pocket though. You're partially right about the "sacrifice a limb..." thing, but if properly monitored a tourniquet isn't necessarily the end of your limb. It is, however, a last resort.

I can assure you that the general state of mind is not quite as somber as you would assume. Perhaps it's repression of the situation or just plain brain washed insanity, but we were always quite jovial until the shit started flying.

what i want to see is...

[FudRucker]

a robot snake swallow whole an injured soldier, and poop out the same soldier completely healed :D

Re:what i want to see is...

[easyTree]

what a horrific way to go; death by low-budget effects :S

Better Idea

[Nethead]

How about not sending troops to where they get shot at?

You know you're too late when...

[LunarEffect]

...there's only a skeleton left lying there.

And what happens...

[Anonymous Coward]

when the enemy deploys robotic mongooses?

This researcher knows where the funding is

[hey]

There is tons of money for war-related tech so this researcher has just aimed his thing that way.
Its cool but it really has nothing to do with war.

Talk about a misread

[Anita Coney]

I thought it read,

"Technology Review has an article about a snake-like robotic arm that could soon be used to treat injured soldiers as they die on the battlefield."

Seemed kinda pointless to me.

"Autodoc'

[John Hasler]

...is the word you're looking for.

Re:Assessment only.

[John Hasler]

> It's not able to recover wounded by itself...

Big Dog will take care of that.

Why not go on the offensive instead?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Arm that robot snake with a chainsaw and a shotgun, and program him to babble like a neurotic "Evil Dead" Bruce Campbell.

Let a bunch of them loose on your enemy, and you won't have to worry about any casualties on your side.

Soldiers are mentally prepared to face other soldiers in combat situations. They are not mentally prepared to face chainsaw and shotgun wielding robot snakes.

A snake bite me...

[Noxn]

...with some morphium. Much better.

This will be useful in war.
But, how will it work?
Checking the heartbeat with a sensor mounted on a moving stick controlled by a joystick could be hard.

It's all in the software

[mangu]

This snakelike robot is programmed in Python, of course

Re:It's all in the software

[Hurricane78]

I managed to get a hold on the actual source code. Here's a sample:

Sss (sss, sssSSS, sS, sSS):
    S.SS = s[S].s SSss * sssss / S(SSs) + sSSSs
    SsS (S s s.sss):
        sS(sss, ssS, Ss)
        SSS.SS.S(sSs.SS)
    SS && ssssssssss(SSSS)

S (sS):
  Sss.SssSSS()
  sSS(SSS)
s

Does anyone here speak python?

War is still War

[fxPPC]

Rather than wasting huge sums of money on making war more acceptable to the public (by reducing the rate of casualties), we should be spending huge amounts to END war. The day that war becomes a safe occupation for the aggressor is the day that we'll see more of it, and this project is another small step towards that.I am an American, and it scares me to see my country launch unprovoked wars of aggression. The US spends more on the military than the next 4 biggest-spending countries... COMBINED. Anybody that works to make war easier, works toward making more war. These researchers are guilty of conspiracy to commit murder by helping to enable more efficient killing forces. Human being have to stop killing human beings, end of story!

Starts to make sense

[upside]

It's obviously a constrictor snake.