Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Snakelike Robot To Treat Soldiers During Battle

Posted by kdawson on from the badger-badger dept.

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."

20 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. thats nice. by gandhi_2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    --
    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:thats nice. by Cowmonaut · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    2. Re:thats nice. by thewiz · · Score: 3, Funny

      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.

      --
      If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
    3. Re:thats nice. by easyTree · · Score: 4, Interesting

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

      There, fixed that for myself.

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
  2. Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED.. by Clandestine_Blaze · · Score: 5, Funny

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

      --
      Best "String" Ever!
  3. Snake robot kills soldier! by hoggoth · · Score: 4, Funny

    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?

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  4. War is good for technology by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Funny

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

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  5. Has to be said... by rwalker429 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Pleassssse ssstate the nature of the medical emergency."

    1. Re:Has to be said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

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

  6. War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq by glueball · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq by wufpak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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

  7. what i want to see is... by FudRucker · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  8. You know you're too late when... by LunarEffect · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  9. This researcher knows where the funding is by hey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  10. Re:Assessment only. by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

    Big Dog will take care of that.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  11. Why not go on the offensive instead? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  12. It's all in the software by mangu · · Score: 4, Funny

    This snakelike robot is programmed in Python, of course

    1. Re:It's all in the software by Hurricane78 · · Score: 5, Funny

      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?

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  13. War is still War by fxPPC · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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!