Scientists at the University of Sheffield have unveiled robot medics, designed to provide remote medical treatment in high-risk emergency environments.
The game-changing technology, named MediTel (medical telexistence), has the potential to revolutionize the way casualties are treated in dangerous situations, such as humanitarian disasters and war zones.
The mobile, robotic-controlled uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) has been developed by the University of Sheffield researchers, including those from the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), Sheffield Robotics, and the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering.
The state-of-the-art robotics medical system was developed in just nine months. The project was led by David King, Head of Digital Design at the AMRC, and Sanja Dogramadzi, Professor of Medical Robotics and Intelligent Health Technologies at the University’s Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering and Director of Sheffield Robotics.
“Our MediTel project has demonstrated game-changing medical telexistence technology that has the potential to save lives and provide remote assessment and treatment of casualties in high-risk environments such as humanitarian disasters,” David King said. He said the development and field testing of a complex system such as MediTel in just nine months “an incredible achievement”.
Dr Nicky Armstrong, technical lead at Dstl, highlighted the potential of telexistence technologies to relocate end users from hazardous environments or promptly deploy specialists as needed. The prototype technologies from the Dstl Telexistence project showcase possibilities to end users, providing insights into the potential value of telexistence in defense and security environments.
Key Features of Robot Medics
VR-enabled: The robot medic utilizes virtual reality (VR) capability to enable medics and operators to assess critical casualties in hazardous environments remotely.
Remote assessment: Developed using MediTel technology, the UGV is equipped with two robotic arms that can remotely operate medical tools to perform a critical initial assessment of casualties within 20 minutes. This assessment includes checks for temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate, as well as the administration of pain relief through an auto-injector.
“MediTel combined existing medical devices with state-of-the-art robotics systems to develop a platform capable of allowing a remote operator to navigate through potentially difficult terrain and provide critical diagnoses of high-risk casualties,” according to King.
Potential life-saver: Researchers say the MediTel project has demonstrated game-changing medical telexistence technology that has the potential to save lives and provide remote assessment and treatment of casualties in high-risk environments.
Funding and future vision
MediTel was one of three novel telexistence technologies funded through a £2.3 million innovation competition run by the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), on behalf of joint funders, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
The team at the University of Sheffield aims to build on the success of the project by seeking further funding and partners. The future vision of MediTel is to develop the technology into a large-scale integrated medical emergency platform, capable of rapidly being deployed to humanitarian disasters with multiple casualties.
The MediTel technology represents a major leap forward in the field of robotics, with its potential to revolutionize emergency medical care in high-risk environments and make a significant impact on global healthcare.
