Portable AI medical kit could save lives on battlefield

The aim of the kit is to save more lives in the critical window between when someone is injured and when medical help arrives

Spotted: Researchers at two US-based universities are creating an emergency, AI-powered medical kit to save lives on the battlefield. TRAuma Care In a Rucksack (TRACIR) would provide “robotically controlled critical care interventions to patients in remote and austere environments”.

TRACIR aims to use AI-driven care to ensure an injured person’s survival for long medical evacuations, the researchers say. The kit would hold a “hard and soft robotic suit” to fit around an injured person. Monitors in the suit would assess the injuries. Based on the diagnosis, the suit would robotically supply treatments to stablise the patient. The medical interventions would be based on AI algorithms. 

Carnegie Mellon University and The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are working on the project. Emergency, on-site care is more important as battlefields become “increasingly remote”, said Ron Poropatich, M.D., a retired U.S. Army colonel and the director of Pitt’s Center for Military Medicine Research.

The technology could also be used in other extreme situations where medical evacuation is difficult, according to the researchers. The project, which has received $7.2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, is still in the development stages.