- University of Sheffield researchers have developed a robotic vehicle capable of carrying out vital medical triage in high-risk emergency environments
- Uncrewed ground vehicle uses virtual reality to enable doctors to check a person's temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and give injections without putting their lives at risk
- First-of-its kind technology has potential to save lives in dangerous environments, such as humanitarian disasters and war zones
Game-changing robotics technology that can provide remote medical treatment to casualties in high-risk emergency environments, has been developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield.
Using medical telexistence (MediTel) technology, researchers from the University's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), Sheffield Robotics and Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, have successfully created a mobile, robotic-controlled uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV), which boasts virtual reality (VR) capability, to enable medics and operators to assess critical casualties in hazardous environments, allowing them to perform a remote triage while also ensuring their safety.
The first-of-its-kind, fully integrated medical telexistence solution was developed in just nine months. It features two robotic arms which can effectively remotely operate medical tools to perform a critical initial assessment of a casualty within 20 minutes, including: temperature, blood pressure and heart rate checks; carry out a palpation of the abdomen and administer pain relief through an auto-injector - all while streaming real time data to the remote operator.
