Snakelike Robot To Treat Soldiers During Battle 130
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."
thats nice. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Because Medics are under a different Geneva Convention Category than other soldiers. If the robot fires a weapon in an offensive role, then the robot looses it's protections under the convention. Same reason the Robotic Chaplain doesn't carry a sword.
It's all in the software (Score:5, Funny)
This snakelike robot is programmed in Python, of course
Re:It's all in the software (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?
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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
[...]
Does anyone here speak python?
You don't want Python, you want Lissssp. All those S-expressions...
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Why not just simulate it on computer? Iran and the US could duke it our in a massive WoW battle.
A little less aspirationally - do you think they'd treat and help wounded enemies on the battlefield with this gear?
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In ten years we'll all be speaking Korean.
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HOOAH! 19E from 88-90 (think M-48a5's M-60A3's), 19K from 90-94(Slick M-1's), and recently I re-enlisted as a 25S SATCOM Operator-Maintainer
Just one question though...why not just equip a bunch of RC bots with mini guns and control them from Ft. Hood? you could even equip them with a highly energetic self termination device...to keep the enemy from getting the assets on the battlefield...or to just create a big crater....RUN FROM THAT JIHADI!!!!
Of course doing so might be what sparks the war between man and
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Good plan. I'd recommend something in the single-digit kiloton range. And keep in mind that it's only a nuke if it's intended to be used as one, as a self-termination device, it's perfectly okay.
Re:thats nice. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:thats nice. (Score:4, 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.
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(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:thats nice. (Score:4, Interesting)
There, fixed that for myself.
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Thanks... I'll take a look. It's always nice to be fed information which reinforces your world-view (even if you are mistaken :)
Mod parent up-- it's not flamebait (Score:2)
None of the conflicts that the US is in are defense wars. A bunch of people got past security in Manchester and Boston and now we're torching up the Middle East.
It's a good policy to use these devices to save soldier's lives now that we're caught in this mess.
An ounce of prevention and disbelief in obvious propaganda would have prevented the pounds, no megatons of cure we've needed subsequently.
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The infantry are the cheep parts. In fact if they die while on duty it costs less as the army doesn't have to shell out for education costs afterwards.
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Is this a dig at the French? I am confused.
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That's what you think.
It currently costs over $400k per death considering the insurance and other death benefits. They don't pay nearly that much for post-separation education. Add to that the cost of training a replacement and you can rest assured that it's quite a hit to the pocketbook when someone dies.
I'd place the price tag of losing a soldier somewhere between $600,000-$800,000 depending on rank and job.
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death benefits
Some might disagree with your usage of benefits.
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Wait till you hear that part of it is called the "Death Gratuity"
Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED.. (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.
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Re:Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED.. (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry, the enemy will soon deploy ROBOT clones of Samuel L. Jackson to deal with the snake problem... ;)
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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.
Re:Press 1 for gunshot, press 2 for IED.. Hmmm (Score:1)
Well, I can see a proactive enemy doing several things:
-- jamming (or attempting jamming) of the snakes
-- using canisters to launch fake (or real) snakes toward the wounded so that conscious wounded will be terrified as hell and may resort to shooting at the expensive devices and venemous or scary real ones
-- launching fraggers into the field to make pointless the use of snakes.
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It's just one of the crazy rules of war. You're not supposed to shoot anyone who is incapacitated or tending to the wounded. In the same line of conduct medics are not supposed to fire at the enemy. Of course this isn't always followed, but it's sort of a courtesy thing.
After all, medical personnel are supposed to attend to both friendly and enemy wounded. I've seen it in practice and I must say I respect them highly for it.
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get goosebumps all over the place when I read that. I really can't imagine the Taliban will freeze and not shoot a medic.
They won't. Since they're not a regular army, they don't really give a damn about international treaties..
But it boggles my mind why it's illegal to shoot a medic?
Because there's an international treaty on that.
What if you are at war with a unit that are all medics, with guns.
In that case, they're valid targets.
What if you drop a megaton tnt on a unit, with 2 medics walking by them?
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That's what they _said_, anyway. In reality, they _know_ that medics and wounded soldiers are a huge drain on the resources of the side they're on, so why not encourage the other side to allocate their resources in ways that are not all that effective at actually winning?
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Why couldn't they build the sensors into the blanket or whatever the poor guy is placed on top of. I'd imagine if the guy was delirious, he would probably be restrained to stop him falling out, but seeing something like that would still increase his blood pressure anyway.
Misread article subject (Score:2)
I for one welcome... (Score:1)
Didn't read the article, but... (Score:1)
Almost good (Score:1)
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Snake robot kills soldier! (Score:5, 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?
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Oh no, not again...
Even Worse (Score:2)
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"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?!"
It was a BETA version. Quit kvetching!
"Who is running this thing? Skynet?"
Some company called Infinium Labs. I hear they used to make game consoles.
War is good for technology (Score:4, Funny)
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There is no need to barricade yourself at night against the remotely-controlled surgical snake bot. In unrelated news, a kidney was successfully harvested through vagina from the living donor:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7867837.stm [bbc.co.uk]
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Assessment only. (Score:2)
IANAS, however, this seems to me like a very limited and expensive toy. It's not able to recover wounded by itself, rather it allows them to be monitored even before they can be extracted from the battlefield. Yet extraction is the critical step---it's not going to be able to save anyone who can't get medical help. Furthermore, I doubt it can gather a whole lot of useful information: if someone is shot, it will be reasonably obvious where. It's only purpose seems to be to pinpoint who is alive and who is de
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Most important is not extraction. It's stopping the immediate bleeding. Extraction is still very important but a stupid extraction will injure more people and even if successful, an extraction will not be the live-or-die step in saving the wounded.
As you state, injuries are usually obvious. What is not obvious is who will survive their injuries without fully depleting the resources of a forward hospital.
Re:Assessment only. (Score:4, Insightful)
> It's not able to recover wounded by itself...
Big Dog will take care of that.
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The note under the video said that, in addition to assessment (done by a remote doctor while a grunt does the actual extraction), the snake can do things like provide oxygen. It means that, while the grunt is pushing as fast as he can so as not to get shot, the patient is getting an initial assessment & the real work can start as soon as they get to a doctor. So yes, it's a limited and expensive toy, which may save lives in certain military zones.
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IANAS
Does the S stand for soldier, scientist, or snake? Or something else I'm missing entirely.
Has to be said... (Score:5, Funny)
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"Be very sssstill ssssoldier, while I sssstich you up."
War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq (Score:5, 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 [iht.com] 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.
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New uniforms do have built in toriquits. It is one of the design features.
The foot soldier may get bottom of the barrel stuff but it is one heck of a barrel to begin with.
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Wouldn't making the robot able to recognize and tighten a tourniquet on a victim be potentially life saving then?
There might be better methods, but a robot which can tighten tourniquets might add valuable seconds/minutes to allow extraction, right?
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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 contai
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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.
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There was a sci-fi book, (one of those "power-armor" copycats of Starship Troopers; might have been Mirror in the Sky, or maybe Forever War?), where the suits had a built-in iris-valve feature at every major joint.
You sustain an injury on a limb that ruptures the suit's integrity. . . SNAP, the iris-valve slams shut, severs the limb, seals the suit, and the suit shuts down and injects the occupant with the appropriate drug treatment to stabilize them for medivac.
Books like these are why I decided NOT to joi
Starts to make sense (Score:3, Funny)
It's obviously a constrictor snake.
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So they go out with 5 torniquets?
what i want to see is... (Score:5, Funny)
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swallow whole an injured soldier, and poop out the same soldier completely healed
You mean like this [youtube.com]?
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what a horrific way to go; death by low-budget effects :S
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Do not underestimate this scene. It was a major source of nightmares for those of us who saw it as children in the 70s/80s. Just check the comments on Youtube.
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a robot snake swallow whole an injured soldier, and poop out the same soldier completely healed :D
Or it can just come back out the way it went in [dailymail.co.uk].
Better Idea (Score:2, Insightful)
How about not sending troops to where they get shot at?
You know you're too late when... (Score:4, Funny)
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I figured the same thing... if the robot snake can peer at my missing heart through the bottom of my open rib cage, then I don't think the snake will help me much.
Soldier: It's just a flesh wound.
Snake Doctor: Your bloody skin's off, your organs are gone!
Soldier: I've hurt worse.
Good lord, WTF (Score:1)
That was before I watched the video.
Now, re-reading the
s/(\w+?(ator))/vibr$3/g
I don't think so (Score:1)
Snakes on Irak? Nah, that place is scary enough
And what happens... (Score:2, Funny)
when the enemy deploys robotic mongooses?
This researcher knows where the funding is (Score:4, 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.
Talk about a misread (Score:3, Funny)
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' (Score:3, Insightful)
...is the word you're looking for.
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I was thinking "Doctor Octopus".
A proctologist's dream come true. (Score:2)
No. Really. That's the only practical use of this, coz i'm sure the dying solder on the battlefield couldn't care less if a doctor hundreds of mines looks through his rib cage.
Why not go on the offensive instead? (Score:5, 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.
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If it can do that last move on you (Score:2)
you are boned.
"You will experience some minor pressure as the robotic snake rams itself up into your rib cage."
Cool stuff.
Anyone else thinking (Score:2)
Goa'uld! If their eyes start glowing after "treatment" you know it's bad. Don't forget, the head shot is the only true stopper.
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Goa'uld!
He said robot snake [wired.com].
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/01/terminator-dire.html
A snake bite me... (Score:2, Funny)
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.
Missing sensor? (Score:1)
Course (Score:2)
Oh man (Score:1)
War is still War (Score:4, Insightful)
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"Human being have to stop killing human beings, end of story!"
Wake me when guns don't trump everything else.
What a waste of time and money (Score:2)
I know slashdot frowns on really short comments, but what the fuck? I'd rather see the .gov money in this go to any one of a dozen different techology efforts.
Joystick? (Score:2)
Our tax dollars pay for (Score:2)
super-duper systems and sensors and now a high tek stretcher --- whoopee for the military-industrial complex and their lobbyists.
In a related story, insurgents blew-up one of the Army's latest $20M troop transports using explosives scraped from old weapons, formed into a shaped charge in a discarded brake drum, and detonated by a light sensor from a jihad elmo doll.
Researchers getting ahead of themselves... (Score:2)
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I was actually thinking more along the lines of stargate SG-1 and the gould (guauld?) snake things, they crawl down your mouth and heal you. Added bonus: knowledge of ancient alien technology and a new megalomaniac personality.
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They could be Tok'ra, not Goa'uld. They you be able to retain your own personality.
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Hopefully I'm not going to regret googling 'tentacle rape' :S