U.S. Army looking for robots to extract wounded soldiers from battlefield
Rescuing wounded soldiers under fire is itself a major cause of military death and injury; the U.S. Army asks inventors to come with idea for a Robotic Combat Casualty Extraction device; the robot should not only be strong and dexterous, but should also be capable of planning an approach and escape route without prior knowledge of the local terrain and geography
The U.S. military is asking inventors to offer with designs for a robot — the official designation is Robotic Combat Casualty Extraction — that can trundle onto a battlefield and rescue injured troops, with little or no help from outside.
Retrieving casualties while under fire is a major cause of combat losses, the posting on the Pentagon’s small business technology transfer Web site says. The U.S. Army therefore wants a robot with strong, dexterous arms and grippers that can cope with “the large number of body positions and types of locations in which casualties can be found.”
The robot should be capable of planning an approach and escape route without prior knowledge of the local terrain and geography. The army also wants the robot to be able to cooperate with swarms of similar machines for mass rescues.
Interested inventors have until 24 March to file their ideas.
