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U.S. Army To Use Robots To Rescue Wounded Soldiers From The Battlefield

Logan

Last 22 September 2015, Army.mil reported that Maj. Gen. Steve Jones of  the U.S. Army spoke at a U.S. Army-sponsored medical conference about being the retrieve wounded soldiers and other casualties from the battlefield in future. Using robots is an obvious solution to ensure the safety of skilled military medics who are relied upon to check on the conditions and revive injured soldiers under fire.

"We already use robots on the battlefield today to examine IEDs, to detonate them," he said. "With some minor adaptation, we could take that same technology and use it to extract casualties that are under fire. How many medics have we lost, or other Soldiers, because they have gone in under fire to retrieve a casualty? We can use a robotics device for that."

With the increasing use of autonomous vehicles for doing the more dangerous work, it is indeed imperative that armored battlefield retrieval robots would be important to lessen the number of battlefield deaths and injuries. Army medics and other soldiers can control the robots from the safety of cover and can treat the wounded soldiers better once they are brought to safety.

Over five years ago, the U.S. Army has been testing the Vecna Robotics Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR). The BEAR can be controlled with a remote control grip or using hand gestures with the AnthroTronix iGlove motion glove. It can handle up to 500lbs (227 kg) and has a "teddy bear" face that they say would be a more reassuring look to the casualty being lifted off the battlefield.

We don't know the results of the testing of the BEAR in simulations and battlefield exercises. Most probably the results will be used as a basis of an even better battlefield retrieval robot which can do more than retrieving wounded soldiers and bringing them to the medics. Such a robot, if it can protect a wounded soldier, can also be used to assist other soldiers who need more ammunition, going up and down the battlefield carrying ammo, delivering medical supplies, retrieving casualties, and even laying down suppressing fire to retrieve trapped soldiers for them to escape.

If there are strong objections in using robots as offensive weapons in war due to the debate of how they are managed and controlled without posing a danger to their own personnel, then using them in supporting roles such as what the BEAR was designed for would make them more palatable.

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