RCCEE - Robotic Combat Casualty Extraction and Evacuation

Tibbett's and Army SBIR/STTR Quality Award Winning Project

Customer: U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC); U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC); Office of the Secretary of Defense Joint Robotics Program (OSD JRP)
Role: Prime Contractor
Partners: Northrop Grumman
Duration: 11/2002 – 9/2007
Purpose: Research and development focused on increasing the efficiency and safety of combat medics operating in hostile environments
Technologies: Multi-robot collaboration, Life Support for Trauma and Transport (LSTAT), fused laser/radar, long-wave infra-red (thermal) cameras, JAUS compliant system integration, handheld in-the-field Operator Control Units
Capabilities: Autonomous navigation, telemedicine, dual marsupial vehicle design,

Description: The goal of this project is to develop a system that can extract and transport a wounded soldier from the point of injury to a field hospital. The combat medic is one of the most dangerous responsibilities in warfare. Often in the course of doing his job, the medic is wounded or killed. Additional personnel are also required to transport a wounded casualty out of the line of fire to a safer location, putting more lives at risk. By developing robotic technologies that can seek, detect, and extract a wounded soldier from a hostile situation, the safety of the medic and the potential to save lives is dramatically increased.

Applied Perception is the prime contractor on this SBIR project, the largest funded project in SBIR history. The novel dual-vehicle design consists of a small, mobile manipulator (REX) that is used for short-range patient extraction, and a larger, faster tracked vehicle (REV) that is used for long-range patient transport. The smaller vehicle rides on the back of the larger vehicle in a marsupial fashion. The larger vehicle carries two Life Support for Trauma and Transport (LSTAT) stretchers, self-contained life support systems, for patient transport.

The prototype robotic vehicles serve as test-beds for numerous other sensor and robotics technologies. These include: GPS-based autonomous navigation, search and rescue sensing, obstacle detection, multi-robot collaboration, telemedicine systems, automatic vehicle docking, and vehicle safeguarding systems.