Technology: VR telepresence to treat injured soldiers

Far from the clichés of science fiction with its warrior robots, the University of Sheffield is working on a medical system that could save many lives through a kind of virtual reality triage. The telepresence system allows military personnel to be treated during combat via virtual reality headsets controlling a robot in the field. The device can take the vital constants of injured soldiers with the same technologies found in robotic surgery. This prevents emergency teams in the midst of combat from putting themselves in danger. The machine could also take blood or oral mucosa samples, while it could also send photos and videos of injuries to doctors. This makes it possible to better assess the situation, to make a diagnosis and even to treat the patient remotely.

Sonja Dogramadzi, a professor in the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering at the University of Sheffield, sees this solution as a life-saving measure: “Developing a remotely operated robotic system would significantly improve safety by reducing the danger to which military medical personnel are exposed at the front. Our platform uses the most modern technologies and would integrate like never before”. A welcome advance in the field, modern wars being indeed a reality that the Ukrainian conflict demonstrates to us on a daily basis.