Awesome Army Videos-Terminator 2025 Battlefield Surgery Built NOW!

If you thought my post on military technology in the operating room was cool you will not believe the next generation videos here.  James Bond may have Q but the US military has DARPA.  On of their future battlefield medical projects is TraumaPod.  These videos from my friend Richard Satava, MD (Professor of Surgery and Program Manager of Advanced Biomedical Technology at the DARPA show the creation of terminator-style future battlefield surgery made real today.  Part 1 shows the concept video of how the system will work.  Part 2 shows engineering protoype video used to build the system.  Part 3 shows the real-live thing working today. 

What is Trauma Pod?  As Rick wrote of its Heinlein Science Fiction Origins:

Like many revolutionary ideas, science fiction imagines what might be possible and it takes decades for hard science to catch up. Such is the case for Trauma Pod, a new capability and a new challenging research project for pre-hospital or far forward battlefield casualty care. Concepts of Trauma Pod can be traced back to the 1957 science fiction book “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein, in which a self contained casualty “cocoon” was sent automatically from the spaceship directly to the wounded soldier on the battlefield. The casualty was placed inside this cocoon or pod, which was imagined to be a combination intensive care unit (ICU) and operating room (OR), capable of completely rescuing and, if necessary, operating upon a wounded soldier while being returned safely to the spaceship. As fantastic as that might have seemed, we are well over half way there, with systems that are currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan (and in clinical trials in select U.S. civilian trauma centers) and future systems to ultimately realize the full potential as so clearly articulated by Heinlein

Part 1 shows the concept video of how the system will work

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Part 2 shows engineering protoype video used to build the system

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Part 3 shows the real-live thing working today

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If you want to read all the details of the Land Warrior System and its potential medical uses read here