SBIR-STTR Award

RE2, Inc. proposes to develop a specialized payload for the Squad-Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S-MET) vehicle to assist the combat medic with extraction of a combat casualty in dangerous environments. The combat medic is one of the most dangerous and demanding responsibilities in warfare. Often in the course of reaching, assessing, and treating a wounded soldier?s injuries, the combat medic and other personnel are placed directly in harm?s way. As a result many medics and soldiers have been injured or killed while trying to save others under hostile conditions. There is on-going interest to understand how unmanned robotics technologies can be used to reduce the risk of injury to the combat medic and other personnel when attempting to rescue and extract wounded soldiers in hostile or dangerous situations. The solution that is proposed to be designed as a payload for the S-MET vehicle, named LIFELINE, is intended to be a practical and relatively uncomplicated solution for unmanned casualty extraction with the goal of getting the casualty from the point of injury to the unmanned S-MET transport vehicle as quickly as possible for eventual transport back to a Casualty Collection Point or a Medical Evacuation Point.

LIFELINE is a modular device that can be utilized by a single medic to increase efficiency of casualty extraction, getting both the medic and the casualty quickly out of harms way. The Phase I effort was highly successful in that it proved the feasibility of LIFELINE. The challenge of Phase I was designing a system that is quickly installed by one person, adapts to different S-MET vehicles, has the strength to lift 300-lb. casualties, is easily controlled by one person, and interfaces with standard-issue equipment. The extensive research generated an innovative approach for loading casualties onto vehicles. During Phase II, RE2 will continue to refine the LIFELINE design. Major emphasis would be placed on weight reduction to reduce the burden on the Soldier during installation. All design elements would be revisited to optimize the design and address any portions of the design that were not developed under Phase I. New prototypes will be developed to reduce risk throughout Phase II culminating in the demonstration of the final prototype which is ready for transition into Phase III. ---------- The next logical progression of the LIFELINE concept is to create a solution that allows for the autonomous extraction of casualties from the battlefield. This new system, "Autonomous Casualty Extraction (ACE)", autonomously detects and retrieves casualties on the battlefield, keeping critical Combat Medics at a safer stand-off distance, and transports casualties back to a LIFELINE-enable ground vehicle (e.g. Squad - Multipurpose Equipment Transport) so that the casualty or casualties can be evacuated from the area. ACE leverages RE2's human-like robotics arms, computer vision, and autonomy algorithms to provide an innovative, yet practical solution for casualty extraction.