Quickly stabilizing a wounded soldier and getting them off the battlefield is vital to their survival. But with internal injuries prepping a patient for safe transport is extremely complicated. So Darpa’s Wound Stasis System program has funded the development of an injectable foam that stops internal bleeding and stabilizes organs so a soldier can be safely moved. More »
I’m frequently impressed with the projects coming out of DARPA, but most of the stories I’ve come across have been about their advances in robotics and defense systems. This new technology is designed specifically to save lives of wounded soldiers and civilians, and it does it with a simple spray foam.
A foam-based technology has been developed which is designed to fill in the spaces in an injured victim’s abdominal cavity, creating pressure in the voids, and substantially reducing blood loss from internal bleeding. In fact, early tests have shown a six-fold reduction in blood loss, and a dramatic increase in 3-hour survival rates from 8 percent to 72 percent. The foam was developed for DARPA’s Wound Stasis program by Arsenal Medical.
The foam is injected into the patient’s abdomen using a two-part compound that expands when mixed together. The foam then conforms to the inside of the body cavity, slowing internal bleeding. Once the patient can be stabilized at a hospital, the foam can be removed by a surgeon.
While the idea of filling my body cavities with something similar to that spray foam insulation really sounds awful, I suppose I’d subject myself to it if it meant the difference between living and bleeding to death.
When it comes to handy features for UAVs, your mind probably doesn’t jump to towering, phallic protuberances and grabby arms for gingerly setting things down before darting away. Well DARPA’s does, which is why they funded and demonstrated this monstrosity. More »
A new artificial lens that mimics the one found in human eyes is set to dramatically lower the weight of night-vision goggles, laser rangefinders and cameras aboard micro unmanned aerial vehicles that soldiers and marines must carry in the field. More »
We’re sure that most sniffer dogs would rather be playing fetch than hunting for bombs in luggage. If UC Santa Barbara has its way with a new sensor, those canines will have a lot more free time on their hands. The device manages a snout-like sensitivity by concentrating molecules in microfluidic channels whose nanoparticles boost any spectral signatures when they’re hit by a laser spectrometer. Although the main technology fits into a small chip, it can detect vapors from explosives and other materials at a level of one part per billion or better; that’s enough to put those pups out of work. To that end, the university is very much bent on commercializing its efforts and has already licensed the method to SpectraFluidics. We may see the technology first on the battlefield when the research involves funding from DARPA and the US Army, but it’s no big stretch to imagine the sensor checking for drugs and explosives at the airport — without ever needing a kibble break.
Via: Gizmag
Source: UCSB
IBM Research, in collaboration with DARPA’s Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) program, has reached another brain simulation milestone. Powered by its new TrueNorth system on the world’s second fastest supercomputer, IBM was capable of crafting a 2.084 billion neurosynaptic cores and 100 trillion synapses — all at a speed “only” 1,542 times slower than real life. The abstract explains that this isn’t a biologically realistic simulation of the human brain, but rather mathematically abstracted — and little more dour — versions steered towards maximizing function and minimizing cost. DARPA’s SyNAPSE project aims to tie together supercomputing, neuroscience and neurotech for a future cognitive computing architecture far beyond what’s running behind your PC screen at the moment. Want to know more? We’ve included IBM’s video explanation of cognitive computing after the break.
Continue reading IBM supercomputer simulates 530 billion neurons and a whole lot of synapses
Via: Kurzweil AI
Source: SC12
ICBMs are great and all, but since they are used almost exclusively for nuclear strikes, launching one would practically guarantee WWIII. So, to get non-nuclear ordnance anywhere in the world in under an hour, DARPA is developing the reusable, hypersonic Falcon delivery system. More »
Most companies might think twice about inflicting blunt force trauma upon their carefully crafted prototypes, but most companies just don’t love baseball the way iRobot does. While developing a mechanical hand for DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program, iRobot took a metal baseball bat to its three-fingered prototype. No need to cringe, though — the artificial appendage came away virtually unscathed. The hand’s durability comes from its flexible feelers, fingers molded from soft polymers with embedded tactile sensors. Rather than bending at metallic joints, these digits are pulled tight by inexpensive cables made from fishing line — not only can they take a beating, but should one snap, they’re easy to replace. The soft fingers can pick up small objects, such as keys or credit cards and can hold about 50 pounds before slipping up. The hand’s current iteration is in use on a DARPA test robot, but you can see the prototype take its licks in the video after the break.
Continue reading iRobot’s DARPA-funded mechanical hand can take a beating, lift 50 pounds
Filed under: Robots
iRobot’s DARPA-funded mechanical hand can take a beating, lift 50 pounds originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Nov 2012 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Space junk is an undeniable problem when there’s over 500,000 dead satellites, spacecraft pieces and other human-made obstacles that could crash into active orbiting vehicles. DARPA is more than a little overwhelmed in trying to track all those hazards by itself, so it’s recruiting amateur help through its new SpaceView program. The effort will buy time for non-professional astronomers on existing telescopes, or even supply hardware directly, to track the spaceborne debris without the sheer expense of growing an existing surveillance network. While that amounts to using hobbyists purely as volunteers, DARPA notes that the strategy could be a win-win for some when hardware donated for SpaceView could be used for regular astronomy in spare moments. The challenge is getting through the sign-up phase. While SpaceView is taking applications now, it’s initially focusing on options for standard commercial telescopes and hand-picking those who have permanent access to hardware in the right locations — there’s no guarantee a backyard observatory will pass muster. Those who do clear the bar might sleep well knowing that satellites and rockets should be that much safer in the future.
Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt
DARPA SpaceView program enlists us to track space debris, save a satellite today (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
While Boston Dynamics‘ Cheetah has already premiered, speeding along on its robot-friendly treadmill, we’ve now got a better glimpse at how the similarly DARPA-funded human-hunting obstacle-scaling Atlas fares, courtesy of its ancestor. That’s the Pet-Proto you can see in the video below, balancing and leaping across narrow terrain, conducting its own “autonomous decision-making” and keeping upright — all very important points for DARPA’s own Robotics Challenge, a competition where winners will gain access to their very own modified version of the Atlas for future disaster response tests. Watch the Pet-Proto gradually advance towards camera right after the break. And we’ll sleep with one eye open.
Continue reading DARPA’s Pet-Proto robot climbs, balances, jumps, comes to get you
DARPA’s Pet-Proto robot climbs, balances, jumps, comes to get you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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