Advanced technologies including autonomous systems powered by artificial intelligence are projected to be at the forefront of the Multi-Domain Operations battlefield of 2035. TATRC provides one of the only places where the fusion of data, humans, and machines is studied as new technologies are in development, with close attention paid to human-technology teaming during casualty care. The research and technology development at TATRC rapidly produces solutions for military medicine that optimize warfighter performance through health optimization and optimize casualty care by maximizing capability, and thus medical system capacity, at the point of care by leveraging computer-machine-human teams.
Future joint medical concepts for Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) depend on the availability of automation to expand the capability and capacity of the Military Health System (MHS). TATRC was created as a Command with a unique mission focused on fusing data, humans and machines to automate casualty care. TATRC is at the nexus of medical modernization: building and progressing from the base of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) “stack” from enabling data sensing and modeling data that describes care to building solutions that support better, faster decision-making and automation of key aspects of care.
Automation of care relies on the ability to passively collect data at the point of injury and across the roles of care and take action with that data – in real time. TATRC’s “AutoDoc” project, the first in TATRC’s Automating Casualty Care portfolio, is building the foundational enabling capability to do just this, starting with use of multi-modal sensors to passively collect data (on the actions of Medics, the state of patients and the use of logistics) and using algorithms to translate this data to automate documentation. Future solutions will leverage these passive data collection capabilities (and data) to enable clinical decision support, to predict and automate logistical resupply, to identify casualty and enable other priority medical modernization “gaps.”
TATRC pursues medical robotics and autonomous system projects associated with key modernization “gaps” and future concepts. Robotic, autonomous, and artificial intelligence systems, combined with virtual health and other decision support tools help to maximize caregiver capability at the point of care in any context. TATRC’s work on machine vision will help robots recognize casualties on the battlefield, helping us to automatically identify injury patterns, extract casualties from dangerous or remote locations, and ultimately perform autonomous medical tasks like controlling medical devices, starting IVs, securing airways, and, someday, helping humans perform surgeries. Work with unmanned aerial systems (UASs) will enable autonomous blood and other class VIII resupply during prolonged casualty care and casualty evacuation when other manned systems are tasked with the more complex task of conducting the fight.
TATRC’s Nexus is a high-fidelity simulation environment designed to bring scientists, engineers, programmers, and product developers into regular contact with operational medicine caregivers – medics, nurses, doctors, etc. – and to collect data about how they perform casualty care with and without technology in military relevant contexts. The Nexus lab collects data about casualty care to build a unique data set useful in optimizing human-machine teaming and truly understanding casualty care. The Nexus promises to change how we train, how we develop medical technologies that support future warfare, and how these technologies impact the human care we provide.
The Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute (BHSAI), a research entity attached to TATRC, provides the only medical computational biology expertise within the DoD. The BHSAI conducts research across a spectrum of important areas from human physiology, to toxicology and immunology. Their work helps identify chemical threat solutions, toxic effects of potential medicinal compounds before they are tested in animals or humans. Their computational models of human of physiology allow us to test in-silico hypothesis related to blast, heat, radiation, environmental and many other exposures that would be otherwise unethical to conduct in live models. Importantly, computer models reduce risk, time, and cost of developing many vaccines, medicine, and other technologies necessary for success on the future battlefield. Algorithms developed by BHSAI continue to provide solutions to real world problems like sleep deprivation (2B-Alert), heat related illness (2B-Cool), and the FDA-approved hemorrhage resuscitation (APPRAISE).
TATRC’s customer and guiding light is the Combat Medic. Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) will potentially challenge Medics to care for massive numbers of casualties far longer than the “Golden Hour.” TATRC measures itself on whether technology and humans – or human-machine teams – actually make a difference in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of frontline caregivers like Medics, and, ultimately, in care outcomes.
Yes. TATRC, a science-and-technology organization, seeks to transition the material and knowledge products that it develops to advanced development and on to higher levels of maturity. TATRC maintains close partnerships with JOMIS (Joint Operational Medical Information System), with Air Force Research Lab, and across USMRDC to coordinate research efforts with the needs of the force.
TATRC works with an array of intramural and extramural partners to coordinate research efforts and to accelerate solution development. Some key partners include but are not limited to: Military clinicians, the Defense Health Agency, the Joint Trauma System, JOMIS (the Joint Operational Medical Information System Program Management Office), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, many other DoD Labs, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Uniformed Services University, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Stanford University, the Massachusetts General Hospital Medical Devices Plug and Play Laboratory, Charles River Analytics, Piasecki Aircraft, the Geneva Foundation, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Ragged Edge Solutions, First-Light USA and numerous others. The work that we do helps us forge the future by fusing data, humans, and machines into trustworthy solutions that optimize Warfighter performance and casualty care.
The Advanced Medical Technology Initiative (AMTI) is focused on identifying, exploring, and demonstrating key technologies and enabling biomedical principles required to overcome technological barriers that are medically and militarily unique. The AMTI Program facilitates bottom-up technology innovation while simultaneously informing top-down acquisition throughout Military Medicine. Program execution encompasses small funding investments at the facility/individual level in two distinct categories: Rapid Innovation Funding (RIF) and Extended Innovation Funding (EIF) for which the period of performance for each category is limited to 6 and 18 months respectively. At least nine AMTI projects have progressed to become systems of record in the Military Health System (MHS). For more information on AMTI, please visit the AMTI page at: https://www.tatrc.org/www/amti/