Design and Autonomous Wearing of a Wristband with a Mobile Manipulator for Triage

In post-disaster scenarios, the lack of medical staff at Casualty Collection Points (CCPs) slows down injury triage. Using robots to apply wristbands to casualties may be a promising solution, but it could potentially pose a risk of further injury due to limb adjustments. To address this, this paper proposes deploying a search and rescue (SAR) robot equipped with a manipulator at CCPs. These robots can autonomously apply wristbands, sparing the need for limb adjustments. Firstly, a SAR robot system and an easily wearable medical sensor wristband were proposed, allowing the system to conveniently place the wristband on human wrists and ankles. Next, to address the challenge of wearing the wristband/anklet without adjusting the injured person's limbs, a 6D pose estimation method for wrists/ankles was introduced. This method enables accurate pose estimation for effective wearing. Subsequently, a control strategy for autonomously wearing the wristband by the manipulator was proposed, along with the development of a method to assess the applicability of the wristband and ensure proper wearing. Finally, a large number of experiments were conducted to wear the wristband, both indoors and outdoors with SAR robots. The performance of the robot was excellent in outdoor large-scale disaster drills.

I. Introduction

Natural disasters are characterized by their suddenness, often causing a significant number of casualties within a short period, such as the 2023 Turkey earthquake [1]. Diagnosing and prioritizing treatment for casualties within a brief timeframe represents a systematic approach to field injury classification. However, the rapid classification and rescue of casualties at Casualty Collection Points (CCPs) often pose significant challenges due to the limited number of rescue personnel available. Search and rescue (SAR) robots hold promise in replacing rescue personnel for diagnosing injuries and rescuing casualties [2]. For instance, there is current research on SAR robots applied in underground building environments [3] and military casualty rescue [4].