Chinese military develops its first robot patient as it seeks to prepare medics for battlefield role
- ‘Warrior’, a medical simulator complete with pulse and beating heart, ends PLA’s reliance on imports to train medical staff
- Mannequin was created as part of drive to overhaul military medical staff as Chinese armed forces seek to become a 21st century fighting force
The Chinese army has created a lifelike robot mannequin, complete with a pulse and beating heart, to help train its medics to treat battlefield wounds, according to the PLA Daily.
The medical simulator, named “Warrior” is even able to give medics feedback on how well they are treating the wounds and is equipped with more than 30 sensors to help simulate more than 300 battlefield injuries.
The PLA Daily, the armed forces’ official newspaper, reported in the May that the model had been designed as part of a wider overhaul of military medical training and it would be used to simulate almost all the battlefield traumas a soldier could experience.
Besides having its own pulse and heartbeat, it is able to breathe, cough or moan while trainees can also monitor its blood pressure.
It is the first domestically made model of its kind, with China’s army medics previously having to import medical training dummies from abroad.
It was designed by a research team, led by Zhao Yimin, a professor in China’s Fourth Military Medical University, which has also produced a new curriculum, training facilities and equipment as the People’s Liberation Army seeks to overhaul its medical training and capabilities.