Traumapod

Though it has fallen victim to budget problems brought on by disagreements between the Pentagon and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--according to SRI--the Traumapod, seen here, is "an automated medical treatment system [for the military] that does not require onsite medical personnel on the front lines of battle, and is ready to receive, assess, and stabilize wounded solders during the critical hours following injury."

In 2005, DARPA awarded an SRI multi-organization team a $12 million contract to build it. "The...program is an important step toward ensuring a future generation of battlefield-based unmanned medical treatment systems, or 'trauma pods,' to stabilize injured soldiers within minutes after a battlefield trauma and administer life-saving medical and surgical care prior to evacuation and during transport."