Many deaths from traumatic injuries that cause uncontrolled internal bleeding are potentially survivable if an unseen injury is diagnosed and treated promptly. Lidia Al-Zogbi, a fifth-year doctoral student of mechanical engineering in Axel Krieger’s, PhD ’08, IMERSE (Intelligent Medical Robotic Systems and Equipment) Lab, has designed a trauma robot that aims to lower the number of deaths from undiagnosed internal bleeding. The autonomous system can alert doctors to a hemorrhage via ultrasound and initiate diagnostics to stabilize patients en route to the emergency department.

“This will help ensure that patients make it to the hospital, where doctors who have been alerted to their condition are waiting,” she says.