DARPA is advancing a new robotic medical concept designed to operate inside the human body, enabling it to locate traumatic injuries and deliver immediate treatment—significantly improving the survival chances of wounded soldiers before evacuation to hospital care.
The programme, called Medics Autonomously Stopping Hemorrhage (MASH), uses artificial intelligence to guide advanced sensing technologies to injury sites and autonomously apply clotting agents and tissue-repair materials.
In battlefield conditions, combat medics would make a small incision in the torso, allowing MASH to deploy robotic elements that stabilise and temporarily repair severe internal injuries.
DARPA notes that the effort focuses on enhancing existing, field-proven medical devices rather than creating entirely new robotic platforms, adding autonomy and intelligence to already validated tools.
The programme is structured as a two-phase initiative spanning three years.
Phase 1, starting in mid-2026, will tackle core technical challenges such as precise wound detection and autonomous clot formation. By the end of the first 24 months, the system is expected to independently identify active bleeding and locate internal injuries in casualties.
Phase 2 will concentrate on refining and optimising the technology, with the objective of preparing the system for potential battlefield deployment within a further 12-month period.
