Automated Vascular Access for Spaceflight (PI: Bridgeman)

An important step in medical care and research of astronauts involves testing blood or giving intravenous medications. Placing a catheter into a blood vessel takes some degree of training and takes up crewmember’s time. The goal of this project is to develop an automated technology that can identify blood vessels (such as a vein or artery), place a needle into the blood vessel, and then place a catheter into the blood vessel so that blood samples can be removed, and medications administered. The technology will operate under human supervision, but not require any active human control, to reduce the amount of training needed to operate it. The project will use a robotic arm with an attached ultrasound probe to automatically identify blood vessels using computer vision techniques, and then use that same robotic arm to insert the needle and catheter. Initial work will be done in simulations of human arms and then progress to human testing when determined safe. The significance of this work could lead to improved medical care of astronauts, as it will no longer require as many crewmembers or resources to start medical diagnosis and treatment. It could also allow for more complete automation or remote operation of medical care for astronauts. This technology could eventually help start medical care for patients on the ground who live in remote locations or do not have enough medical staff available.

Extracting blood is key to myriad medical tests while IV insertion is crucial to administering numerous medicines. Consequently, automated vascular access is a necessary first step in creating virtually any multi-use, autonomous robotic platform. Such technologies could eventually help start medical care for patients on the ground who live in remote locations or do not have enough medical staff available. Even on its own, automated vascular access can unburden medical staff in busy locations. Furthermore, ultrasound-based identification can mitigate the challenges in locations where staff lack practice identifying vasculature of people with varying skin color, or when they must identify vasculature deeper below the surface. Finally, the automated ultrasound tracking implemented for vascular wall identification is a first step towards more robust automated ultrasound scanning that can be applied to a variety of body parts, enabling numerous procedures based on diagnostic scans.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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