Description
The Autonomous Interventions and Robotics (AIR) program aims to develop autonomous robotic surgery and interventional microbots. The program has two technical areas: Technical Area 1 (TA1) focuses on endovascular robotics, and Technical Area 2 (TA2) focuses on microbots. The program will run for five years and is divided into a 2-year Phase 1 followed by a 3-year Phase 2. Proposers can apply to either TA1-A, TA1-B, or TA2, but not to more than one technical area.
Some key points about the program include:
• The development of fully autonomous robotic endovascular intervention systems
• The creation of an in silico simulation environment to support the development of TA1-A
• The development of interventional microbots that can move, sense, and act to improve diagnosis or treatment of a target clinical indication
• The program's goal of making endovascular procedures available at hospitals everywhere through autonomous endovascular robotic systems
• The potential for microbots to simplify existing procedures, enable new procedures, reduce complications rates and costs, and increase procedure availability.