Transforming Combat Casualty Care
What is Triage?
Triage is the process of quickly assessing patients to determine who needs medical care first — it is one of the most critical parts of responding to a mass casualty incident. When disasters such as earthquakes, large accidents, or attacks occur, there are often far more victims than available medical responders.
In those moments, a handful of medics must make rapid decisions in chaotic, dangerous conditions. If those early decisions are wrong, people may not receive the urgent care they need in time.
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Why Focus on Triage
In a mass casualty event, every minute makes a difference—but today’s triage methods can’t reliably predict who needs life-saving care first. The DARPA Triage Challenge is driving new solutions to close this critical gap and ensure that limited medical resources reach the right patients at the right time.
A primary stage of MCI triage supported by sensors on stand-off platforms, such as uncrewed aircraft vehicles (UAVs) or robots, and algorithms that analyze sensor data in real-time to identify casualties for urgent hands-on evaluation by medical personnel.
A secondary stage, after the most urgent casualties have been treated, supported by non-invasive contact sensors placed on casualties and algorithms that analyze sensor data in real-time to predict need for life-saving interventions.
Timeline
Challenge Event 32026 | |
| Workshops | |
| Systems | March 14-19 |
| Data * | March 27 |
| Qualifications | |
| Systems | July 28 - Aug. 30 |
| Data * | June 28 - July 30 |
| Competitions | |
| Systems | Nov. 5 - 14 |
| Data * | Sept. 30 |
| Awards | |
| Ceremony | Nov. 14 |
* Submission deadline
Challenge Event 12024 | |
| Workshops | |
| Data | May |
| Systems, Virtual | June |
| Competitions | |
| Systems, Data, Virtual | September |
| Awards | |
| Ceremony | October |
Challenge Event 22025 | |
| Workshops | |
| Systems | March 10 |
| Data | March 17 |
| Competitions | |
| Systems, Data | Sept. 28 |
| Awards | |
| Ceremony | Oct. 4 |
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Time is of the essence to rapidly identify those casualties with critical but survivable injuries in order to deliver maximal lifesaving interventions as quickly as possible. – Col. Stacy Shackelford, Trauma Medical Director, Joint Trauma System (JTS) |
Overview
