British Army trial of AI glasses enables medics to carry out guided operations in war zones

Devices relay instructions from experts to those providing emergency treatment on the ground

The British military are trialling Microsoft HoloLens 2 glasses to use in war zones.

The British Army has begun trialling glasses with in-built artificial intelligence that will enable frontline medics to carry out operations in war zones.

The devices will send instructions to those providing emergency medical treatment on the ground from specialists anywhere in the world.

Using the glasses, a Microsoft HoloLens 2, those on the ground will be able to share information about the injured, such as vital statistics, to seek help from medical experts.

The trial, codenamed Project Lara, is being led by Lieutenant Colonel Oli Bartels, of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

"The further forward in the battlefield you go, the more that individual medic may need support," he told The Telegraph newspaper.

“Generally you have junior people further forward and more senior people further back looking after a wider area.

“That single junior medic is the one that actually needs the best communications capabilities and, traditionally, the further forward you go, the lower quality of communications you have."

Lt Col Bartels says that the technology has reduced the response times from experts from days to just minutes as the artificial intelligence tells the user which specialists are immediately available.

It also allows the medic how to move the casualty to the best place as quickly as possible.

The project, which has been running for 18 months, enables instructions to be beamed onto the glasses using an overlay that shows the user where to look.

It is being trialled by 1,500 military personnel and could be rolled out more widely next year.