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Salahi, Kaveh dimitri Drone-Assisted Terrain Stretcher (DATS) A Human-Guided, Air-Cushion Lift-Assist Stretcher for Rescue Over Rough Terrain Mendeley Data DATS is a stretcher that rides on a pressurised air cushion, like a small hovercraft, so one rescuer can guide a patient across rubble, mud, snow and forest floor. Four recessed ducted fans pressurise a sealed plenum under the deck. A segmented finger skirt contains that pressure and conforms to uneven ground. The cushion carries most of the load. The rescuer guides the stretcher and supplies human effort for steps, gaps and steep sections where no cushion can seal. Because the fans only replace air leaking under the skirt, estimated power is 2–16 kW depending on terrain. That is far below an open-rotor or flying system carrying the same load. The design uses snap-in, fire-contained battery pods and a wrist twist-throttle derived from snowmobile controls. Introduction Carrying a patient over rough ground usually takes four to six rescuers, and it is slow, exhausting and prone to injury. DATS aims to let one rescuer do that work in most terrain, and two in the hardest conditions. The design addresses the mechanical problem by transferring a substantial portion of the stretcher and patient load from the rescuers to a low-pressure air cushion. The rescuers remain responsible for direction, obstacle handling and situations in which the cushion cannot maintain an effective seal. Medical Assistant Medical Caregiving Medical Device Urban Mobility Wheelchair Mobility Electrical Mobility Dataset doi:10.17632/5mg2jktd9n.1 oai:data.mendeley.com/5mg2jktd9n.1 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/5mg2jktd9n 2026-09-29T12:14:02Z