India, Feb. 17 -- Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi on Monday remotely conducted an ultrasound scan on a person stationed more than 12,000km away at Maitri, India's research base in Antarctica.

AIIMS officials said the scan - focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) - was carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of a tele-robotic ultrasound system that could potentially be deployed in rural and remote areas, disaster zones, war settings and extreme weather conditions to enable early diagnosis and timely medical intervention.

Using a haptic control device at AIIMS Delhi, a doctor remotely operated a robotic arm positioned in Antarctica to perform the scan. The robotic arm replicated the d...