ATOKA — Drones and robotic dogs demonstrated their transportation powers during an event recognizing a nearly $2 million federal grant that Choctaw Nation leaders say could fundamentally change how health care is delivered in rural Indian Country.
Officials from the nation and the federal government gathered Tuesday at the tribe’s health clinic in Atoka to demonstrate what the future could look like, with hopes the robotic projects will inspire children.
“I keep saying this is about technology, but more importantly, it’s about making sure that (we can answer), ‘How do we reach our children?'” Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton said. “How do we let them know that they can be engineers, that they can do programming, that they can be anything that they want to be?”
Batton’s vision has tangible backing through a $1.9 million U.S. Department of Transportation “SMART” grant. The acronym stands for Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation, and its funding will help develop an advanced health care logistics system that uses drones, ground robotics and artificial intelligence. The tribe plans to link clinics across its southeast Oklahoma reservation, speeding up the delivery of medications, lab samples and critical supplies while reducing the need for humans on dangerous rural roads.
Batton emphasized that the project would not have been possible without groundwork laid by the Choctaw Nation Tribal Council in recent years.
“We could not do it if the council did not take a risk and appropriate dollars so that we can make groundbreaking record-setting news like today,” Batton said before acknowledging Councilpersons Anthony Dillard and Regina Mabray.
Dillard, speaking briefly, said the program represents a rare and important opportunity for rural Indian Country.
“Opportunities like this don’t come along every day in rural southeastern Oklahoma, and we really need to embrace it and take full advantage of this kind of tech opportunity we have in our area,” he said.
Grimsley: ‘We’re embracing the future’
James Grimsley leads the Choctaw Nation’s Department of Advanced Technology Initiatives, but as a child growing up in Atoka County, he watched the Apollo missions in awe on black-and-white television.
“I would have never imagined that we would be doing advanced aviation research here in what was my backyard,” Grimsley said at Tuesday’s event. “So this is a cool time.”
Grimsley framed the project as a direct response to long-standing disparities between rural and urban health care access. In cities, he noted, ambulances and medical deliveries can arrive in minutes. In rural areas — like much of the Choctaw Nation — response times can stretch to 30 minutes, an hour or longer.
“For far too long, our ZIP codes have determined our health outcomes,” Grimsley said. “We are going to stop that. We’re going to equalize what it means to live in a beautiful place like the Choctaw Reservation.”
By flying medical supplies directly between clinics — “straight as a drone flies,” Grimsley explained — the program aims to cut delivery times dramatically, reduce traffic on hazardous rural highways and improve outcomes for tribal members who live far from major medical centers.
The technology, Grimsley said, is also about safety and workforce development. The drones are assembled within the Choctaw Nation, opening the door to future manufacturing and engineering jobs. At the same time, the program offers tribal youth a glimpse of careers they may not have previously imagined.
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“We’re embracing the future, but we’re doing it in a way that’s going to be beneficial for all of us, and it’s going to be beneficial for mankind in general,” he said. “Not only are we solving problems for our reservation and for our tribal members, but we’re helping the country to solve bigger problems, because we’re figuring out the good ways to use the technology — the positive ways to do it.”
That national significance was echoed by USDOT Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs James Crawford, a member of the Forest County Potawatomi Community of Wisconsin, who began his remarks by speaking in his native language.
Crawford congratulated Choctaw Nation leadership for becoming a model for Indian Country by using advanced technology to improve safety and health outcomes.
“I’m a firm believer that we need to give our children things to dream about,” Crawford said. “When you guys are leading this type of effort in Indian Country, that’s a great effort that all of us can learn from.”
Crawford explained that the grant is a Stage One SMART grant, designed to fund early deployment of unattended hubs, un-crewed aviation systems and intelligent ground robotics to strengthen health care logistics. Similar projects, he noted, are underway with other tribes, including the Cherokee Nation and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.
“For far too long, our people have been left behind and not thought of in technology,” Crawford said, adding that the Trump administration has made safety on tribal lands a priority.
The SMART grants program itself was detailed by Stan Caldwell, director of the initiative within the UCDOT’s Office of Research and Technology. Caldwell praised Choctaw Nation health care workers and emphasized the real-world problems the project is designed to solve.
“Current medical delivery relies on couriers and patients driving on rural roadways,” Caldwell said. “Critical lab results can often be delayed two to five days.”
By building what he described as a “resilient aerospace logistics system,” the project aims to reduce wait times, improve reliability and eliminate transportation barriers to lifesaving care.
“It’s not just a step forward in transportation, but a cross-cutting effort that will contribute to better health care and improve quality of life,” Caldwell said.
The SMART program, created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, represents a five-year, $500 million federal investment in community technology projects. Stage One grants provide up to $2 million over 18 months, with successful projects eligible for up to $15 million in Stage Two funding for long-term deployment.
Tuesday’s event concluded with a demonstration that paired an aerial drone’s delivery with ground-based robotic dogs capable of retrieving payloads, securing landing zones and assisting with logistics. The hybrid aircraft descended vertically, released a padded medical payload and lifted away, while the computerized canine moved in to retrieve the package and walk it to a person waiting at the clinic’s doors.
“This is what the future will look like,” Grimsley said.
