Medical Mobile Robotics: An Industry Update

INTRODUCTION “Reduce costs! Increase productivity! Improve service!” Laboratory managers and hospital administrators know the pressures to improve quality and efficiency of operations while maintaining tight fiscal control. In today’s healthcare environment of everincreasing labor costs, administrators are forced to re-examine the systems that are in place. Is there a way to simplify and economize without sacrificing service? The answer may be a new type of employee to buffer absences due to illness, and which is content with performing routine, predictable tasks. Thanks to mobile robots such as Rosie, Bart and Greta, routine deliveries can be automated, allowing trained staff to do their real jobs caring for patients. Within the medical environment, transportation is an expensive and vital operational responsibility. Consider the vast numbers of systems and procedures in place to deliver specimens, laundry, meals, patient charts, pharmaceuticals, equipment and supplies. These are 24-hour, year-long needs that have been predominantly addressed by a) staff couriers who are paid to make deliveries, b) technical staff on an “as-need” basis, and c) fixed systems such as pneumatic tubes. Of particular concern is the use of technical staff to make deliveries in addition to their primary duties. In a study to reduce sick time and high turnover at the VA Medical Center in San Diego, CA, it was discovered that the night shift was spending nearly half their time running deliveries instead of doing the job for which they were hired. Mobile robots, or autonomously guided vehicles, have been used in such diverse fields as education, commercial cleaning, aerospace, defense and manufacturing. Perhaps one of the more interesting applications is in the area of surveillance. The CyberGuard Robotic Security System (Cybermotion, Roanoke, VA, www.cybermotion.com) is alerted to the early stages of a fire using flame, smoke and gas detectors (Figure 1). It also uses sonar, microwaves and infrared to detect the presence of people in secure areas. Since 1984, Cybermotion has marketed over 30 robotic security systems and continues to produce fully self-guided autonomous security vehicles. Mobile robots share basic elements such as drive motors, sensors, computer, batteries and external case. Some models can now be programmed to call elevators, open doors, avoid obstacles and communicate using simple phrases such as “excuse me.” In the field of medicine, mobile robots have been successfully implemented as a result of the technology becoming more reliable and sophisticated. For example, the HelpMate robot (Pyxis Corporation, San Diego, CA) has been installed in over 70 medical institutions nationwide (Figure 2). In addition, the RoboCart (CCRI, Lake Arrowhead, CA) is now operating in over 14 locations (Figure 3). For a medical mobile robot to be successful, it must safely function around staff and patients, perform routine tasks reliably and efficiently, avoid unpredictable obstacles such as wheelchairs, provide full notification if it becomes disabled, have usable and repairable technology for untrained users and allow easy battery charging. Several companies are producing medical mobile robots that meet and exceed many of these requirements.