In routine tasks, automated couriers deliver



Hospitals turn to robots to deliver medicine and other items to nursing stations.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Near a pair of swinging doors at a local hospital, a cart sits apparently abandoned. Yet at the push of a button, it perks up to say, "thank you" and rolls itself out the door toward the pharmacy.
The 50-pound machine, which looks like a vacuum cleaner mated to a cabinet, is designed to autonomously ferry loads of linens, medical supplies, X-rays, food and other materials.
In a push to lower costs and free up workers for more critical tasks, hospital officials are turning more and more to robots such as TUG to ply their hallways.
Other robots include the RoboCart -- a motorized table -- and the droidlike HelpMate, a 4-foot tall cabinet with flashing lights and turn signals that would be welcome in any sci-fi movie.
It's unclear how many automated courier robots are being used in the nation's hospitals. There may be somewhere between 70 and 120, according to experts and a small number of private U.S. companies making the robots, which lease for between $1,000 and $5,000 a month.
The bots are sold on the premise that they're less costly and more efficient than humans -- neither coffee breaks nor sleeping required.
Nurses pleased
The Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston has been using two HelpMates to cart medicine from the pharmacy to nursing stations throughout the six-floor, 352-bed hospital. They make as many as 30 trips a day, said Susan Dierker, a nursing supervisor.
"They're wonderful and they talk to you in Spanish and English. The nursing staff is pleased with them and most people just stare because they're wandering around the hospital," Dierker said.
The TUG, made by Pittsburgh-based Aethon, and the HelpMate, made by Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc., are more advanced than the RoboCart, made by California Computer Research Inc.
The RoboCart, which counts the Mayo Clinic among its employers, has a fixed path determined by tape placed in a hallway and has sonar to help it avoid smacking into a person or object in its path. It mostly ferries blood samples from one end of a laboratory to another.
More complex machines
By contrast, the TUG and HelpMate are packed with sensors to help them "see." The TUG can tell the difference between a person standing in its way and a bag placed in a hallway.
TUGs use wireless radios to call elevators or open automatic doors. Their "brains" are packed with detailed maps of hospitals and computer programs to help them keep track of where they are, where they're going and the right time to jump on an elevator.
They're also polite. The TUG asks people in a female's recorded voice to "please stand aside," when it gets onto an elevator and says "thank you" after it makes a delivery. The HelpMate asks people, "please examine my contents," when it makes a delivery.
Security features
Though it may seem ill-advised for a machine -- even a smart one -- to tote around drugs or medical records unsupervised, the TUG and HelpMate come with cabinets that can be mechanically and electronically locked. The HelpMate includes a fingerprint scanner for extra security.
They aren't problem-free, however. On a recent run in the University of Pittsburgh's Magee Women's Hospital, a TUG crawled inches away from a wall, apparently trying to avoid two scraps of paper on the floor.
"We're sensitive to the fact that it is running through a hospital and it can't hit anything," said Aethon president Aldo Zini. "I can sleep 100 percent at night knowing it hasn't hit anything."

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