Robots make quick work of hospital tasks
September 16, 2010 | Length: 00:02:21
At El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California, industrious robots rove the corridors and ride the elevators carting packages, hauling supplies and even taking out the trash.
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RE: Robots make quick work of hospital tasks
RE: Robots make quick work of hospital tasks
RE: Robots make quick work of hospital tasks
from the kitchen to patients floors. I remember if you got close to
one, it would stop & beep at you to move. Then it would continue its
course. The robots had their own elevators. Today the robots are
gone. The skinny elevators still exists. Not sure why they were
discontinued.
Ohio State University Hospitals
No, I wasn't on medication at the time...they are really there.
Transcript
Music
>> Your delivery has arrived.
>> Sumi Das: Delivering supplies, transporting specimen, carrying packages. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. And in El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California, that duty falls to a fleet of 20 robots called TUGs. These tireless robots quietly hum down the hospital hallways picking up and dropping off items without complaint. For busy nurses, the TUGs are a godsend.
>> It's just a more efficient mechanism for delivery of items.
>> Thank you.
>> You don't have to wait for a person to finish what they were doing before or you, yourself, as the nurse don't have to run down to the pharmacy to get the medication. You can call for the robot to bring the medication up. It's just much more efficient.
>> Sumi: To send the TUG on an errand, users just place the item inside the cart then select a destination from a straightforward software program, and with a couple of clicks, it's off and running. Ultrasonic sonar, infrared sensors and lasers help the robots avoid bumping into objects or people. And each TUG is loaded with AutoCAD plans of the hospital so it knows exactly where to go and how to get there.
>> Crossing hallway.
>> Even if it has to take the elevator.
>> Calling elevator.
>> It uses the wireless infrastructure to access the elevators, to open automatic doors, to pass through those locations that we have security controls on, so it interfaces both with security, Autodoors and elevators to get and navigate throughout not only the new building, but even our existing and previously built buildings.
>> Sumi: What's more? TUGs are polite.
>> Entering elevator, please stand aside.
>> Sumi: When not in use, the TUGs head back to charging stations so they have plenty of juice for future assignments. On a typical day, these modern day couriers make 300 deliveries combined all in a days work.
>> Thank you.
>> Sumi: For SmartPlanet, I'm Sumi Das.
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====