Hospitals cut costs with robots
Hospitals cut costs with 'creepy' robots
By Robert Ferris
3 Hours Ago CNBC.com
Hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area are using robots
called Tugs to take over many of the everyday tasks involved in tending to
patients. The bots are programmed to deliver food and drugs, pick up waste and
laundry, and to travel the halls without crashing into people, according to an
article in Wired—though it's clear the story's writer doesn't get a warm, fuzzy
feeling from them.
The University of California, San Francisco hospital recently
began using the machines, and the nearby El Camino hospital has had a fleet
since 2009. Hospital administrators say the rolling electronic porters can help
bring down the "absurd" costs of healthcare in America, the article
says, mostly by limiting the ranks of hospital staff. Some say the bots are not
cutting existing jobs, but rather are redirecting human labor to more
fulfilling tasks and saving hospitals from having to add additional staff.
The Tugs travel using maps loaded into their
"brains" and have other features, such as biometric security
measures, to ensure the drugs they carry reach only the right doctors. They are
also built to be courteous—they beep softly as they roll down hallways to warn
people of their approach. Of course, they aren't without glitches—they can be
helpless, merely stopping in the middle of a trip if too many obstacles block
their way.
Human hospital workers have already begun giving the
robots childlike monikers—naming them after fruit or Disney characters. Costumes
matching the names may be on the way—one hospital is already seeking Disney's
permission to dress one up like a robot from the movie Wall-E. Some call the
new robotic assistants cute, some—including the Wired reporter who wrote about
them—think they are a bit "creepy." He said he finds the idea that
they won't eventually steal jobs "laughable."
"We understand robotic technology is new for many,
and like any new technology, it takes time for an organization to get used to
it," Aethon, the manufacturer of the robot discussed by Wired, said in a
statement to CNBC. "Our experience with our other hospital sites is they
become accustomed to TUG quickly and it becomes a natural part of the working
environment."
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