Robots wheel their way into staff support roles at hospitals

By LISA EISENHAUER

The robots maneuvering through the corridors of Mercy Hospital Jefferson don’t even turn many heads anymore.

For five years, the 3-foot-tall autonomous devices have been beeping their way down the halls at the 251-bed hospital in Festus, Missouri. They deliver meals to units, pick up and drop off laundry, tow trash to an out door dumpster, and shuttle medications and supplies. The hospital’s six robots together logged 5,500 miles last year.

In January, Chesterfield, Missouri-based Mercy began a phased expan sion of the robots to seven of its other acute care hospitals in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The TUG robots are made by Pittsburgh-based Aethon. The company does the mapping and programing required before the robots go live and it monitors their operation remotely once they are in service.