Robots! To the nurses' station, stat

Computerworld - While deadly Terminator-style robots are making a comeback in a new television series, a more benign variety of the machines are delivering drugs and tracking medical equipment throughout a North Carolina hospital.

Called "Tug" and "Homer", the robots from Aethon Inc. are reducing costs at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, N.C., said CIO Dave Dillehunt.

"Our motto is 'We care for people,' and robots are one way we do it," Dillehunt said in an interview.

Dillehunt estimates that the hospital has already saved $150,000 by using its five robots. In addition to making deliveries, the robots locate expensive medical equipment wirelessly with RFID tags, which means the hospital can reduce the supply of equipment on hand. He said the hospital was able to cut the number of infusion pumps by 250, down from 700, resulting in that $150,000 savings.

In all, the robots have replaced four workers who made deliveries, but all four were trained for other jobs, Dillehunt said. The robots first appeared in 2006, but RFID tracking started last summer. "There was staff concern initially, but [the robots have] actually freed up staff for other things," he said.

The robots move on wheels and navigate by dead reckoning and lasers, relying on a blueprint of hospital hallways in their memories to calculate turns and distances and the locations of elevators, said Barry Skirble, CIO at Aethon in Pittsburgh. Using a wireless network, they can even call for an elevator.

The Tug robot pulls a cart of supplies at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, N.C.

Aethon relies on Cisco networking, VPN and wireless products to support its robots. It has installed about 200 robots in 105 hospitals in the U.S. Each robot leases for about $1,800 per month, including service, Skirble said.

While there has been no attempt to make the robots appear human, they do have recorded voices that notify people in the hallways when they are crossing, which either confuses or delights visitors, Dillehunt said. "You'll see teenagers hopping in front of them and people talking back to them," he said.

Skirble said the robots are generally programmed with a woman's voice to include several standard warnings, but they can be set up with any person's voice. "Nurses, who are mostly women, tend to want it to be a man's voice for some reason," he said.