Design of a robotic automation system for transportation of goods in hospitals

Abstract

Hospitals face with heavy traffic of goods everyday, where transportation tasks are mainly carried by human. Analysis of the current situation of transportation in a typical hospital showed several transportation tasks are suitable for automation. This paper presents a system, consisting of a fleet of robot vehicles, automatic stations and smart containers for automation of transportation of goods in hospitals. Design of semi-autonomous robot vehicles, containers and stations are presented and the overall system architecture is described. Implementing such a system in an existing hospital showed the need of necessary modifications to the hospital infrastructure.