Medical center pioneers robots for medical material distribution

Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, the largest medical facility for women and children in South China, announced the launch of robots on Oct 12, which will work in distributing medical materials, or automated guided vehicles (AGVs), aiming for smart logistics.

The AGVs, jointly developed by Shanghai Clever mRobot Technologies and Ewell Technology, are capable of transporting up to 300 kilograms of medical apparatus and instruments, medicines, samples, medical bedding and clothing supplies, and medical waste within the hospital.

Equipped with navigation, telecommunication and information processing technologies, the robots will be deployed in the hospital step by step, with eight already put into operations.

Typically, a hospital with 700 beds sees 20 tons of items transported within it every day, which requires the work of approximately 60 people, said Zhang Zhiyao, vice-president of the hospital.

The mechanical transport system in place in many hospitals involves relatively high building and maintenance costs.

The AGVs excel in big load, easy maintenance, continuous work and no infection risks, he said.

An AGV is estimated to take up the workload of two to four people, said Jiang Huabing, chairman of Shanghai Clever mRobot Technologies.