Moscow hospitals have begun piloting Yandex delivery robots to transport medicines and blood samples, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his MAX messenger channel. The electronic assistants are being tested at Filatov City Clinical Hospital No.15 and Pirogov City Clinical Hospital No.1, among others.
The robots travel between hospital buildings, autonomously mapping routes and avoiding obstacles. They deliver biological samples and consumables to the laboratory, and can also take medicines from the hospital pharmacy directly to the ward. The mayor noted that the robots successfully deliver cargo intact in any weather.
Before launch, specialists designed robot routes with stopping points and estimated delivery times. Hospital staff who have undergone training operate the robots using smartphones.
The experiment is being conducted under the national project ‘Long and Active Life’. The pilot will help assess the effectiveness of automated delivery systems in medical facilities and, if successful, could be scaled to other hospitals in the capital.
Sobyanin announced in January of this year that robotic systems were being introduced in Moscow’s medical institutions, including for supplying medicines to patients. He said at the time that robotic complexes were already operating in 13 city hospitals. In five facilities, robots help deliver goods between buildings; in nine, robotic pharmacies have been launched for receiving, storing and packaging drugs. In addition, Promobot consultant robots are working in three medical institutions to help with patient navigation.