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cm2012
Wow - this is the first time I've seen a robot like this outside of a manufacturing environment. I imagine it would be much more difficult to implement in an existing hospital than one built around it.

I also wonder if its possible to tell if Tug reduces the spread of disease.

Symmetry
If you can build the hospital around something you might as well sue conveyer belts or pneumatic tubes. Being able to use existing infrastructure is the big reason you buy a delivery robot.
kaffeemitsahne
It's an autonomously rolling cart, I fail to see why we would need special new laws for that.
gjkood
The "autonomous" part is the problem.

Any robot capable of hauling "1000 pounds of linen" would probably be pretty heavy itself (batteries, motors etc) and can probably crush your toes if it runs over them, even at low speeds.

I guess that means just adhering to the first law preventing injury to humans.

alextgordon
The future is cool.

Only a matter of time before someone figures out how to combine this with Spot and a legion of four-legged robots start delivering your groceries, mail and pizza.

russ519 

    (●--●)   - Are you satisfied with your care? 
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shostack
My gut says this is just an MVP and there is actually a small person inside manually doing things and navigating the robot.
gjkood
No, there is a line in the article that says its been in use since 2009... "Just down the road in Silicon Valley, El Camino Hospital has been using the bots since 2009"
shostack
-whoosh-

I was joking.

gjkood
Sorry Shostack, I was just responding to the MVP part...as for the "small person"...I was disappointed too...my dream job has always been to be the heart and soul of a robot.
shostack
Hah, no worries. Per your point, definitely not an MVP at this stage.
Symmetry
Our competitor has an article in wired! I'll just say that the QC Bot has the ability to plan around obstacles it's detected instead of stopping and it has a friendly touchscreen for giving it directions.
Yozz
+1 for QCBot, that is one slick robot
542458
I would absolutely love to see a good human-computer interaction study done at this hospital.

Also, I wonder how they handle full elevators, or blocked hallways (somebody left a cart in the way, for example)?

jweather
Stanford Hospital was using sample-delivery robots as early as the 90s... I remember being amazed that they could use the elevators. They were a lot bigger and clunkier than the TUG, of course, and probably one-off prototypes.