Squadron of German robots set sail for new Royal Adelaide Hospital

A squadron of 300kg steel robots which can talk is on their way from Germany to work at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, ready to deliver anything from meals to medicine as the State’s new RAH-bots.

THE RAH-bots are coming. A squadron of talking robots is en route to Adelaide after winning jobs at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The 25 “RAH-bots” boarded a ship in Germany this week and will arrive next month to begin work 24/7, 365 days a year at the new RAH, delivering everything from meals to medicine.

The RAH-bots — formal name Automated Guided Vehicles — will be the first such robots to work in a hospital in South Australia.

They will do most of the heavy lifting and mundane work of transporting goods and equipment around the huge hospital, including trolleys of linen, waste, instruments, pharmacy products and patients’ meals.

The 300kg stainless steel robots have in-built voices which can be programmed for a variety of tones, similar to vehicle GPS systems which offer choices ranging from a reassuring feminine voice to upbeat football commentator Dennis Cometti.

Despite the voice capacity, the RAH-bots are long and flat rather than cute and humanoid — at 1.7m long, 0.62m wide and 0.34m tall they will simply drive under trolleys, lift, then take them to their programmed destination.

The faceless workhorses travel at walking pace, with driving speeds of up to two metres per second.

Built-in sensors make them stop if they sense any obstruction and they will be equipped to recognise people in their way and politely ask them to move aside.

The RAH-bots will move more than 1800 trolleys a day throughout the hospital but patients will not see these steel servants.

They will pick up loaded trolleys in service corridors on Level 1 where there is no public access, and travel by dedicated lifts off limits to the public, summoned electronically via Wi-Fi by the approaching robot.

There are three sets of two such lifts across the site working between Levels 1 and 10, and curious members of the public may catch a glimpse of the robots only if walking past a lift during a delivery, as the robots do not leave the lifts.

The RAH-bots can carry loads of up to 500kg and use radiofrequency identification to read the load type in each trolley and its intended location.

When it reaches its location it will send an order to staff to collect the trolley.

A dedicated robot manager will be responsible for scheduling “missions” — trolley deliveries — and monitoring activity.

The cost of the mechanical workers is part of the overall new RAH project.

Health Minister Jack Snelling said the RAH-bots were part of the move to incorporate sophisticated technology throughout the design of the hospital.

“Our fleet of AGVs will work around the clock, doing the heavy lifting and transporting trolleys of food, supplies, waste and linen throughout the hospital,” Mr Snelling said.

“The AGVs will help provide a safer workplace for staff, removing a lot of the repetitive manual handling tasks that can lead to injuries, and freeing up staff to focus more on face to face interaction.”

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