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While R2D2, the friendly and knowledgeable robot from the Star Wars movies, is just a product of George Lucas' fertile imagination, robots that look like modern day R2D2s are being used in about 100 hospitals around the country. The HelpMate SP, weighing in at 574-pounds and measuring 4-foot-8 inches, is able to make about 200 deliveries of drugs, lab specimens, and supplies, as it glides on wheels from hospital pharmacies and labs to nursing stations.
The robot, powered by a battery that is recharged every 12 hours, can be programmed to visit 30 possible destinations using sonar and infrared sensors to avoid people and other obstacles. It sends a radio signal to summon the elevator or to open the doors to the intensive-care units. Upon finishing its rounds the HelpMate SP will state, "I have completed my mission. Please examine my contents"
In 1998, Manuel Rosetti, assistant Professor of industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas, conducted a cost effectiveness study of a fleet of six HelpMates used at the Virginia Health Sciences Center. He concluded that the robots could replace a team of 15 human couriers and pay for themselves in less than 2 ½ years.
These HelpMates won't defeat the Star Wars Empire but, with a little help from the force, they might make a big difference in hospital efficiency.
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