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Content archived on 2024-05-21

Robotic courier for on-demand transport of goods in hospitals and healthcare centers

Objective

NESTOR aims at assisting caretakers in hospitals and healthcare centers, by using a robotic courier to reduce low added-value tasks such as pushing trolleys along corridors. Several European technologies will be combined to reach this goal. A strong emphasis on dissemination strategy is made to propose a European better and cheaper alternative to a fast-growing US system, but also to open such a robotic courier to other markets than only hospitals, such as office buildings. NESTOR has 3 complementary objectives :
1/ Assisting caretakers : the use of automation may help while the number of working people decreases and the number of caretakers remains at least the same. NESTOR aims at reducing low added-value tasks done by caretakers in developing an on-demand automated transport assisting device to move materials, equipments, meal trays, instruments, pharmaceuticals, medical records, samples, mail, packages, video cameras ...
2/ Studying non-technical issues related to the introduction of robots in hospitals, mainly their acceptance by caretakers, patients and visitors
3/ Developing a European competitor to a similar fast growing US equipment (Helpmate)
Two prototypes for real sites trials will be built, merging 3 European validated technologies :
1/ a modular autonomous platform including a container,
2/ a trackless navigation system and its fleet management software,
3/ an internet-based man-machine interface, to give this new equipment a universal accessibility and increase its acceptance.
The major improvement of NESTOR over its US competitor will be its capability to automatically load/unload a specific container. This feature, which has been identified after current users interviews, will be protected by a patent, to secure future sales of NESTOR.
After a short conceptual design of a few months, the 2 systems will be built at T0+12 and be fully operational on sites at T0+13, leaving almost 12 full months for the 2 site trials, one in Denmark and the other in Germany. The purpose of the trials is to validate the technology, but first of all to investigate the identified non-technical issues :
1/ the working re-organization needed to efficiently use such a device,
2/ the level of acceptance of a robot by caretakers, patients and visitors. NESTOR trials aim at showing that robots will help human workers and not replace them.
An end-users panel will be set up to help driving non-technical issues investigation, but also for promotion in hospitals and other areas, such as office buildings..The dissemination will start very soon, right after the conceptual design, in 3 directions : 1/ towards other hospitals, through an end-users panel, 2/ towards leasing companies, which are privileged channels to sell this type of equipment, 3/ towards other potential applications (transport in offices and factories).

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Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Funding Scheme

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Coordinator

ROBOSOFT SA
EU contribution
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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