Meet the Tugs 鈥斅燼 team of 27 robots now zooming around the hallways of the new University of California-San聽Francisco聽hospital at Mission Bay. They look a bit like R2D2, dragging a platform around behind聽them.聽Instead of drones, think of them more as little flatbed trucks, ferrying carts of stuff around the vast hospital complex 鈥斅爁ood, linens, medications, medical waste and garbage. And they do it more efficiently than humans.
鈥淭his one is going up to one of the floors. It鈥檚 carrying meals that were ordered in probably the last 20 minutes,鈥� said Dan Henroid, who is in charge of this elite fleet, as he pointed to a robot motoring by him.
Henroid, who is also director of nutrition and food services for the USCF Medical Center, says each Tug travels about 35 miles each day. Over the past year, they have made more than 157,000 trips through the hospital.
Henroid said no one in the hospital has lost a job to the robots. UCSF was in the midst of a hiring spree for the new hospital, and the Tugs allowed him to hire about 30 fewer workers than he would have otherwise.
He added that the robots are really just carting things from one point to another, something most humans would not find particularly rewarding. 鈥淭he Tug has a job to do, and it鈥檚 sort of a thankless job. So,聽I think,聽better to have a robot doing it, perhaps, than a human.鈥�
But not everyone in the hospital is such a big fan of the Tugs.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e helpful.聽I聽think they鈥檙e also kind of a pain,鈥� said Mardi Thompson, a nurse in the neonatal聽intensive care聽unit. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen them run into computers;聽I鈥檝e seen them run into glass doors; I鈥檝e seen them run into each other.鈥� Sometimes, she said, two Tugs get stuck near the nurses鈥� station, each one waiting for the other to pass. The nurses call that a 鈥淭ug of war.鈥�
She says over the past year, the robots have gotten better. But for Thompson, there鈥檚 still the issue of jobs.
鈥淒efinitely there are jobs lost, which is kind of interesting to me because聽with the economy the way it is, you鈥檇 think people need jobs. And then we have these robots doing them,鈥� said Thompson.
Overall, the Tug program has cost UCSF about $6 million, including the changes required to hospital infrastructure to accommodate the robots. But Henroid said they have still saved the hospital money. 鈥淭he cost of transporting materials and supplies waste is an overhead cost. So the more you can do you that efficiently, the less cost you have,鈥� he explained.
The Tugs have been especially popular among the children at the UCSF Benioff Children鈥檚 Hospital. (Heidi de Marco/KHN)
About聽120 hospitals throughout the U.S.聽are聽using Tugs, according to manufacturer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
For some departments, such as the bustling hospital kitchen where the Tugs pick up carts loaded with trays of food and drop off dirty dishes, employees have eagerly adopted their automated co-workers. 鈥淚n nutrition food services,聽we named all of ours for fruit聽鈥斅爏o we have Apple,聽Pear,聽Blueberry,聽Orange and聽Grape,鈥� explained Henroid.
The Tugs are kind of cute, but also a little unnerving, as they shuttle past other hospital workers like they own the joint. Each one is carefully programmed to stay out of the way, said Henroid, but sometimes it feels as if one could mow down a bystander.
In a moment of bravery, a visitor decided to step in a Tug鈥檚 path. It headed straight for her, but stopped suddenly a safe distance away.
Henroid seemed pleased:聽鈥淵ou have faith! See, it stopped 2 feet away from you. You thought it was gonna run into you.鈥� The Tugs have sensors along their base that can tell if anything is in their way.
The robots have very little contact with patients. They mostly stay in the hallways or nurses鈥櫬爏tations, where human workers pick up their goods and deliver them to patients in person. When the kids in the children鈥檚 hospital catch a glance, however, it鈥檚 quite a scene.
Medical-surgical unit coordinator Michael Eckenrode pointed out a half dozen plastic toy vehicles nearby, including a cab and a bike.
Nurse Sonia Salinas carries patient Rogelio Diaz-Ramirez, 3, from Salinas, California, to see a Tug for the first time at the UCSF Benioff Children鈥檚 Hospital on January 28, 2016. (Heidi de Marco/KHN)
The children like to climb aboard and ride them around the unit. 鈥淲hen the robots come the kids start screaming 鈥楻obots鈥櫬燼nd they follow them down the hall. And it goes down around the corner and opens the elevator and gets on聽by itself. So that鈥檚 like a magic thing for them,鈥� said Eckenrode.
Rogelio Diaz-Ramirez, an adorable three-year-old, was in the hospital with a lung infection, but he couldn鈥檛 stop smiling at just the thought of seeing a robot for the first time.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to search for a robot!鈥� said nurse Sonia Salinas in Spanish, as she took Rogelio鈥檚 hand and led him through the hallway.
Salinas spotted a Tug coming down the corridor. 鈥淩obot! Come on! Run, Run!鈥� she told Rogelio.
When he caught up, Rogelio looked awestruck. Salinas showed him how to press the big green and red buttons on top that make the Tug go and stop. Until it鈥檚 time for the Tug to attend to its next assignment.
鈥淪ay Goodbye. Goodbye, Tuggy!鈥� she told him. 鈥淎dios!鈥� said Rogelio with a wave.
This story was produced in collaboration with APM鈥檚 .