The robot helps minimize disruptions to daily routines

At Sygehus Sønderjylland in Aabenraa, a mobile robot now transports blood samples from one laboratory section to another, and the staff are pleased with this development.

It’s not really that the distance between the biochemistry department—where blood samples arrive via pneumatic tube—and the blood typing laboratory is particularly long. But with 30–50 samples transported daily, one or two at a time, this quickly adds up to many trips between the biochemistry department and the blood typing laboratory. Trips that were previously made by staff members, who were thus interrupted from the tasks they were otherwise working on.

That's over now. Now, a mobile robot handles the trips between the biochemistry department and the blood typing lab.

A break from the daily grind

It’s a huge relief in our daily work that we no longer have to keep going over to the blood typing lab all the time. It may not be very far, and the blood samples aren’t heavy, but every time we had to make the trip, we were interrupted from whatever we were doing. Now we just place the samples on the robot and press a button. That way, we can get back to our tasks much faster, and it minimizes the risk of errors.

Tina Jessen, Departmental Bioanalyst at Sygehus Sønderjylland

The mobile robot solution was developed and installed by Gibotech A/S of Odense, which has extensive experience with automation solutions specifically for hospitals.

- It was important to develop a solution that was easy for staff to both implement and use. The whole point was, after all, that they shouldn’t have to spend time transporting blood samples, so we’ve created a solution where they just have to press a single button, and then the robot drives itself to the destination, says Thomas Skovgaard, who is Business Unit Manager, Hospital Solutions at Gibotech

Specifically, the solution works by having an employee place the blood samples in a tray on the robot and then select the destination. Various destinations are pre-programmed, so you simply select where you want the blood samples sent. The robot then sets off, and along the way, doors open automatically so it doesn’t have to stop and wait.

The mobile robot is an Omron , which can easily navigate around any obstacles that may be in its path. So it’s no problem if someone has left a cart or a box in the hallway. The robot simply scans its surroundings and drives around them.

Inside the blood typing laboratory, a staff member takes the blood samples and immediately sends the robot back with a single click. The robot drives itself back to the biochemistry section, ensuring it is always ready for its next run.

When the robot starts to run out of power, it finds its way back to the charger on its own. Employees can also send the robot to recharge if, for example, they know it won’t be needed for a few hours.