Robotics Service Systems Ltd (RSSL) is a systems engineering design and service organisation that…

Robotics Service Systems Ltd (RSSL) is a systems engineering design and service organisation that provides multi-disciplinary industrial solutions for its customers. A brief company profile is provided separately.

The company plans to add to its business profile a new business stream that builds on its industrial automation systems expertise, especially drawing upon its experience in pharmaceuticals handling. This new business stream is a robotic hospital delivery and asset management service for advanced healthcare applications. This project has been established as an approved project within RSSL with the project identification number 7057.191.

Delivery of medications to wards and tracking of the medications has always been a labour-intensive activity and prone to late, incorrect and missing doses. The Hospital Integrated Delivery and Asset Management Service (HIDAMS) project will provide a real-time medication delivery tracking software system that avoids these types of delivery and tracking problems. Using an autonomous delivery robot, HIDAMS will deliver medications securely. It reduces errors, reduces re-work, enables healthcare personnel to focus on patient care and improves hospital bed turn-around time.

RSSL’s autonomous mobile robots will be integrated with delivery tracking software, enabling a hospital’s internal pharmaceutical logistics and supply processes to be fully automated. There is also future potential to automate food delivery services, waste removal services, linen delivery, and transfer of patient medical specimens to analysis laboratories or pick-up points. These services account for the majority of the internal logistics functions within hospitals.

The business model for HIDAMS is initially limited to pharmaceutical delivery, which is both high value and safety-critical. RSSL will develop the robotic delivery system and the robot tasking and monitoring centre; install and commission HIDAMS in hospitals; operate the system within a hospital; maintain, repair and overhaul the system; and upgrade the system over time. This is a full service model, so there is no capital cost to burden the hospital’s balance sheet. The capital cost and associated balance sheet risk of the system will be carried in full by RSSL, so that the hospital will pay only for usage of the HIDAMS system.

The initial installation of HIDAMS will be at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but it is planned to expand its use quickly to many other hospitals in Australia and Asia.