Harmony will develop assistive robotic mobile manipulation technologies for use in hospital environments.
We have 2 targeted use cases:
- The automation of on-demand delivery tasks around the hospital
- The automation of bio-assay sample flow
These highlight existing processes where there is a need for fast, reliable and flexible automation to undertake the dull and repetitive tasks that are currently conducted by over-qualified staff.
While existing systems can automate parts of these processes, e.g. specialised bio-assay machines, these form “islands of automation” that are limited in scope, rigid to changing demands, and still rely on staff to manually distribute goods and samples across the islands.
Mobile manipulation technology is a compelling solution to this problem since it offers the capability to bridge these gaps while maintaining a high degree of flexibility to adjust to varying service demands and adapt to different user requirements and preferences.
