Helping Hospitals

Between delivering lab samples, removing soiled linen bags and running routine errands, it’s hard for nurses to make time for the most important task: interacting with their patients. This is what scientists at Diligent Robotics hoped to address when they built Moxi, a hospital robot. With an arm to reach, a gripper to pick up objects and a mobile base to move, Moxi is able to complete duties end to end independently without being asked, relieving nurses of non-patient-facing tasks that studies show they otherwise spend up to 30% of their shifts on. The company has just wrapped up yearlong trials at four hospitals in Texas and in October began its official market launch with its first full-time hospital partner in Dallas. Diligent Robotics CEO Andrea Thomaz plans to have Moxi in even more U.S. hospitals by the end of 2020. —Hillary Leung