GREENFIELD — Hancock Health is leading with innovation to help ease the workload for hospital staff, unveiling new technology that’s the first of its kind in the nation.
A new robot named “Otto” now roams the halls at Hancock Health’s main hospital in Greenfield, delivering specimens across departments and saving staff both time and energy.
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“They've created this robot, they've integrated it with our systems of our arrive points,” said Rob Johnston, field applications engineer and chief pilot at Arrive AI.
Arrive AI, based in Fishers, partnered with Ottonomy Inc., a robot delivery company based in California, to bring the technology to Hancock County.
“Asynchronous delivery is basically no human in the loop, meaning that you have an automated drop off, an automated pickup,” Johnston said. “This is the first hospital in the nation to be able to have a robot that interacts with a smart autonomous enclosure.”
The robot uses mapping to navigate the hospital, picking up and dropping off specimens at designated “arrive points.”
“They [staff] use their badge. They unlock the door of the arrive point and they drop it off in this tote,” Johnston said. “Then [it] travels its way to another arrive point which is outside the lab, which is saving about a quarter mile of walking for any faculty or staff.”
The system has already made a difference for clinical medical assistant Megan Mellene and her team in the Cancer Center.
“It was about six to seven minutes that it took from the time from our office all the way here and back, so that took away a lot of time,” Mellene told WRTV. She said the trip would sometimes leave her team short in their office.
Now, she said, staff can focus more on what matters most — patient care.
“It really only takes us about one minute to get to the robot and put it in,” Mellene said. “Some patients come in alone so the six to seven minutes that we took to get here was not with a patient, and now it can be spent with patients.”
Hancock Health leaders say the project is just the beginning.
“We are looking at this as a starting point,” said Matt Browning, chief administrative officer at Hancock Health. “We certainly see a lot of other opportunities in different departments, food delivery, and even considering using this type of technology in our off-site campuses, delivering materials here to the main hospital here in Greenfield.”
Dan Lareau, Director of Customer Success at Arrive AI, said that automation can also help address broader challenges in healthcare, like employee shortages or financial issues.
“All hospitals are facing financial challenges, so efficiency as robots, drones, other vehicles become more and more affordable, then the payback is much quicker,” Lareau said. “You've got to use that very valuable resource of a nurse, a tech, and keep them with the patients.”
Mellene told WRTV the change has already improved her team’s daily workflow.
“It really does make a huge difference in our day-to-day operations in our office,” she said.
The health network rolled out the robot in April.
Leaders say it can save staff up to 15 minutes per day on trips to the lab.
Hancock Health plans to expand the technology across its network of more than 30 locations in east-central Indiana.
Arrive AI plans to use what it learns from Hancock Health to develop a scalable system that integrates ground robots, courier networks and drones across its operations.
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Naja Woods is the In Your Community senior reporter for Lawrence/Hancock counties. She started her journalism career in 2019 after graduating from Knox College in Illinois. She’s always looking forward to making a difference by empowering the diverse communities throughout the area and helping share their unique perspectives through storytelling. Share your story ideas and important issues with Naja by emailing news@wrtv.com.
