Odense University Hospital

At Odense University Hospital (OUH), three MiR robots help minimize manual tasks and optimize workflows, allowing healthcare professionals to dedicate more time to what truly matters: providing exceptional patient care. Two of the MiR robots efficiently transport blood samples between hospital wards and the lab, while one ensures delivery of medical equipment to patients.

Centre for Clinical Robotics (CCR) at OUH is responsible for developing and testing solutions that alleviate tedious, repetitive, and hazardous tasks, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on their core responsibilities. The robots must integrate smoothly into hospital workflows without disrupting operations, ensuring both effectiveness and safety.

At OUH, safety is the highest priority, including for the robots used throughout the hospital. Before any robot is implemented, thorough safety tests are conducted with the collaboration of IT, hygiene teams, and other departments. “We’ve been using MiR mobile robots for five years, and they’ve driven over 8,000 kilometers without a single incident,” says Søren Udby, Program Manager at CCR.

When integrating robots into the hospital workflow, the centre conducts a detailed analysis to prevent disruptions to emergency procedures or critical tasks. This includes understanding traffic flow and programming the robots to adjust speed, stay on the correct side of hallways, and avoid blocking emergency exits. “MiR robots are really safe, which is crucial, as many patients may not be familiar with robots, so it’s essential they can navigate safely among people,” explains Esben Hansen, Technical Tanager at CCR.

Currently, OUH has three MiR robots that helps streamline the hospital’s operations. Each morning, at 5:00 AM, the two MiR100s are programmed to autonomously navigate to the intensive care units. They independently take the elevator, open doors along the way, and once they reach the department, they send an SMS to the staff, notifying them that the robot has arrived. This allows the staff to quickly load the robot with the morning blood samples that have been collected from patients. After 8 minutes, the robot continues on its journey, visiting four departments before heading to the lab to deliver all the samples. This system saves valuable time, as staff no longer need to leave the ward and travel to the lab, allowing them to stay focused on patient care.

For the MiR250 robot, CCR developed a custom solution to transport parcel cabinets. While the parcel cabinet itself is a standard item, the team designed a special frame to make it compatible with the robot. Each morning, the robot picks up a cabinet and delivers it to one of the wards, where the staff can place parcels for patients who need equipment delivered to their homes. Once the staff loads the items, the robot returns the cabinet to the main entrance. Patients are then notified by phone and can drive to the entrance, park in front of the door, enter a PIN code, and retrieve their parcels. This system has reduced the time it takes for patients to pick up their items from up to 40 minutes to just 7 minutes, offering greater convenience for both patients and staff.

The MiR robots at Odense University Hospital navigate elevators effortlessly, thanks to modifications that allow them to interact with automatic doors and elevator systems. A Wi-Fi module enables the robots to autonomously open doors and control the elevator, directing it to the desired floor.

The hospital’s robotic solutions are scalable and can be implemented in other hospitals with the right technical expertise and infrastructure, such as automatic doors and elevator systems. Currently, the hospital is upgrading one of its main elevators to accommodate the robots in its tallest building, improving their ability to navigate the 17 floors efficiently.

At Odense University Hospital, successful robot integration has been built on a key lesson learned over the years: the importance of involving the end-users, namely, the clinicians. Their involvement is crucial for ensuring they feel a sense of ownership over the new technology. The process begins with clear communication, where the team explains what they aim to achieve, how they plan to implement the solution, and what the robots are expected to do. Clinicians are given the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed workflow, observe the robots in action, and suggest improvements, ensuring that the robots fit seamlessly into their daily routines. This collaborative approach fosters a sense of partnership between the staff and the robots. Rather than viewing the robots as mere tools, clinicians come to see them as colleagues, an essential factor in the success of the hospital’s robotic integration.

Both Esben and Søren agree that when implementing robots, especially for the first time, it is highly recommended to have a technical person on-site from day one to ensure smooth integration between the technology and the hospital. “There is little tolerance from the clinical staff for things that do not work, so make sure the product functions perfectly from day one,” advises Søren. Esben adds, “It’s really important that issues are resolved quickly, but also that people understand why the problem occurred.”

At Odense University Hospital, the staff interact with the robots in two main ways. They can either log in to the MiR interface on their computer to send the robot on a specific task, or use a phone installed on the robot itself, where the MiR UI is displayed. With a simple click, they can send the robot on its mission.

“What I really like about the MiR robots is that they are easy to program. It's not that complicated to teach them to do complex things,” says Esben. “And you also have the opportunity to set up a dashboard for different types of usage with different access levels.”

The procurement cost of the MiR robots, along with the value of staff time spent on tasks they now handle, can be used to calculate the return on investment. In most cases, hospitals see a full return within two years, with some even reaching break-even in as little as 12 months. This makes the robots a highly effective investment for healthcare facilities, offering both operational efficiency and a strong financial return in a relatively short period of time.

OUH is planning to introduce another MiR robot in the near future, equipped with two large information screens. This robot will provide patients with valuable information, such as updates on hospital activities and directions to various services within the hospital.