Hospitals in California, Florida and Arizona are set to be the first targets of a network connecting existing hospital transport systems with drone delivery for medications, laboratory specimens and urgent supplies.
TransLogic, a Swisslog Healthcare company, and Matternet partnered to connect pneumatic tube systems inside hospitals with autonomous drone delivery between facilities, according to an Oct. 29 news release. During the first year of the partnership, the companies will work to bring the system to hospitals in the three states.
The drone platform can carry packages up to 11 pounds within a 10-mile service radius. The system is designed to move items between hospitals, labs, pharmacies and clinics, extending automated transport beyond individual hospital buildings.
The partnership follows a growing list of hospital drone programs, most of them built on Zipline, which delivers to patients’ homes as well as between facilities. Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health plans to launch what it calls the largest hospital-based drone delivery network in the U.S. in 2027, expecting more than 100,000 deliveries a year across Charlotte, Chicago and Milwaukee. Cleveland-based Cleveland Clinic said in 2023 it would use drones to deliver prescriptions to patients’ homes.
Matternet’s hospital work dates to Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed Health & Hospitals, which in 2019 launched what was then the first FAA-approved medical drone program, carrying lab samples up to 5 pounds and 12.5 miles between its lab and clinics.
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