Rovex is conducting the primary pilot of its hospital transportation system in Florida. Supply: Rovex
Final month, I attended eMerge Americas hosted by Melissa Medina in Miami. The convention showcased South Florida’s burgeoning innovation engine, with startups selling groundbreaking tech in healthcare, protection, AI, and {hardware}.
An equally spectacular plenum of audio system included family name-brand CEOs, generals, influencers, and even the president’s son. Clearly, the nexus of innovation is starting to shift away from the Northern coasts all the way down to the (tax-free) Solar Belt.
Strolling the ground, I sought out robotic firms within the eMerge alligator alley. Amid the combo of drone and autonomous autos, Rovex Applied sciences stood out with its autonomous hospital mattress. The startup was the brainchild of emergency room physician David Crabb. He had been charged with overseeing his division, tackling bottlenecks in transferring sufferers by way of the hospital system.
Probably the most obvious examples of waste was the size of time it took for sufferers to be seen by the imaging workers. The entrepreneur mentioned he found that it took “over an hour to get 200 yards down the corridor.” This led to excessive charges of affected person dissatisfaction, income loss, and elevated worker-compensation claims.
“Transporters have a extremely powerful job,” defined Dr. Crabb. “They’ve one of many highest damage charges of any job within the U.S., and a really excessive turnover at some establishments. They go away in about six months, 100% turnover in a single yr.”
“So I began in search of methods we may transfer sufferers autonomously,” he mentioned. “After which we settled on having one thing that they will seize onto — stretchers, wheelchairs, beds, and many others. — and tow them alongside safely down the corridor in an effort to velocity the method up of caring for the affected person and get the employees again to the bedside having the ability to deal with sufferers hands-on, somewhat than simply pushing stretchers and beds round. You’ll at all times want a human contact in sure areas, particularly with sufferers who’re altered or anxious round issues like automation.”
Rovex add autonomous mobility by way of towing
Rovex has developed a autonomous patient-transportation system that works with current beds and gurneys. It has a sturdy impediment avoidance to securely navigate down hallways, however as Dr. Crabb shared, the robotic’s mental property is its towing {hardware}.
David Crabb, M.D., founder and CEO of Rovex, with the corporate’s system at Morton Plant Hospital. Supply: Rovex
“One of many core items that we’ve developed in-house is round how we seize and combine with caster wheels, free-spinning wheels,” he mentioned. “We’ve gone by way of 4 to 5 completely different iterations of the best way to safely and effectively seize them with good management, rapidly, and preserve good management over the stretchers, wheelchairs, or beds as we transfer.”
Crabb famous that the info layer may finally be his strongest asset. “The info might be the most important alternative in that area,” he mentioned. “There are solely so many [robots] on the market transferring round autonomously, so we’re persevering with to construct our algorithms to try this safely.”
“Social interplay with individuals as they’re going by way of might be chaotic,” Crabb acknowledged. “Healthcare staff have an infinite record of wants. So I’d say the info is a extremely necessary half.”
“I believe the No. 1 consideration whenever you’re transferring round is that this can be a susceptible inhabitants,” mentioned the physician. “It’s a must to do it safely. You’ll be able to’t transfer rapidly. It’s a must to be sure that the affected person is in management and nonetheless feels accountable for what’s happening, so give them that management to verify they really feel secure.”
“As a clinician, our No. 1 precedence is affected person security first, do no hurt,” asserted Crabb. “It’s my very own ethos as a doctor, so the very first thing we set up is an emergency cease button for the robotic, in addition to an emergency launch to be sure you can seize it and transfer it out of the best way as simply as potential.”
BayCare Well being System checks transport robotic
The Robotic Report reported final month that Rovex acquired a significant endorsement when BayCare Health System introduced a pilot program to check its robots in real-world settings at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla. The hospital plans a phased program to judge how the startup’s programs will transfer by way of the power and combine with current workflows. Early testing is targeted on navigation somewhat than affected person motion.
“Delivering higher affected person care requires innovation throughout each facet of hospital operations,” mentioned Craig Anderson, vice chairman of innovation at BayCare. His workforce indicated that the objective of the pilot might be to judge whether or not Rovex might be scaled throughout its 16 services in West Central Florida to extend effectivity and preserve security.
“What’s most compelling about this pilot is the prospect to carefully consider and study,” mentioned Dr. Chris Bucciarelli, BayCare’s chief medical officer for ambulatory providers. “By finding out how robotics could help affected person transport in an actual hospital setting, we will higher perceive the best way to design care programs that help each sufferers and workers.”
The Rovex robotic will not be but transporting sufferers throughout the pilot at BayCare’s facility. Supply: Rovex
Different innovators tackle hospital motion
Whereas Rovex has developed a novel click-and-tow platform, it isn’t the primary firm to automate affected person transport.
At CES 2025, MOVED unveiled “an autonomous driving mattress designed to move surgical sufferers effectively through devoted elevators, guaranteeing privateness and cleanliness.” Whereas this futuristic type issue caught a number of consideration in Las Vegas, there was little information from its South Korean creator, OGGMA, since then.
The MOVED autonomous driving hospital mattress was a CES 2025 Digital Well being honoree. Supply: Shopper Know-how Affiliation
ReviMo, a part of the fourth cohort within the MassRobotics Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst Program, has developed Niko, a lifting system for individuals with mobility points. Able Innovations‘ ALTA mechanically transfers sufferers from hospital beds to gurneys with out ergonomic pressure on hospital personnel.
As well as, robots are already working in hospital hallways as they supply logistical help for prescription drugs, tools, and linens. These embrace programs from Aethon, Relay Robotics, and Diligent Robotics (which was acquired by Serve Robotics in January).
Editor’s observe: The Robotics Summit & Expo will embrace a session on hospital logistics with Aethon, Rovex, and SKA Robotics. MassRobotics can even introduce startups in its Healthcare Startup Showcase. Register now to attend subsequent week’s occasion in Boston.
Moby is a ‘bubble on wheels’
The broader alternative in affected person transport was additional underscored this previous yr at Endless Frontier Labs, the place I met Janis Münch, CEO of Sphaira and the inventor of Moby, a cell protecting transportation system full with air filtration.
“Medical isolation is both you’re immunocompromised or extremely infectious,” he defined. “Now, what we did was develop a cell protecting bubble on wheels. It’s a medical system in Europe.”
“We’re present process FDA approval, and this has been in use for 1.5 years at CharitĂ© – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, arguably essentially the most well-known European hospital,” added MĂĽnch. “We are actually doing a medical examine with Stanford Youngsters’s Hospital.”
Moby is in use in Germany for most cancers sufferers at Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Supply: Sphaira
Sphaira develops shuttles for the Mayo Clinic
Münch continued to stipulate his long-term plan to create fleets of autonomous affected person and other people movers, constructing on Moby’s success. In October 2025, Sphaira announced a improvement settlement with the Mayo Clinic for autonomous affected person shuttles.
“So the concept is a pod, a one-person shuttle, elaborated MĂĽnch. “It’s an autonomous wheelchair with passive safety. We map the constructing beforehand to create a digital twin, after which it drives by way of the constructing, transferring in each path.”
After I requested MĂĽnch why he selected to give attention to an autonomous chair somewhat than a mattress or gurney, the German entrepreneur replied, “It’s truly been extra manageable, as a result of we’re solely getting into the principle hallways proper now, however whenever you begin fascinated by doing the autonomous mattress, we would wish a much bigger associate.”
“A Stryker or [another big partner] can be fantastic at one level, as soon as our robotic infrastructure layer is put in. It’s a must to get into each room, and this can be a a lot larger effort,” he added. “So we’ve already put a number of thought into this. We haven’t provide you with the proper resolution but, however our first step is the elements, which brings us into the hospitals, so we’re already there, after which we will consider every kind of use circumstances, after which broaden our infrastructure.”
A rendering of the Autopod affected person shuttle. Supply: Sphaira
Comply with the unit prices
All of the founders within the area boasted of price financial savings, elevated revenues from better hospital effectivity, and improved affected person outcomes. Nonetheless, Sphaira’s chief government acknowledged it finest:
“A median affected person transporter, relying on the area, is someplace round $43,000 a yr. And whenever you have a look at how affected person transport works, and also you analyze it, you at all times have a peak throughout the day. Most are within the morning, with some round midday, relying on how their operations work.”
“Now these peaks are staffed with two or three shifts of affected person transporters. Which means one among our items can substitute two to 3 affected person transporters, which actually places us in a totally completely different league from a unit perspective.”
“Most [hospital] robots are supportive, rising effectivity by 5%, 10%, or 15%, whereas we’re rising effectivity by 200 to 300%. That’s actually the core distinction right here, and that’s additionally why it’s a simple sale,” mentioned MĂĽnch.
Sphaira’s autonomous affected person shuttles navigate hospital hallways. Credit score Sphaira
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