Hospital Brings ‘The Jetsons’ Reality To Life With Housekeeping Robots
The hospital bought the two 3-foot-tall, 155-pound robots for $150,000 each last year.
East Bay Times:
Oakland: Highland Hospital Deploys New Germ-Zapping Robots
Mitch and Venus, two recent additions to Highland Hospital’s cleaning crew, could show Rosie, the robot housekeeper in the 1960s cartoon series “The Jetsons,” a thing or two. Mitch and Venus are R2D2-looking robots that, in a matter of minutes, can KO some of the world’s toughest germs. With pulses of ultraviolet light beamed from mushroom-shaped towers that rise from their canister-shaped bodies, they disinfect hospital spaces when nobody is around. Since September, when the hospital bought the two 3-foot-tall, 155-pound robots for $150,000 each, they have been busy around the clock, working in patient rooms, operating rooms, public restrooms, utility rooms, any place that needs their services, said Marcel Smith, the hospital’s director of environmental services. (Hedin, 5/5)