Matternet has partnered with Swisslog Healthcare’s TransLogic to create an automated transportation network that combines the former’s drone operations with the latter’s pneumatic tube system delivery, pharmacy automation and specimen tracking for hospitals.
During the first year of the partnership, the two companies will work together to bring drone delivery to hospital systems in California, Florida and Arizona. Under the programme, a lab specimen may be shipped from a remote clinic to a central lab by a drone and then travel by pneumatic tube inside a hospital to its destination.
The collaboration uses Matternet’s M3 drone delivery platform, which is designed to carry packages up to 11 pounds within a 10-mile service radius and operates autonomously. Between flights, the M3 is stored and charged in the M3 Dock, which can be installed on a hospital rooftop, for example.
As part of the agreement, the TransLogic sales team will serve as a distribution channel for M3 systems into TransLogic’s established customer base of 3,000+ hospitals globally, including more than 2,300 in North America. The two companies will also explore expanding the partnership to include installation, support and maintenance services, with Swisslog Healthcare’s field service organisation performing installation work for Matternet infrastructure at hospital sites.
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Image: M3 drone platform (Matternet)