Meet UnitDoseOne, maker of a robotic pharmacy that won the Pitchfire startup competition at RoboBusiness 2017.
Poland-based UnitDoseOne won the Pitchfire startup competition at RoboBusiness 2017 for its innovative robotic pharmacy that aims to ensure hospital patients receive the proper medication.
The system uses advanced robotics to fully automate hospital pharmacies, taking care of hospital drugs logistics. Hundreds of thousands of hospital patients die each year in the United States from hospital errors, but it’s not quite clearly exactly how many of those are caused from taking the wrong medication.
UnitDoseOne claims 1 out of 10 hospital patients receives the wrong medications, which can lead to complications and even death. UnitDoseOne offers a modular and scalable robotic hospital pharmacy that prepares doses of drugs in individual sets for patients, helping hospitals distribute medicines faster and more efficiently.
The system knows which medicines will be required each day, who and when placed them into our machine, who prescribed what and finally who delivered them to the patient. Each patient receives their medication in a smartbox that can only be opened with their corresponding wristband. Watch the below to learn more about how UnitDoseOne works.
From the hospital’s perspective, UnitDoseOne says its system helps minimize the waste of staff time, as it claims nurses spend up to 40 percent of their time doing manual record keeping and drug preparation, leaving little time for dispensing and patient care for nurses.
For winning Pitchfire, UnitDoseOne received $1,000 prize, international media coverage, an all-expenses paid trip to RoboBusiness 2018 and, most importantly, an introduction to and meeting with investors and industry experts to discuss their business strategy.
“All of the contestants were phenomenal and have truly inspiring technologies,” said Eugene Demaitre, RoboBusiness co-chair and senior editor of Robotics Business Review. “This year’s event was a true testament to how far the robotics industry has advanced in solving business problems. We’d like to congratulate UnitDoseOne for winning Pitchfire 2017 and extend our gratitude and best wishes to all the others involved.”
Twinswheel Delivery Robot Takes Second Place
Twinswheel‘s autonomous delivery robot finished in second place during Pitchfire. The French company showed the robot that is built for last-mile delivery or industry 4.0 applications. Twinswheel has a collaborative mode that follows an operator or moves autonomously in a familiar environment.
During its pitch, Twinswheel said its ability to climb curbs was its main differentiator from similar delivery robots from Starship Technologies and Marble. Twinswheel’s delivery robot can carry nearly 90 lbs, travel 6.2 miles per charge, and moves at a top speed of 4.3 miles per hour.
WiBotic Wireless Battery Charging Takes Third Place
Coming in third place at Pitchfire was WiBotic, a University of Washington spin-out that provides wireless battery charging for aerial, mobile and aquatic robots.
Here’s how it works. When a robot or drone approaches the WiBotic wireless charging platform, it automatically detects its presence and wirelessly charges the battery. WiBotic claims it works “just as fast, if not faster, than a standard plug-in charger.”
WiBotic says its charging system is also more efficient than traditional charging methods as it eliminates human intervention for daily maintenance, charging or battery management.
Thank you to all the startups that competed in Pitchfire. And thanks to judges Terry Fong, director of the Intelligent Robotics Group, NASA Ames Research Center; Valery Komissarova, partner, Grishin Robotics; Oliver Mitchell, partner, Autonomy Ventures; and Steven Waelbers, CTO, The Kobi Company.
