Carilion Giles Community Hospital brings ‘Moxi’ to the Hospital Floor

There are two new members of the team at Carilion Giles Community Hospital in Pearisburg, Va. They’re specialists in supporting frontline staff by taking away some of the time-consuming elements of the job: delivering lab samples, distributing personal protective equipment and other lightweight materials, and retrieving items from central supply and delivering them where they are needed. They even add a little love to the hospital, thanks to their heart-shaped eyes.

The two new additions are robots named Moxi, designed and created by Diligent Robotics to assist hospital staff. Diligent says it found that nurses can spend 30% of their time gathering supplies and doing other work that takes them away from patient care. The robots can do the grunt work, relieving workers’ stress and giving them a chance to get back to face to face time with patients.

“Moxi will support us by allowing front-line staff to maximize their time at the bedside, prioritizing the critical work of caring for our patients,” said Kristie Williams, vice president of CGCH.

The robots need no human guidance as they go about their chores; however, as the human members of the team continue to interact with them, the robots will learn more and more about how they can support the team. They can move about the hospital freely, including opening doors, pushing elevator buttons (for all their benefits, they can’t yet climb stairs), and won’t bump into people or objects. They will even pose for selfies.