TransLogic, a Swisslog Healthcare company has partnered with drone delivery specialist Matternet to bring healthcare logistics one step closer to full automation. The partnership will connect hospitals’ internal pneumatic tube systems with autonomous aerial transportation, creating a more efficient system to move essential items between medical facilities.
The initiative aims to address the limitations of fragmented and manual deliveries, especially when hospitals need to share medical supplies, lab samples and other time-sensitive materials with external facilities. The two companies are hoping to link existing automated transport infrastructure with drone delivery services to create a more fluid logistics network.
Cory Kwarta, CEO of Swisslog Healthcare, emphasised that automation is important not just inside the hospital building.
Hospitals have been automating what’s inside their walls for years. This partnership extends that automation to everything outside of them. It is a meaningful step forward for hospitals and the patients they serve to connect our network with Matternet’s aerial delivery platform,” he said.
California, Florida and Arizona to spearhead rollout
The first year of the collaboration will involve the roll-out of drone delivery services within hospital networks in California, Florida and Arizona. The deployment will be using Matternet’s next generation M3 drone platform, which is designed to carry packages weighing up to 11 pounds, as far as 10 miles.
The drones will operate autonomously and will be stored and recharged between missions in dedicated M3 docking stations. These compact installations can be located on hospital rooftops or other suitable locations, providing healthcare facilities with the infrastructure for regular aerial deliveries.
This new service will complement, not replace, Swisslog Healthcare’s existing pneumatic tube systems. To link hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and clinics by a coordinated automated network, linking the different phases of medical transportation.
A medical drone delivery service that is already up and running.
Matternet has a great deal of experience to the partnership. The company has been providing drone delivery services to healthcare organisations in Europe since 2017, and in the United States since 2019.
It has also been used to transport laboratory samples, vaccines, pathology specimens and specialist pharmaceuticals. This experience paves the way to scaling autonomous aerial logistics to a broader network of healthcare providers.
Per the agreement, TransLogic’s sales force will expose Matternet’s M3 systems to its existing customer base of more than 3,000 hospitals globally, including more than 2,300 facilities across North America.
The companies also plan to explore opportunities for further cooperation beyond commercial deployment. Possible areas are system installation, technical support and ongoing maintenance . Swisslog Healthcare could bring value with its existing field service network, possibly offering on-site installation services to assist with the implementation of Matternet’s technology.
Aerial deliveries combined with internal hospital transport
The deal offers Matternet the opportunity to roll out its technology across a well-established international hospital infrastructure.
Andreas Raptopoulos, Founder and CEO of Matternet, said: “Swisslog Healthcare’s longstanding leadership in automated hospital transportation was a key reason for our partnership.”
“Swisslog Healthcare has been a leader in automated hospital transport for decades. This partnership enables us to bring the benefits of drone delivery directly to the more than 3,000 hospitals around the world that rely on Swisslog tube systems. A lab specimen can be delivered by drone from a remote clinic to a central lab and then sent via pneumatic tube within a hospital to its destination. “End-to-end automation will define the future of hospital logistics,” he said.
The example illustrates the operational model that both companies have in mind: a sample taken at a remote clinic could be flown by drone to a central hospital and then transported through an internal pneumatic tube network to its destination.
Drawing on over a century of transport experience
TransLogic is a part of Swisslog Healthcare with over 100 years of operational technology experience. Its activities focus on the automation of the reliable movement of critical items through advanced transportation solutions.
The partnership will build on this experience and leverage Matternet’s autonomous drone capabilities to extend automated logistics beyond individual healthcare facilities and create more connected supply routes across hospital networks.
