Automating Relief: A Medication Delivery Robot for Hospital Workflows
Ryan Brenneman
Project Summary
In response to critical staffing shortages and increased mental load on nurses, this capstone project presents the design of an autonomous medication delivery robot aimed at optimizing internal hospital logistics. Rather than replacing human care, the robot is designed to support healthcare staff by offloading routine courier tasks, giving time back for patient care.
Grounded in extensive field research and human-centered design, the project identifies key pain points in current systems, including flawed robotic solutions, drawer-based complexity, and error-prone manual workflows. The final design features a central drum system with 12 modular medication units, barcode-linked for accurate order tracking and optimized for hot-swapping and hands-free retrieval. This system allows for lightweight preparation independent of the robot’s operation, increasing efficiency.
Importantly, the robot’s form and function were critically shaped by insights into user perception, system affordances, and ethical considerations of robotic care. By maintaining clear boundaries between robotic and human responsibilities, the design preserves emotional trust while improving supply chain reliability.
This project contributes to a growing body of work in collaborative robotics, service design, and intelligent automation in healthcare, offering a highly practical and human-centered intervention for real-world hospital environments.
Keywords: Healthcare Robotics, Autonomous Delivery, Medication Management, Hospital Workflow, Human-Centered Design, Service Design, Robot Ethics, Mental Load Reduction