# My hospital has droids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269 "2012-12-27T12:33:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/1 "2012-12-27T12:33:23Z")
I’m enjoying my lovely stay at the hospital awaiting my gallblader removal. There is a box that drives by on occasion. I haven’t gotten a good look at it yet. It drives by all by itself. It’s dressed up for Christmas with a wreath on it. I at first attributed to the pain meds but a visitor confirmed there is indeed a droid roaming the halls. Has anyone seen this before? What’s it’s job? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/2 "2012-12-27T12:37:57Z")
There’s one at my hospital that toodles around between a couple of labs in the building. People put in samples to be processed at the other lab, and it will buzz along, verbally warning of its presence as it reaches a corner, and making verbal announcements when it reaches a dropoff station. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/3 "2012-12-27T12:43:03Z")
Found it. [Robot Added to Emerson Hospital Staff | Concord, MA Patch](http://concord.patch.com/articles/robot-added-to-emerson-hospital-staff) I for one welcome our new robot overlords. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/4 "2012-12-27T13:03:33Z")
You don’t want a meatbag doctor installing a mechanical hand after a light saber accident now, do ya? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/5 "2012-12-27T13:06:08Z")
Never turn your back on a hospital robot. They are [evil](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=298142&highlight=hospital+robot). ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/6 "2012-12-27T13:26:29Z")
Holy moly! This is the first I’ve heard of robot doctors! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/7 "2012-12-27T13:32:26Z")
When I was a kid back in the 70s, my dad worked at Texas Instruments in Austin. They had a box-like droid that delivered mail. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/8 "2012-12-27T13:39:35Z")
When my GF was in the hospital to get her appendix out 2 years ago, I saw a lot of [these things](http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/12/29/daily3.html?page=all). It delivers meds from the pharmacy and other supplies. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/9 "2012-12-27T13:45:31Z")
Wouldn’t it be cool if they made the droids in the shape of Daleks? (yeah, well, okay… I know there’s a downside to this idea: the royalties to the BBC would be too expensive. ) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/10 "2012-12-27T13:51:12Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Wouldn’t it be cool if they made the droids in the shape of Daleks? > (yeah, well, okay… I know there’s a downside to this idea: the royalties to the BBC would be too expensive. ) “MEDICATE!” (Somebody had to say it! 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/11 "2012-12-27T14:41:34Z")
DO NOT RESUSITATE!!! I saw these too last year when my grandmother was in hospital. I wanted to kick it most of the time. It looked like and was called R2D2. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/12 "2012-12-27T14:45:34Z")
It isn’t the droid you’re looking for. Move along. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/13 "2012-12-27T14:51:17Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It isn’t the droid you’re looking for. > > Move along. No way that droids delivering my Dilaudid. I’m definitely looking for him. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/14 "2012-12-27T15:01:10Z")
[Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci_Surgical_System) is a robot that does surgery, most commonly prostate surgery and hysterectomies. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/15 "2012-12-27T18:56:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci_Surgical_System) is a robot that does surgery, most commonly prostate surgery and hysterectomies. And other [operations](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP25mga2x8M)…😃 ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/16 "2012-12-27T19:30:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci_Surgical_System) is a robot that does surgery, most commonly prostate surgery and hysterectomies. _Technically_ not a robot. It can’t do anything on its own, a surgeon has to operate the controls. Incidentally, one of the hospitals I work at has one or two, and the company did a demo of the unit for the public and I got to try it out. It’s a lot of fun, and I did pretty good at the challenges. Definitely a case where years of video gaming have paid off. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/17 "2012-12-28T16:42:27Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > When I was a kid back in the 70s, my dad worked at Texas Instruments in Austin. They had a box-like droid that delivered mail. IBM in Northern Virginia did too, my aunt worked there. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-hospital-has-droids/645269/18 "2012-12-28T21:55:39Z")
I can only assume the purpose of the machine you are describing is to create a sense of normalcy, a homey feeling, to help the patient handle psychoactive medications and life threatening experiences without losing confidence in his awareness and senses.