Smart mailbox startup testing at Indiana hospitals
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Indianapolis-based Arrive, which has developed a patented smart mailbox system, plans to pilot the platform at two Indiana hospitals next month.
The company is collaborating with New York-based autonomous ground robotics provider Ottonomy for demonstrations at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes and Community Health Network in Indianapolis.
Arrive’s mailbox-as-a-service platform features a secure, climate-controlled mailbox that can accept deliveries from traditional mail couriers, as well as robots and drones. The mailbox can adjust its temperature to accommodate deliveries of food or medical supplies.
As part of the demonstration, a drone will deliver a package representing a medical sample from miles away from each hospital to an Arrive smart mailbox outside the hospitals.
The sample will then be retrieved by an Ottonomy ground robot that will transfer the package inside the hospitals directly to the final end user.
“We are very pleased to be working with innovation-focused healthcare executives to showcase just how transformational an autonomous delivery system can be,” Arrive President and CEO Dan O’Toole said in a news release. “The use-cases go far beyond what I had originally envisioned for these devices.”
Arrive said the goal of the demonstration is to illustrate the value of bringing mailbox-as-a-service to the $75 billion diagnostic and medical laboratory industry.
Adam Thacker, chief operating officer for Good Samaritan, said the demonstration will allow him to determine how autonomous delivery could bring efficiencies to the hospital’s delivery system, which involves some drivers making deliveries as far as 75 miles away.
“We are thrilled to be on the cutting edge of innovation” said Good Samaritan Chief Operating Officer Adam Thacker. “This technology will allow us to provide efficient, timely care while also providing some relief to our most precious resource: our people.”
Arrive employs about 15 people and has raised about $9 million to bring its product to market. Earlier this year, the company secured a ticker symbol for eventual listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market, though a specific time frame for an initial public offering has not been disclosed.