Relay Robotics Brings Autonomous Delivery to HCA Florida JFK Hospital

New deployment demonstrates how autonomous delivery robots can integrate with complex hospital infrastructure while supporting hospital teams and patient care

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Relay Robotics, a leader in autonomous delivery robots, today announced the new deployment of two robots, Dash and Daisy, at HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis, Fla. The deployment demonstrates how autonomous delivery technology can support clinical teams while operating within the complex infrastructure of a modern healthcare environment.

Supporting Hospital Teams Through Smarter Delivery

Hospitals operate around the clock, with medications, specimens, equipment, and other essential items constantly moving between departments. Even relatively simple deliveries can require clinical team members to leave their units or patient-care areas to transport an item elsewhere in the hospital.

Relay Robotics' autonomous delivery robots provide hospitals with another way to manage these routine trips. Dash and Daisy now work alongside hospital employees, assisting with routine, time-sensitive deliveries throughout the hospital—including transporting lab specimens, pharmacy orders, telemetry and monitoring equipment, and medications and lab materials to areas not served by a pneumatic tube system.

The result isn't about replacing people; the robots give hospital teams another tool to keep essential items moving reliably throughout the facility and enable staff to continue overseeing patient care, clinical decisions, and other responsibilities that require human expertise.

Designed for Complex Hospital Environments

Deploying autonomous robots inside an operating hospital requires considerably more than navigating hallways. Robots must work safely within an environment that includes elevators, secure doors, fire and life-safety systems, hospital IT infrastructure, patients, visitors, and employees.

For this deployment, Relay Robotics coordinated integration across multiple building and technology systems. The integration enables the robots to move independently between floors, pass through authorized secure doorways, and operate alongside existing life-safety systems without requiring major construction or physical tracks.

"This deployment shows that autonomous delivery robots can succeed even in the most complex hospital environments," said Sultan Mehrabi, CEO at Relay Robotics. "Integrating with elevators, secure doors, fire systems, and hospital IT all at once is not simple, but our team made it work—and that's exactly the kind of validation that matters as Relay Robotics grows within large health systems."

How Relay Robots Work

Relay robots use advanced LiDAR, sensors, and computer vision to navigate hospital environments. Authorized users can access secure, lockable compartments, load an item, and select its destination.

The robot then travels autonomously through the hospital, navigating hallway traffic and interacting with integrated systems such as elevators and secure badge-access doors. At the destination, authorized personnel retrieve the delivery.

Hospital Use Cases

• Lab Specimen Delivery: Transports specimens from clinical areas to the laboratory.
• Pharmacy Delivery: Delivers medications and pharmacy orders to designated hospital departments.
• Equipment Delivery: Moves telemetry, monitoring equipment, and other appropriate supplies between hospital areas.
• Tube-Free Area Coverage: Supports medication and laboratory transport in areas not connected to pneumatic tube systems.
• Multi-System Integration: Works with elevators, secure doors, and life-safety infrastructure as part of a coordinated hospital deployment.

Built to Work Alongside People

Relay Robotics designs its robots specifically to operate in environments where people remain at the center of the experience.

• Reliability: Relay robots maintain more than 99% delivery reliability.
• Healthcare-Ready Design: Contact-free operation and easy-to-sanitize surfaces support hospital infection-control practices.
• Infrastructure-Light Deployment: Relay robots operate without physical tracks and can be integrated into existing hospital infrastructure without major facility modifications.
• Proven Experience: Relay robots have achieved a 99.8% delivery success rate across more than 30 major U.S. hospitals and can complete more than 1,000 deliveries per month in a hospital environment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Relay robots, and how do they work in hospitals?
Relay robots are autonomous delivery robots designed to transport items such as lab specimens, medications, equipment, and supplies. Using sensors and autonomous navigation technology, they travel through hospital corridors and can integrate with systems such as elevators and secure doors to reach their destinations.

Are the robots intended to replace hospital employees?
No. Relay robots are designed to support hospital employees by handling appropriate point-to-point delivery tasks. Healthcare professionals retain clinical judgment, patient interaction, and care. The robots provide an additional resource for moving items throughout the hospital.

How can Relay robots support Emergency Department workflows?
Emergency Departments depend on the timely movement of specimens, medications, equipment, and supplies. Relay robots can assist with delivery trips so clinical teams have another resource to keep items moving throughout the hospital.

Why does hospital integration matter?
Hospitals contain interconnected systems including elevators, secure doors, IT networks and fire and life-safety systems. For an autonomous robot to move safely and reliably throughout a facility, it must work within that existing environment. Relay Robotics coordinates with hospital teams and technology partners to enable those integrations.

What is the implementation timeline for a Relay robot?
A typical hospital deployment, including integration hardware work, floor mapping, and staff training, takes approximately 8–12 weeks, with onsite installation generally taking 1–2 weeks.

About Relay Robotics

Founded in 2013, Relay Robotics (formerly Savioke) is a leading supplier of autonomous service robots designed to work safely, securely, and reliably alongside people. Relay robots supplement staff across healthcare, hospitality, and commercial real estate environments and have completed more than 1.5 million deliveries worldwide.

Relay robots are deployed at nationally recognized healthcare organizations and major hospitality brands across the United States.

SOURCE Relay Robotics