Secured transport in hospitals: handover only to the right person

The last gap in hospital logistics is the handover

Transport robots drive reliably through hospitals today – almost all of them with an open tray. For laundry, meals and boxes that is enough. With medicines, controlled drugs, laboratory samples and personal documents, automation ends at the same point every time: someone has to stand by until the right recipient arrives. The journey is automated – the handover is not.

Yet the handover is exactly where documentation duties arise: who removed what, and when? An open tray cannot answer that question.

Our answer: the uLog Locker – a lockable top module that turns the uLog Deliver 150 transport robot into a mobile locker system. Load, lock, send off: it is only opened at the destination, by NFC card or QR code, and only by the person who is allowed to.

What secured transport means in practice

• Closed handover chain: the goods are physically locked from loading to removal and assigned to a recipient. No open tray, no mix-up, no gap in the record.
• Authenticated removal: the compartment opens after identification by NFC card or QR code at the 7-inch display. Electronic locks, guided operation, documented removal.
• Two separate compartments: two wards, two tasks, one run – 50 kg payload, up to 110 litres.
• No waiting at the handover point: once the handover is complete, the robot picks up the next task on its own.
• Retrofittable: if you already operate a uLog Deliver 150, you retrofit the Locker – mounting and removal take little time.

How the secured handover works

1. Load and lock the compartment.
2. The robot drives autonomously to the destination – through automatic doors and by lift, where both are connected.
3. The recipient authenticates with an NFC card or QR code at the display.
4. The compartment opens, the removal is documented, and the robot moves on to its next task.

Typical deployments

• Pharmacy to ward: medicines and controlled drugs travel locked and are removed with documentation – instead of being guarded by an escort.
• Laboratory: samples between ward, laboratory and archive without anyone waiting at the handover point.
• Consumables: defined replenishment runs at fixed times, acknowledged by the removal.
• Administration: patient records and personal documents with secured delivery.
• Care facilities: supplies between residential areas without care staff walking the distances.

For routine sample transport between ward and laboratory the same principle applies without access protection — see Transport robots in hospitals.

Key technical data

• uLog Locker: 600 × 438 × 875 mm, 50 kg payload, up to 110 litres, two separate compartments with electronic locks, NFC and QR code readers, 7-inch display, stainless steel body, wipe-disinfectable, protection rating IP44
• Base platform uLog Deliver 150: 740 × 500 × 1,240 mm, up to 150 kg payload, minimum passage width 70 cm, up to 1.2 m/s, 10 hours operating time, lift and door control possible
• Base platform designed to: Machinery Directive, ISO 12100, ISO 13849, ISO 13850, IEC 60204-1, ISO 3691-4

Your robot. Your data.

Who opened which compartment and when is information about the people who work in your organisation. It stays with you. You decide on storage, analysis and deletion, and you define who may start tasks and grant permissions – the basis for a data protection impact assessment and co-determination.

Buy or rent: Robot-as-a-Service

The uLog Locker is available for purchase or as Robot-as-a-Service with a monthly rate from the operating budget. A trial phase is possible, and its costs are credited against a subsequent purchase – so you can assess the deployment before an investment decision is due. We do not publish prices, because configuration, the connection to doors and lifts and the number of sites decide the outcome.

Why us

• More than 500 units in daily operation in hospitals and laboratories — not a pilot promise but shift work.
• More than 20,000 robots in use across all product lines — 15 years of experience with people who work alongside robots.
• uGo+ as one interface for tasks, permissions, analysis and fleet — across several sites too.
• Manufacturer, not reseller. Development, integration and service come from us.

Try it first

Before a robot moves in your facility, your workflow has already run at ours: at our training centres in Stuhr (laboratory and diagnostics) and Gelsenkirchen (hospital and care) we rehearse your workflow on a real set-up. Book a training-centre visit.

Frequently asked questions

How is the removal documented?

Every opening is assigned to an authenticated recipient. Tasks and handovers are auditable as mission reports and can be reconciled with your internal processes.

Is this suitable for controlled drugs?

The compartments are physically locked and the removal is authenticated and documented – that provides the technical basis. Your organisation's statutory controlled-drugs documentation remains unaffected and continues to apply.

Does the hospital need rebuilding?

No. The base platform needs a 70 cm passage width and works in existing corridors. Lift and door connection are implemented per project.

Can an existing uLog Deliver 150 be retrofitted?

Yes. The Locker is a top module and can be mounted and removed again – the same fleet, the same interface, one additional use case.

Is there a rental model or a trial phase?

Both. Robot-as-a-Service with a monthly rate is the usual entry route, and a preceding trial phase is credited against a later purchase.

What does secured transport mean?

The item is access-protected during transit, and removal at the destination requires a release. Completed tasks, times and handovers are logged. The difference from ordinary transport is in the handover.

Which items does this suit?

Items that should not be transported with open access. Which types of item run this way in your building depends on your internal rules and on requirements for temperature, labelling and documentation. We clarify that before the quote.

Who is allowed to remove an item?

You define that through permissions in uGo+. Release at handover is tied to those permissions.

What happens if nobody accepts the delivery?

The compartment stays closed. What happens next — waiting time, second attempt, return journey — is defined with you during setup.

What records are produced?

Completed tasks, times and handovers are logged and can be viewed in uGo+. Which details the logs contain and how long they are retained is documented for your configuration. Whether that satisfies your internal requirements and your regulator is for you to assess against that document.

What does this require from our network?

What your network needs to provide depends on configuration and integration and is clarified during the site survey.

The next step

Tell us which handover ties someone up in your organisation today – medicines, samples, consumables. We will tell you whether the Locker solves it, and if it does not, we will say that too.