The Hallway That Jams Every Morning
■ Same time, same place, every morning
At morning shift change, Oshiro and Takasugi spread out their notes for handover in the hallway in front of the nurses' station. Hakobukun arrives and announces it is coming through. The two step aside, but a row of wagons is lined up just ahead, and Hakobukun cannot move. "Every morning, it's like this." Hakobukun agrees: "Every morning, I stop here."
■ A hospital has times of day when it always gets crowded
A report on a hospital that brought in delivery robots noted there were no major technical problems, but the robots got stuck in hallways at shift change. Shift change, rounds, meal service, specimen pickup: a hospital's day runs on a timetable that sends people and wagons to the same places at nearly the same times every day. If a robot's schedule does not know that timetable, it will jam in the same spot every morning.
■ Conclusion: Build the robot's schedule around the hospital's timetable
Shiraishi wrote the shift-change time into Hakobukun's schedule. During that window it takes another hallway and visits the station after handover. Not just the route, but the timing too, fits the ward.
A robot that knows the busy hours stops getting stuck in the same place every morning.
