Aethon (ST Engineering Aethon) · working robot
TUG
An autonomous tug that pulls carts of supplies around hospitals and rides elevators. Early versions ran six hours on lead-acid batteries.
- Price
- $105,000Cheaper than 10%
- Height
- —Not published
- Weight
- —Not published
- Payload
- —Not published
- Speed
- —Not published
- Battery
- 6 hRuns longer than 21%
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Why it matters
One of the earliest widely deployed autonomous hospital delivery robots.
Real-world use
Used in more than 100 hospitals by 2008 and 140 hospitals plus 40 VA medical centres by 2020.
Timeline
- Released
- Not yet
Maker
Aethon (ST Engineering Aethon)Company · founded 2001 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAHow it stacks up
Against other working & field robots that publish the figure. Pick a measure.
TUG runs longer than 21% of the 86 other working & field robots that publish a battery. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
TUG costs less than 10% of the 20 other working & field robots that publish a price. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Not published by the maker: height, weight, speed, payload, joints.
Public attention
How much public attention TUG gets, from open data.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- 2 news stories from reputable press listed on this page
- 1 reported deployment
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Movement
- Wheeled base
- How it runs
- Fully autonomous. It drives itself through hospital corridors and calls lifts to deliver carts, with no one at the controls.
- Actuators & motors
- Two independent DC gearmotors; tows or carries interchangeable carts.
- Sensors & vision
- Infrared and ultrasonic 'light whiskers'; RFID tracking option.
- Compute
- On-board computer with a detailed facility map; touchscreen user interface; wireless links to open doors and call elevators.
- Battery & power
- Four lead-acid batteries for about six hours; full charge in four hours or less (2008 model).
- AI & software
- Navigation software plans routes, tracks location and avoids obstacles; announces when it is waiting to proceed.
From the maker
TUG is the only machine from Aethon (ST Engineering Aethon) in the atlas.
Watch TUG
Made, sold and where
Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.
- Price
- $105,000$105,000 to buy or $1,500 per month to lease (Machine Design, 2008).
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
- Sold or delivered
- More than 100 hospitals by 2008; $105,000 to buy or $1,500 per month to lease (2008)
- Where it is sold or used
- Aethon, Pittsburgh (ST Engineering Aethon)
- Customers and pilots
- Hospitals including Parkview Regional Medical Center (11 TUGs replaced its original 2012 fleet in 2024)
Where it works
1 reported deployment.
- Deployed
Parkview Health · Parkview Regional Medical Center · Fort Wayne · since 2012 · 11 units
Parkview Regional Medical Center uses a fleet of 11 TUG robots to move linens, supplies and pharmacy items. 11 TUGs replacing the 2012 fleet Parkview Health
News
The latest 2, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- Parkview replaces its TUG fleet
Parkview Regional Medical Center said 11 new TUGs replaced its 2012 fleet after the robots made 41,510 deliveries in 2023.
Parkview Health - Hospital courier robots
Machine Design described the TUG's sensors, batteries and pricing and said it worked in over 100 hospitals.
Machine Design
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.
Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use