Project Description
Hospital supply rooms are densely packed environments filled with items that vary dramatically in shape, size, fragility and cost. Despite their importance and value, these items are often tracked using outdated, manual methods. Missing or misplaced items delay procedures, increase stress on already overworked nurses and increase hospital operational costs. In addition, expired supplies frequently go unnoticed, leading to unnecessary waste. As a result, OR supply rooms experience stockouts, overstocking, inaccurate logs and inventory drift that compounds over time.
To address these challenges, our project proposes an automated solution that uses robotic manipulation based labelling and RFID-based tracking. A robotic arm with perception, grippers and labelling mechanisms autonomously applies standardized RFID tags to incoming consumables. These RFID-enabled items can then be rapidly scanned, counted, located and monitored without requiring line-of-sight or manual intervention. This approach directly complements prior MRSD collaborations with UPMC[1], which focused primarily on downstream tasks such as restocking and item retrieval. While those systems handle movement within the supply room, our solution addresses the “front door” of the inventory lifecycle, ensuring every incoming item is reliably identified, tracked, and traceable from the moment it enters the hospital.
Needs Analysis
Current inventory management practices at UPMC rely on manual barcode scanning for high-value items and visual estimation for lower-tier supplies. Relying on these manual methods to maintain optimal par levels is highly time-consuming and inherently prone to human error. Consequently, the supply chain remains vulnerable to critical stockouts and undetected expired inventory, introducing significant inefficiencies during pre-surgical preparation.
Use Case
When new inventory arrives from suppliers, it is unloaded into the input zone of the labelling workstation.
A human user enters item info (name, expiration date, etc.) into the computer system and then activates the labelling system. One arm begins by grasping an item in the input zone and moves it into a labelling zone.
Once in a labelling zone, the other arm grasps an RFID label from a dispenser and labels the item in a manner that minimizes text occlusions. In this process, a low power RFID reader scans the RFID label and the labelled item is added to the database.
Afterward, the first arm places the labelled item in an output bin. This process continues until the input zone is empty.
Later, the hospital staff stocks labelled items onto the shelves according to the upcoming week’s requirements. The system uses an RFID reader and antennas retrofitted in the supply room to automatically update the presence, count, and location of items in the database. The system will alert staff when it detects low inventory or expired items.
System Graphical Depiction
