Hospital uses robots to reduce staffing costs

They may not have the greatest bedside manner, but a crew of 19 robots is saving one hospital a lot of money.

El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California, just announced it will eliminate around 195 positions at the hospital to save money. The hospital is also leasing 19 robots to be used for tasks like delivering medications, lab samples, supplies and even patient meals within the hospital.

The cost of the robots is estimated to be about one-third of what it would cost to pay employees to do the same jobs. Besides not needing a salary, the robots don’t require time off or costly benefits.