TransLogic and Matternet join forces on hospital drone logistics

TransLogic, a Swisslog Healthcare company, has partnered with Matternet to streamline last-mile hospital logistics through an integrated automated transportation network. The system will connect pneumatic tube stations within hospitals with external satellite facilities, reducing reliance on fragmented manual deliveries. The partnership aims to provide healthcare systems with a seamless solution for transporting medical supplies and other essential items between facilities.

Cory Kwarta, CEO of Swisslog Healthcare, said, “For years, hospitals have automated what happens inside their walls. This partnership extends that automation to everything outside them. Connecting our network with Matternet's aerial delivery platform is a meaningful step forward for hospitals and the patients they serve."

During the first year of the partnership, TransLogic and Matternet will focus on introducing drone delivery services to hospital networks in California, Florida and Arizona. The initiative will use Matternet’s next-generation M3 drone platform, which can carry packages weighing up to 11 pounds over a 10-mile radius. The drones operate autonomously and are stored and recharged between flights in compact M3 docking stations, which can be installed on hospital rooftops or other available spaces.

The system is designed to complement Swisslog Healthcare’s existing pneumatic tube networks, creating an integrated delivery network connecting hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and clinics. Matternet has been providing drone delivery services for healthcare systems since 2017 in Europe and 2019 in the US, transporting laboratory samples, vaccines, pathology specimens and specialised pharmaceuticals.

Under the agreement, TransLogic’s sales team will introduce Matternet’s M3 systems to its customer network of more than 3,000 hospitals worldwide, including over 2,300 in North America. The companies will also explore opportunities to extend their collaboration to installation, technical support and maintenance, with Swisslog Healthcare potentially providing on-site installation services through its field service network.

Andreas Raptopoulos, Founder and CEO of Matternet, said, “Swisslog Healthcare has been a leader in automated hospital transport for decades. This partnership gives us the ability to bring the benefits of drone delivery directly into the more than 3,000 hospitals worldwide that depend on Swisslog tube systems. A lab specimen may be shipped from a remote clinic to a central lab by a drone and then travel by pneumatic tube inside a hospital to its destination. End-to-end automation will define the future of hospital logistics."

TransLogic, part of Swisslog Healthcare, draws on more than a century of operational technology expertise to automate the reliable delivery of critical items through advanced transport automation solutions.