Austin-Made Robot Among Best Inventions Of 2019: Time Magazine

AUSTIN, TX —An Austin-made robot named Moxi has been named one of the "Best Inventions of 2019" by Time magazine.

The brainchild of Austin start-up Diligent Robotics, the robot interacts with patients while helping them with simple tasks. A gripper to pick up objects, an arm to reach for things and a mobile base to propel it, Moxi is ready to complete an array of duties.

The idea is to relieve nurses and clinical staff of certain mundane tasks that would otherwise take up 30 percent of their shifts, analysts found. According to the report, Diligent Robotics recently concluded yearlong trials at four Texas hospitals last month, and officially launched the robot full-time at a Dallas hospital. Plans call to have Moxi robots in more U.S. hospitals by the end of next year, Time reported.

As for its appearance, Moxi bears a passing resemblance to the robot (more specifically the Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) in the 2008 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, WALL-E, and something of a cross with the robotic maid, Rosie, from The Jetsons. Moxie's got similar big, bluish "eyes" as the former that somehow emit a sense of alertness and attentiveness along with a vague human-like empathy while performing Rosie-like tasks.

Better to have its creators describe it: "Moxi is the hospital robot assistant that helps clinical staff with non-patient-facing tasks like gathering supplies and bringing them to patient rooms, delivering lab samples, fetching items from central supply, and removing soiled linen bags," Diligent Robotics describes on its website. "Automation helps hospitals maintain consistent care workflows and gives staff more time for patient care."

It's a brave new world, indeed.