One would think the advent of modern, semi-autonomous robots could fulfill much of the function of pneumatic tubes for transporting small packages across a facility.
Robots aren't cheap either. And the safety concerns, or maybe even the nuisance of having those robots roaming the hallways, adding to the traffic might trump everything else.
When you’re transporting a patient from cardiac theatre to ICU down a long corridor which allows space for a bed and additional equipment (pumps, cardiac assist devices, nitric oxide dispensers) and not much else, it is super annoying (maybe dangerous) to have to negotiate a pass with a robot. I guess you can prewarn the hospital to clear the path, but pneumatic tubes work well and once installed seem very low cost to use/maintain.
I was mainly thinking of use cases outside hospitals. We need to transport items within our facility, and a robot operating at night or in less trafficked areas seemed a better solution. I can see the value of pneumatics in a real-time, busy hospital setting.
> We need to transport items within our facility, and a robot operating at night or in less trafficked areas seemed a better solution.
A robot has to share space with everything else in its path. Mount rails on the ceiling and have carriages hanging off of them that can transport a variety of loads.
The major issue with these though is fire safety (you need to install appropriately sized doors that close in the event of a fire) and getting something certified to allow carrying of stuff directly overhead of people. And if it's really heavy loads, you'll need some sort of reinforcements to support the rails, which may not be doable in some settings, e.g. large long warehouses where the ceiling doubles as roof and is only spec'd to hold the weight of itself and a 50-year-record snowfall.
