'Robot workers' from Automation Anywhere to serve NHS

A START-UP launched by an Indian American has secured a deal to supply robot workers to NHS hospitals. 

Automation Anywhere is set to run its digital workforce in two hospitals.  

The robots will help with back office tasks in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the West Middlesex University Hospital.

Automation Anywhere chief executive Mihir Shukla said ahead of the NHS launch that he expected as many as three million robot workers to be deployed by the company by 2020.

Its software, which can be plugged into any computer, can be used to make otherwise routine or repetitive tasks automatic.

The US firm will initially see its technology used at a Centre of Excellence for the Trust’s 6,000 employees, with plans to expand it for NHS teams around the UK.

These robots will initially stick to back office works, said Sandra Easton, chief financial officer at the Trust. 

The start-up has secured a $300 million funding round from Japanese technology investing giant Softbank. 

The robots serve as a computer program that runs tasks mechanically instead of them being done manually by a worker, to save time up to 50 per cent.