TUG Delivers Cheer, Medication and Equipment to Young Patients and Helps
Raise Money for Make-A-Wish Foundation
PITTSBURGH, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Aethon Inc. today announced general availability of its train-themed "JR" autonomous mobile robot to children's hospitals across the country and that Aethon will make a donation to the Make- A-Wish Foundation for each JR TUG that is deployed. The JR TUG is currently delivering equipment to children at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and medication to children in North Carolina at Carolinas Healthcare Systems in addition to the original implementation at UCSF.
Modeled after the title character in the children's book "The Little Engine that Could," JR was originally developed to help grant a wish for Jericho Rajninger, a seven-year old leukemia patient from Larkspur, California, and was donated to UCSF Children's Hospital through the Make-A- Wish Foundation.
As part of his chemotherapy treatment Jericho had to take more than 4,000 pills. He realized that the prospect of all that medicine could be frightening for other children. Jericho believed that having the medications delivered by a robot modeled after a train might make the prospect of all those pills more pleasant.
"We were honored to make Jericho's wish to help other sick children a reality," said Aldo Zini, CEO of Aethon. "We are extremely pleased that the JR robots are being deployed in other children's hospitals and hope that they will in some sense help sick children and their parents nationwide cope with a difficult experience."
JR is based on Aethon's TUG, a mobile autonomous robot that transports
medical equipment and supplies. JR has drawers in its "caboose" from which
medications can be drawn by nurses. The robot also features a conductor who
speaks to children with the voice of legendary voice over actor Don
LaFontaine. "Look out, here I come," "Thanks, from the bottom of my
caboose," "Pardon my
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