Tube or Robot for Specimen Routes in an Older Hospital

Which option moves specimens and pharmacy orders better?

For most older hospitals, the honest answer is that each option wins on different routes. A pneumatic tube is hard to beat for short, repeated runs between stations that already have carrier service. A medication transport robot earns its place where no tube reaches, or where a tube would need a costly extension to get there.

The clearest recent example is HCA Florida JFK Hospital in Atlantis, Florida. According to a Relay Robotics release dated September 30, 2026, two robots, Dash and Daisy, began carrying lab specimens, pharmacy orders and medications to areas the hospital's tube system does not serve. That is the ground this comparison covers.

Where do pneumatic tubes stop reaching?

Tubes are efficient, but they are built around fixed pipe. According to MIT Technology Review, specimens make up roughly 60% of what hospital tube systems carry, pharmaceuticals about 30% and blood products for phlebotomy about 5%. Carriers hold up to five pounds and travel six inch piping at 18 to 24 feet per second, a speed limited to protect specimen integrity.

Reach is the problem in older buildings. Every new wing or tower has to be tied back into a system that was laid out decades earlier. TransLogic, a tube vendor, says decades old buildings are being re-evaluated and that aging systems slow expansion, citing space limits, network congestion during high demand periods and delays. Its blog describes a new tower 1,000 feet from the lab that required retrofitting and expanding an older tube system. Those are vendor observations, but they match what facility teams face when a building grows around its tubes.

What did the JFK and BayCare deployments actually add?

According to PYMNTS, reporting on the release, the JFK robots bring medications to areas the hospital's pneumatic tube system does not reach. Relay says the robots work with elevators, secure doors and life safety infrastructure as part of a coordinated deployment. These are vendor reported details, so a facility should confirm each one against its own building.

BayCare's Winter Haven expansion shows a different pattern. Per Relay's announcement, one robot bridges wings that lack pneumatic tube systems, while another runs around the clock, carrying specimens from Urgent Care to the second floor lab. Relay also says its robots can carry larger or fragile items, such as certain blood products or large IV bags, that may not fit in tubes or may be damaged by high speed air transport. That is the vendor's claim, and it is worth testing with your own items.

What does each option need from the building?

A tube system needs its own infrastructure: pipe runs through walls and ceilings, a station at each draw point, central equipment and skilled upkeep. TransLogic reports that up to 70% of its active tube systems are more than 25 years old and that each system receives about 134 hours of maintenance a year. That is a vendor figure, but it explains why an aging tube network becomes a standing cost, not a one time project.

A robot route asks for different conditions. The work centers on elevator integration, door access, floor mapping and staff training on loading and receiving. BayCare's announcement says Relay's approach requires much less physical disruption and zero wall construction. The lighter build is a real advantage on a tight campus, but the robot still depends on the building's elevators and doors working when it needs them.

How does each option handle a failure?

Tube failures tend to be quiet. A York Teaching Hospitals NHS standard operating procedure notes that the air tube may take up to 45 minutes to deliver a sample, and it advises hand delivery for urgent or precious samples. A Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority advisory describes specimens that were never sent, sent late, routed to the wrong department or sent unlabeled, and notes that many hospitals bar controlled drugs and unstable medications from tubes altogether.

Robots fail in more visible ways, but they still fail. A held elevator, a door that will not release or a blocked corridor leaves a carrier waiting, so a route needs a named fallback runner and a clear escalation path. Relay describes an authentication process that gives pharmacists a verifiable trail for each medication, which matters for controlled items. Ask any vendor for its exception log and its response time for a stuck unit before you sign anything.

How should a facility decide route by route?

Score each route on what it carries and how it is used, not on the building as a whole. A single switch to all tubes or all robots usually leaves one end of the hospital poorly served. Five questions do most of the sorting.

• Reach: does the route cross a wing or tower with no tube station, or a tube that would need a long extension?
• Payload: are the items larger, fragile or otherwise poorly suited to high speed air transport?
• Restriction: does the item fall into a class the hospital already keeps off tubes, such as controlled drugs?
• Urgency: is a 45 minute worst case acceptable, or does the route need a hand carried fallback?
• Dependence: how many elevators and secure doors does the route cross, and who clears them after hours?

Where does Service Robot Co. fit in the decision?

Service Robot Co. is an OEM neutral commercial robot integrator. We select robots across manufacturers, then finance, deploy, integrate, train and service each unit through a nationwide US engineer network, so the team that picks the robot also answers when a route needs changing. We lease robots on a three year lease with one fixed payment, quoted after a site assessment. That assessment is where the route by route scoring above gets done.

We do not assume one brand fits every route. Relay is one delivery platform in the field, and its JFK and BayCare work is useful evidence, but a hospital's best mix may include tubes, robots and a hand carried backup.