MedicalHospital delivery robot

TUG and Zena RX delivery robots

Name: TUG and Zena RX delivery robots
Brand: ST Engineering Aethon

Aethon's TUG robots, and newer models such as Zena RX, drive themselves around hospitals carrying medicines, lab samples, meals, linen and waste. Aethon website, viewed Oct 2026

Stage 4 of 5

Paying customers

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Company-reported only
Human help: None reported
Last milestone: 8 May 2026

01Can I get it?

Yes, in places

Where it works today: In use at hundreds of customer sites, mostly US hospitals such as Mercy St. Louis, University Health and AdventHealth Orlando; the company says they make about 5 million deliveries a year. Aethon About page, viewed Oct 2026
Published price: No published price in our sources.
Human help: Hospital staff send the robots on runs and load and unload them.

02Track record

What has actually happened

Every milestone is dated and links to the page it comes from. Lines marked company-reported rest on the maker's own word.

8 May 2026
Update
Aethon, now part of Singapore's ST Engineering, has worked in hospital deliveries for about 20 years.
The Robot Report, 8 May 2026
1 Oct 2024
Paying customers · sets the stage
University Health said its logistics staff relied on a fleet of 23 Aethon robots for deliveries.
Aethon RoboHero awards post, 1 Oct 2024Company-reported
1 Oct 2024
Paying customers · sets the stage
Aethon said its robot fleet at Mercy St. Louis made 297,012 deliveries between June 2023 and May 2024, the most of any of its customers.
Aethon RoboHero awards post, 1 Oct 2024Company-reported
1 Oct 2024
Paying customers · sets the stage
A single Aethon robot in the AdventHealth Orlando lab made 40,592 deliveries in a year.
Aethon RoboHero awards post, 1 Oct 2024Company-reported
29 April 2024
Unveiled
Aethon launched Zena RX, a successor to its TUG T2 robot for hospital pharmacies and labs, with 2.6 times the storage space.
Aethon announcement, 29 Apr 2024Company-reported
19 Oct 2017
Paying customers · sets the stage
The Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel hotel planned to open with eight TUG robots to guide guests and deliver items to rooms, a first of that size for a US hotel. TUG robots were more often seen in hospitals.
The Robot Report, 19 Oct 2017Company-reported

03Safety and incidents

What has gone wrong

No crashes, recalls or regulator reports in our sources. That is not proof none happened; we add them when a regulator or trusted outlet reports one.

On video

What it looks like, at stage 4

Videos from the maker show the robot at its best. The stage comes from the dated record above, not from what a video shows.

Maker's video · 7 Jan 2025Aethon Robots at Mercy Hospital

Maker's video · 8 April 2020Aethon TUG in Hospitality

Maker's video · 23 March 2020Aethon TUG robots deliver medications through hospitals

Maker's video · 23 March 2020Aethon TUG robots deliver medications in hospitals

Maker's video · 23 March 2020Aethon TUG robots deliver meals in hospital

Maker's video · 23 March 2020Aethon TUG Robot delivers laboratory specimens

Every robot video

How we placed it

The rule, not an opinion

Stages are worked out by published rules from the dated milestones above. We never rate robots, and no maker can pay to change a stage.

5
Regulator-cleared or mass market
A regulator has cleared it where approval applies: FDA clearance or approval for a medical robot, a permit to run with no one aboard for a self-driving vehicle, or an FAA approval for routine drone flights. Or: Widely sold: sales in the hundreds of thousands, or a product category you can buy in ordinary shops.
4
Paying customersThis robot
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
Placed by: University Health said its logistics staff relied on a fleet of 23 Aethon robots for deliveries (1 Oct 2024); Aethon said its robot fleet at Mercy St. Louis made 297,012 deliveries between June 2023 and May 2024, the most of any of its customers (1 Oct 2024).
3
Pilot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
2
Pre-orders
Orders, reservations or deposits taken, with nothing delivered yet.
1
Demo only
Shown in videos, staged events or a factory, with no units working for customers.

What we couldn't confirm. Aethon's current site lists T3, Zena RX and other robots and no longer uses the TUG name; whether T3 is the renamed TUG was not confirmed. The year ST Engineering bought Aethon was not confirmed. Delivery counts are company figures.

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “TUG and Zena RX delivery robots (ST Engineering Aethon): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/aethon-tug. Checked 19 October 2026.