Earlier this year, Diligent Robotics introduced a mobile manipulator called Poli, designed to take over non-care related, boring logistical tasks from overworked healthcare professionals who really should be doing better things with their time. Specifically, Diligent wants to automate things like bringing supplies from a central storage area to patient rooms, which sounds like it should be easy, but is actually very difficult. Autonomous mobile manipulation in semi-structured environments is hard at the best of times, and things get even harder in places like hospitals that are full of busy humans rushing around trying to save the lives of other humans. Over the past few months, Diligent has been busy iterating on the design of their robot, and they've made enough changes that it's no longer called Poli. It's a completely new robot, called Moxi.

When Seton Medical Center Austin earlier this week unveiled Poli, its newest nurse's aide-in-training, the robot looked as if it had been lifted from a Hollywood backlot, but with one notable difference: It spoke with a child's voice. Functionally, Poli is still a child. She still relies on lessons imparted by her creators as she navigates the world and learns from her experiences. Somewhere along the way, Poli picked up a hint of teenage martyrdom. "I'm sleepy," she said at one point.

Seton Medical Center Austin is taking a first, cautious step into the world of robots programmed to function like people. This week, the hospital system introduced Poli, a University of Texas-designed robot that -- once the bugs are worked out -- will assist nurses as they go about the business of taking care of people. Poli is vaguely anthropomorphic, with a head and a body but a limited ability to speak. It moves about on wheels and grabs things with a grasping arm. The robot won't be working directly with patients, Seton officials say.