Why the "eyes" of hospital robots, now equipped with M360

This year, the National Health Commission issued the "Guidelines for the Construction of Smart Hospitals," requiring hospitals to accelerate the construction of intelligentization, reduce human contact, and improve service quality. Against the backdrop of the normalization of the epidemic, hospital robots take on tasks such as disinfection, delivery, and guidance, becoming an important support for medical services.

The working environment of hospital robots is extremely special, requiring safe operation in crowded, complex spaces. Particularly in corridors, wards, and operating rooms, robots must avoid moving patients and medical staff while accurately identifying various medical equipment and obstacles. This poses extremely high requirements for the robot's environmental perception system.

01 Four M360 LiDARs for fused perception

LiDAR is the most important sensor for hospital robots, scanning the environment to generate 3D point cloud data, helping robots to construct a stereoscopic model of the surrounding environment, thereby achieving precise navigation and obstacle avoidance.

In an actual deployment at a top-tier hospital, delivery robots adopted a fusion scheme with four M360 LiDARs to achieve comprehensive coverage of the hospital environment. Hospital corridors are typically only 2-3 meters wide, with wards and medical equipment on both sides, and space must also be provided for patients and medical staff to pass through, leaving very limited navigation space for the robot.

M360's 360° horizontal field of view and 70° vertical field of view ensure that the robot can perceive obstacles such as handrails above the corridors, pipes on the ceilings, and wires on the ground. The key lies in the 200kHz point cloud output of M360, which can generate high-density 3D environmental data, helping robots to accurately judge the distance and size of obstacles to avoid collisions with patients or medical equipment.

02 Dual Echo Penetration Technology

The perception challenges in hospital environments are more complex than in ordinary scenarios:

• Disinfectant mist interference: Hospitals require the extensive use of disinfectants daily, which form fine mist droplets in the air. These droplets can scatter the light from ordinary LiDAR, resulting in a decline in the quality of the point cloud data.
• Transparent object recognition: With numerous glass windows and transparent partitions in hospitals, LiDAR often struggles to accurately identify these transparent obstacles, leading to a higher risk of robot collisions.
• Metal equipment interference: Hospitals are filled with metal equipment such as X-ray machines and CT devices, which can generate electromagnetic interference and affect the normal operation of LiDAR.

The dual echo technology of the M360 perfectly solves these problems. It can separately receive forward and backward echoes, penetrate the disinfectant mist to see the obstacles behind, and accurately identify glass and other transparent media. In the environment of metal equipment interference, the dual echo mode can also provide more stable point cloud data.

03 5cm Ultra-Near Blind Zone + IP67 Protection

There are often various obstacles in hospital corridors:

• Mops, cleaning tools temporarily placed
• Beds, wheelchairs, and other mobile devices
• Wires, pipelines, and other ground facilities
• Crowded crowds at the elevator doors

These obstacles are often close to the walls or ground, and the blind zone of ordinary LiDAR is 10-15cm, making it difficult to detect these small obstacles. To be honest, the 5cm ultra-near blind zone of the M360 ensures that the robot can timely detect these potential collision risks.

More importantly, hospital environments are humid and have a lot of disinfectant, which requires a high protection level for equipment. The M360 reaches the IP67 protection level, completely dustproof and capable of short-term immersion in water, and can work stably under frequent disinfection. Although the MID-360 is smaller in size, the problem of insufficient protection level in high humidity and strong corrosive environments like hospitals is particularly prominent.

04 <4.5W Ultra-Low Power Consumption + 12~32V Wide Voltage Supply

Hospital robots typically require continuous operation for 24 hours, making battery endurance crucial.

The power consumption of the M360 is controlled below 4.5W, saving about 30% of electricity compared to traditional LiDAR. This means that robots equipped with the M360 can extend their working time by 30% with the same capacity of battery.

The power supply system in hospitals is also complex, with different voltage standards in different areas. The M360 supports a wide voltage supply range of 12~32V, capable of adapting to various power supply environments in hospitals. The voltage range of the MID-360 is relatively narrow at 9~27V, and additional voltage conversion circuits may be required in some special power supply environments.

05 Non-repetitive Scanning Technology

Hospital corridors often have many detailed features:

• Wheelchair handrails
• Ground markings
• Identification at the ward doors
• Outline of medical equipment
• Dynamic changes in human traffic

These subtle features are very important for the positioning and navigation of robots. The M360 employs non-repetitive scanning technology, which can dynamically increase the horizontal angle resolution to 0.18° based on the scanning time, allowing it to capture these minute environmental features. In comparison, the mixed solid-state technology of the MID-360 is relatively weaker in detail resolution.

In practical use, non-repetitive scanning technology improves the positioning accuracy of robots in hospital corridors by about 40%, especially in areas with similar features (such as continuous wards), where it can more accurately distinguish different locations.

06 Comparison of M360 and MID-360 in Hospital Scenarios

Comparison Items	M360	MID-360	Advantages in Hospital Scenarios
Near-field blind zone	5cm	10cm	Capable of detecting obstacles close to the ground
Dual echo mode	Supported	Not supported	Penetrates sterilization fog, identifies transparent objects
Power consumption	<4.5W	6.5W	Longer battery life, suitable for 24-hour operation
IP rating	IP67	IP67	Resistant to disinfectant corrosion, stable operation
Vertical FOV	70°	59°	Better perception of ceiling and ground obstacles
Power supply range	12~32V	9~27V	Compatible with complex hospital power supply environments
Scanning mode	Non-repetitive scanning	Hybrid solid-state	Higher detail resolution, more accurate positioning

Real-world application scenarios for hospital robots

In a deployment case at a top-tier hospital, the delivery robot equipped with the M360 LiDAR has been operating for 6 months, completing over 100,000 delivery tasks. The robot's obstacle avoidance success rate reached 99.8%, with almost no collision accidents.

During the pandemic, these robots undertook critical tasks such as drug delivery, specimen transport, and disinfection, significantly reducing the risk of infection for medical staff. The stability of the M360 was fully verified in these high-pressure environments.

In addition to delivery, hospital disinfection robots also widely use the M360 LiDAR. Disinfection robots need to operate in areas such as patient rooms and corridors, avoiding patients, medical staff, and various medical equipment. The high-precision sensing capability of the M360 ensures the safe completion of the disinfection tasks.

From the actual needs of hospital scenarios, the M360 has obvious advantages in dual echo penetration, ultra-near blind zone, and low power consumption. Especially in application scenarios that require 24-hour continuous operation and complex and changeable environments, the reliability of the M360 has been fully verified.

Hospital intelligence is an important direction for the future development of medical care. As the "eyes" of hospital robots, the M360 LiDAR will play a significant role in this process. As the application of hospital robots deepens, the technical advantages of the M360 will be more fully demonstrated.