STATION H

Medical and hospital robotics testing and experimentation platform

Startups, SMEs, large companies, and academic partners can test a wide range of robotics applications within the hospital environment:

⚕️ Surgical and interventional robots
📦 Mobile and logistics robots(including drones)
💊 Pharmacy robots
🤖 Social and service robotics
🦾 Exoskeletons

"Thanks to the multidisciplinary expertise of STATION H, which supported a summative study involving numerous surgeons, we were able to validate the usability of our medical device under conditions meeting all regulatory requirements."

Damien Dufournel
Clinical Affairs Manager - KERANOVA

Robotics, already widely used in industry, is increasingly being deployed in hospitals: surgical robots, mobile transport robots, drones, exoskeletons, pharmacy robots, and even social robots designed to guide and interact with patients.
However, the adoption of robotics in healthcare remains limited, with varying levels of evidence and maturity.

The mission of STATION H is therefore to facilitate collaboration between industry and the hospital environment, accelerating the development of robotic solutions that are aligned with real clinical needs. The platform hosts projects led by industrial partners seeking to explore and evaluate new robotic concepts with end users in hospital settings.

STATION H features dedicated facilities within the hospital, including simulated clinical environments (operating room, patient room, care units, etc.). These infrastructures enable early-stage prototype testing by healthcare professionals (surgeons, physicians, nurses, logistics staff, pharmacists, etc.), without waiting for final product completion.

Why work with STATION H?

As a company

✅ Ensure the performance and acceptability of your robotic solutions through early feedback from healthcare professionals involved from the design phase.

✅ Leverage the clinical expertise of a university hospital at key stages of CE marking (usability validation, clinical evaluation).

✅ Explore new application opportunities for technologies initially developed outside the healthcare sector.

Collaboration framework

Depending on your project

➡️ STATION H collaborates with the three other innovation platforms to provide integrated and cross-functional service offerings.

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➡️ Subject to eligibility criteria, part of our services may be available at reduced cost for startups and SMEs through the European TEF Health initiative.

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Project examples

supported by STATION H

Surgical robotics: usability validation (Keranova)

To validate the usability of its cataract surgery robot, Keranova relied on STATION H to conduct a summative evaluation study. This involved organizing user testing sessions with ophthalmic surgeons from the Hospices Civils de Lyon, following a structured testing protocol.

STATION H can also support earlier-stage formative evaluations of medical devices, across multiple medical and surgical specialties.

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Social robotics: SOLAR Nav project (Enchanted Tools)

“Principles and Guidelines for Evaluating Social Robot Navigation Algorithms”, Anthony Francis et al., arXiv, 2023

Development and evaluation of a robot with social navigation capabilities, designed as a hospital logistics assistant.
In partnership with INRIA (Chroma team) and the “Values of Care” research chair (Université Jean Moulin).
Project duration: 2 years (2025–2026).

Role of HCL and Station H:
✅ Develop evaluation methodologies to assess the utility and acceptability of such robots in hospital environments
✅ Conduct testing in simulated environments
✅ Run pilot experiments in clinical departments

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Logistics robotics: AMR fleet for surgical equipment transport (e-Cobot)

STATION H is involved in the BAURéaLS hospital building project (Lyon Sud), which includes the deployment of the Géolab logistics platform. This platform will centralize and prepare surgical equipment, supplying operating rooms via a fleet of autonomous mobile robots (AMR).

STATION H has been contributing since 2022 to the design and evaluation of this innovative solution, in partnership with e-Cobot.

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