AI, robotic arms power Hong Kong public hospital laundry and meal centre

Hong Kong's Hospital Authority has introduced artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic automation to its new support services centre, which handles laundry processing and meal production for public hospitals. The six-story, 62,000-square-meter complex in Tung Chung on Lantau Island opened to the public in March of the previous year and currently caters to approximately half of the authority's laundry and meal needs, processing 33.2 million kilograms of laundry and 14.7 million meal sets annually.

The centre employs X-ray sorting, robotic arms, and cook-chill kitchen technology to boost efficiency and worker safety. Dr. Law Chun-bon, cluster chief executive of the Kowloon West Cluster, highlighted that automation has significantly improved occupational safety and health by eliminating the need for manual checks on foreign objects in clothing and linens.

A one-way workflow combines washing, drying, folding, ironing, packaging, and delivery stages, while robotic arms handle heavy linen bundles, reducing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. The central food production unit prepares patient meals using automated cooking, packaging, and freezing lines, ensuring consistency in quality through cook-chill technology. The authority plans to expand the facility to meet nearly 70% of the demand by the end of 2026.