Saying goodbye to Moxi, the AI-powered robot

Moxi, a hospital robot who once worked at MultiCare hospitals, passed peacefully to the AI beyond in 2025. The robot had been used for less than two years.

Developed by Austin-based startup Diligent Robotics in 2018, Moxi arrived in hospitals amid a wave of management enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and automation in healthcare.

MultiCare purchased the robots in 2023 as a “solution” to nursing staff shortages in hospitals.

At its peak, MultiCare had 14 Moxi robots in the system, most of them in the Puget Sound region with a few in eastern Washington, a MultiCare media representative told the Tacoma News Tribune in an article published Feb. 20.

Moxi stood 5-feet tall, weighed approximately 300 pounds, and could go 22 hours without a charge.

The robot had its own security badge and was designed to ferry supplies, transport lab samples, and deliver snacks, promising to allow nurses to spend more time with patients.

While the robot had endless energy, it was lacking what nurses really needed —a voice at the table when decisions on their working conditions are being made. Nurses would have used that voice to tell management that the realities of having a robot would be more trouble than it was worth.

WSNA members at Tacoma General Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital said the Moxi robots were annoying and often got in the way. Far from being independent, the robots needed an escort between floors, so they never delivered meaningful time savings.