Robots at UK Hospital

I read a really neat article in today's Herald-Leader about robots that are being used at UK Hospital. They are currently using two of these "TUG" robots, which are basically big mobile cabinets, to transport blood and other patient specimens from the draw point in the hospital to the lab across the street for testing. The trip between these two points is about a mile long (round-trip), includes crossing a pedway and using elevators, and is typically made about 15 or 20 times each day.
Sending the TUG robots is advantageous to the hospital because they now have a reliable method for delivery (apparently they have had problems with employees stopping to talk on cell phones, grabbing coffee, etc.) and they know about how long it will take. Previously, they had to pull employees from the phlebotomy station and send them to the lab with samples, which became a problem because patients were having to wait in long lines to have their blood drawn.
There are lots of pictures of the robots on Kentucky.com, and included in the online article, there is a video of one of the robots making the trip - here. The robots stop when their way is blocked and wait for it to become clear, and they are able to operate the elevators using radio signals (apparently they are very polite and wait for all humans to exit the elevator before sending it to the floor they need).
The hospital is paying $18,000 per year to lease the robots, plus $3,000 maintenance, and if they like them after the year is up, they may buy them outright. In the comments section below the online article, a few people have pointed out that for this expense, the hospital could have hired another employee. I'd be interested to know how much the robots will cost to buy, and how long they are expected to last, because it does seem that hiring another employee to do this legwork could be cheaper. But that does not take into account the hospital's complaint of employees calling in, dawdling, smoking, etc. These robots, so far, seem to have proven a more reliable method of transportation for these time-sensitive materials.