Functions of a caring robot in nursing

• Main Authors: Shihong Huang, Tanioka, T., Locsin, R., Parker, M., Masory, O.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: indexing; knowledge management; Mobile robots; natural language processing; nursing care; nursing theories; robot; Surgery
• DOI: 10.1109/NLPKE.2011.6138237

There are many different types of robots that are used in different fields to make our lives easier. Currently, a popular assistive robot used in health care includes the "support robot" that helps persons? mobility and the "rehabilitation robot" that facilitates the performance of range-of-motion exercises. A robot performs tasks with mechanical precision on its own, or with guidance. Many fundamental questions exist that challenges the development of assistive health care robots, such as (1) What is a caring robot? (2) Should caring robots be humanoids or not? (3) What necessary functions are required for these caring robots so that it can provide quality nursing care? (4) What level of intelligence should robots have so that it can function effectively as a responsive `assistant' to patients? (5) What levels of decision-making should the robot have to be a dependable partner solving patients' care problems? Based on nursing caring theories, the authors of this paper propose a set of necessary functions that a caring robot should have, so that these questions can be answered. A caring robot has functional features like that of a human nurse. Developing humanoid robots will enhance the necessary functions of a caring robot particularly in task for example, taking vital signs and delivery of meals and medications. The most important ability of the caring robot is to carry-out basic nursing care functions as expected by the patients. This paper aims to apply nursing caring theory as a framework for the patient human-robot interaction.