Humanoid Robotic Healthcare Assistant

This project is a tri-partite collaboration between academia, industry and a hospital to investigate the role humanoid robotics can play in supporting healthcare through the placement of humanoid robots into hospitals. Through discussions conducted with staff of the Haven of Hope Hospital in Tseung Kwan O based on their clinical needs, we have identified two use cases in the regular ward: (1) conducting patient interviews to collect information about the patient’s health status and (2) monitoring the ward at night to detect and alert nursing staff about emergencies or potential concerns, e.g., patient falls. These systems both seek to reduce time wasted by the hospital staff on relatively routine, repetitive or boring jobs. Passing those jobs to a humanoid robot will enable them to spend more time directly on patient care. We also anticipate additional benefits in terms of improved caregiver motivation. The ultimate goal of this research initiative is the construction of humanoid robotic systems that can be part of synergistic human-robot teams that leverage the complementary skills of both to better manage staff workloads, resulting in better care quality and patient satisfaction.