Life expectancy is increasing with the development of medical technology and the population is aging. In Japan, one of the countries with the fastest aging population, the aging rate (the percentage of the total population that is 65 years old or older) is 29% in 2023. More and more people are living with illnesses and disabilities. The burden on caregivers or nursing professionals is extremely high and is expected to increase in the future. The usage of robotics technology could be a solution to reduce the burden on caregivers or nursing professionals while enhancing care for the people with illnesses and disabilities. Here, this workshop proposes a new concept of Nursing Robotics that is the application of robotics technology for nursing care and science. The primary aim is increase in quality of life (QOL) of people in all settings and throughout the lifespan. The main differences between nursing robots and conventional robotics fields such as medical robots, assistive robots, and rehabilitation robots are as follows.

  • In the field of medicine and medical robotics, the primary concern is to cure illness; in the field of nursing and nursing robotics, it is important not only to cure illness, but also to alleviate suffering during illness.
  • Restoring physical function is important, but maintaining or slowing the decline of physical function is even more important in nursing robots.
  • Nurses, caregivers, and medical doctors have different areas of responsibility, and thus, the scope and methods of care are different.

The different aims promote the creation of different new robotic technologies. The aim of this workshop is to share issues that have been effectively solved through collaborative research with robotics, as well as issues that have not been solved but could be solved through collaborative research with robotics, and to produce a new research direction. The workshop also provides an opportunity to promote interdisciplinary research by bringing together researchers in both robotics and nursing to discuss issues and collaborate with each other. This concept is in line with the ICRA 2024 theme of ” CONNECT+ ” and contributes to expanding the field of robotics and creating a new area of robotics.

Topic of interest

    • Nursing care support
    • Caregiver support
    • Rehabilitation
    • Assisting mobility
    • Assist with physical functions
    • Abnormalities detection
    • Pressure ulcer
    • Simulator for training
    • Sensing biosignals
    • RT (Robotics Technology) -assisted nursing
    • Nursing education based on RT
    • Nursing workflow support based on RT