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TECHNOLOGY AND CODE article

Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2024.1325143
This article is part of the Research Topic Creative Approaches to Appropriation and Design: Novel Robotic Systems for Heterogeneous Contexts View all 3 articles

HoLLiECares -Development of a Multi-Functional Robot for Professional Care

Provisionally accepted
Matthias Brünett Matthias Brünett 1Anne Gebert Anne Gebert 1Kevin Gisa Kevin Gisa 2Andreas Hermann Andreas Hermann 3Christian Lengenfelder Christian Lengenfelder 4Arne Roennau Arne Roennau 5Julian Schneider Julian Schneider 6*Svea M. Schuh Svea M. Schuh 2Lea Steffen Lea Steffen 5
  • 1 German Institute of Applied Nursing Research (DIP), Cologne, Germany
  • 2 August-Wilhelm Scheer Institut gGmbH, Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany
  • 3 ArtiMinds Robotics, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • 4 Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • 5 FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 6 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Germany's healthcare sector suffers from a shortage of nursing staff, and robotic solutions are being explored as a means to provide quality care. While many robotic systems have already been established in various medical fields (e.g., surgical robots, logistics robots), there are only a few very specialized robotic applications in the care sector. In this work, a multi-functional robot is applied in a hospital, capable of performing activities in the areas of transport and logistics, interactive assistance, and documentation. The service robot platform HoLLiE was further developed, with a focus on implementing innovative solutions for handling non-rigid objects, motion planning for non-holonomic motions with a wheelchair, accompanying and providing haptic support to patients, optical recognition and control of movement exercises, and automated speech recognition. Furthermore, the potential of a robot platform in a nursing context was evaluated by field tests in two hospitals. The results show that a robot can take over or support certain tasks. However, it was noted that robotic tasks should be carefully selected, as robots are not able to provide empathy and affection that are often required in nursing. The remaining challenges still exist in the implementation and interaction of multi-functional capabilities, ensuring ease of use for a complex robotic system, grasping highly heterogeneous objects, and fulfilling formal and infrastructural requirements in healthcare (e.g., safety, security, and data protection).

    Keywords: service robotics, Health care robot, Smart hospital, human-robot interaction, motion planning, robotic manipulation, no-code programming

    Received: 20 Oct 2023; Accepted: 30 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Brünett, Gebert, Gisa, Hermann, Lengenfelder, Roennau, Schneider, Schuh and Steffen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Julian Schneider, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

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