Nurabot: AI nursing robot to aid healthcare staffing shortages

Foxconn’s new AI-powered nursing robot, Nurabot, is creating a buzz in healthcare—and for good reason. Imagine hospitals where nurses, already stretched thin and facing burnout, finally get a high-tech helping hand. That’s what’s happening right now in Taiwan. Nurses at Taichung Veterans General Hospital are teaming up with Nurabot, an autonomous robot designed to tackle routine and physically demanding tasks like delivering medication, transporting specimens, and guiding patients or visitors. The results? A 20–30% reduction in daily nursing workloads and less physical fatigue for staff. During busy visiting hours and understaffed night shifts, Nurabot steps up so nurses can focus on the human side of care—compassion, critical thinking, and clinical judgment. Here’s why this matters: • The World Health Organization projects a shortage of 4.5 million nurses by 2030. Yet, one-third of the current workforce already feels burnt out. • Robots like Nurabot can’t replace nurses, but they can handle repetitive chores, freeing up skilled professionals for the work only humans can do. • The smart hospital market, now worth over $72 billion, is rapidly investing in AI and robotics to meet rising patient needs Of course, adopting robots in healthcare isn’t without its challenges. Patients may still prefer human touch, and hospitals might need redesigns to welcome their new robot colleagues. But instead of a “robots vs. humans” debate, Foxconn’s vision is about teamwork: “This is not about replacing nurses but rather collaborating to complete a mission,” says Alice Lin, Director of User Design at Foxconn . Would you work in a hospital with robot assistants? Or are you excited to see technology bring a little relief to healthcare heroes? Let’s chat in the comments!

Uncanny Valley Concept in Robotics and Nursing Care Future in Healthcare Settings When robots are designed to help in nursing care — like assisting patients, reminding them about medications, or providing companionship — their appearance and behavior matter a lot. 🤖 If the robot looks very machine-like (like a simple device or cartoon-like design), patients usually feel comfortable because they clearly know it’s not human. 🧑🤖 If the robot looks almost human but not perfect — for example, a robot nurse with realistic skin, blinking eyes, and speech but slightly unnatural facial expressions or stiff movements — patients may feel uneasy, anxious, or even scared. This is the uncanny valley effect. 👩⚕️ If the robot looked fully human-like and natural, then patients might accept it as trustworthy and supportive. But current technology often falls into that "in-between" zone that feels creepy. 👉 In nursing care, this means designers need to carefully balance robot design. Too human-like can backfire and make patients uncomfortable, especially vulnerable groups like children, elderly, or critically ill patients. Would you like me to also show you a real-world nursing robot example (like “Pepper” or “Paro the seal robot”) and explain whether they avoid or fall into the uncanny valley? #UncannyValley #FutureOfNursing #HealthcareInnovation #NursingRobotics #NursingFuture #AIandHealthcare #RobotNurse #MedicalTechnology #NursingEducation #PatientCare #NursingScience #NursingInnovation #DigitalNursing #CompassionateCare #AIinHealthcare #RoboticsInNursing #CareRobots #HumanRobotInteraction #HealthcareAI #RoboticsFuture #FutureOfHealthcare #HealthcareTrends #TechForGood #HumanCenteredAI #NextGenNursing

Could AI nursing robots help healthcare staffing shortages? AI-powered robot Nurabot is designed to help nurses with repetitive tasks, in a bid to reduce their workload and mitigate global healthcare staff shortages. https://lnkd.in/eRGMxc4N

AI nursing robots might help with staffing shortages, but they also raise questions about how care should really be delivered https://lnkd.in/gdD3tdBD

https://lnkd.in/d7WVsUgi Quotes from the article: Around the world, health care workers are in short supply, with a shortage of 4.5 million nurses expected by 2030, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Nurses are already feeling the pressure: around one-third of nurses globally are experiencing burnout symptoms, like emotional exhaustion, and the profession has a high turnover rate. That’s where Nurabot comes in. The autonomous, AI-powered nursing robot is designed to help nurses with repetitive or physically demanding tasks, such as delivering medication or guiding patients around the ward. According to Foxconn, the Taiwanese multinational behind Nurabot, the humanoid can reduce nurses’ workload by up to 30%. “This is not a replacement of nurses, but more like accomplishing a mission together,” says Alice Lin, director of user design at Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Technology Group in Taiwan. By taking on repetitive tasks, Nurabot frees up nurses for “tasks that really need them, such as taking care of the patients and making judgment calls on the patient’s conditions, based on their professional experience,” Lin told CNN in a video call. Nurabot, which took just 10 months to develop, has been undergoing testing at a hospital in Taiwan since April 2025 — and now, the company is readying the robot for commercial launch early next year. Foxconn does not currently have an estimate for its retail price. Foxconn partnered with Japanese robotics company Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build Nurabot’s hardware. The firm adapted Kawasaki’s “Nyokkey” service robot model, which moves around autonomously on wheels, uses its two robotic arms to lift and hold items, and has multiple cameras and sensors to help it recognize its surroundings. Based on its initial research on nurses’ daily routines and pain points — such as walking long distances across the ward to deliver samples — Foxconn added features, like a space to safely store bottles and vials. The robot uses Foxconn’s Chinese large language model for its communication, while US tech giant NVIDIA provided Nurabot’s core AI and robotics infrastructure. NVIDIA says it combined multiple proprietary AI platforms to create Nurabot’s programming, which enables the bot to navigate the hospital independently, schedule tasks, and react to verbal and physical cues. AI was also used to train and test the robot in a virtual version of the hospital, which Foxconn says helped its speedy development. AI allows Nurabot to “perceive, reason, and act in a more human-like way” and adapt its behavior “based on the specific patient, context, and situation,” David Niewolny, director of business development for health care and medical at NVIDIA, told CNN in an email. #artificialintelligence #ai #generativeai #largelanguagemodels #chatbots #airevolution #aihype #aitools #aihealthcaretools #AIhealthassistants #AInurse #robots #robotics #therobotwillseeyounow #humanhealth #healthcare #foxconn

At Norbert Health, we turn standard wheeled robots into medical grade caregivers. For the first time. And we learn a lot every time we do it. We spent the last 3 weeks operating robots in skilled nursing facilities in Brooklyn for 40 patients, daily. Here is some of what we learned.   1/ 🏥 Patients in nursing facilities want and need more care. Our autonomous robots, equipped with our sensing AI and LLMs, provide the dedicated and personalized care they need. They gently enter a patient's room, take vitals and check on their well-being, offering an additional layer of support. 🫶 And it is scalable by nature. Out of 40 patients, 95% of our patients liked the robot and were excited to see it every day. 2/ Nursing homes and hospitals are hectic environments. And all patients are unique. Roaming the hallways and rooms of a skilled nursing floor for a few days, our AI module learned a lot about patients’ personalities, preferences, language, mood, habits. And rapidly adjusted to that in a way only available to machines. This “patient” intelligence is extremely valuable to autonomously deliver robotic and digital care. We increased the success rate of our visits and reduced the time per visit using this intelligence. 📊 Based on the numbers we measured this summer, one robot can implement RPM (16 measures a month per patient) on a 40 patient floor by working 7.3 hours a day. Then it can rest 🙂. 3/ 👩⚕️Nurses and caregivers love our robot because it is considerate and mindful of them, and does simple, valuable work they don’t particularly enjoy. Without interfering or requiring any effort or change in their habits.  We are rapidly building the "floor intelligence" to move robots around a healthcare facility efficiently and without disruptions, and create a privileged moment to interact with each resident. We are using this moment to measure vitals contactlessly now. And for more soon - think patient recorded outcomes, cognitive health prevention and others. 🚀 Next month, we are starting production level RPM programs, fully autonomous. Stay tuned! 👀 Take a look at our robot in action https://lnkd.in/e4iGbfmu Filippo Monteleone Alexis Houssou Evan Nisselson Noam Ohana Mathieu CHATAIN Benjamin Griveaux Daniel Kaplan Howard Morgan Saeju Jeong Hon Pak Bjoern von Siemens Gulshan Batool Evan Beard Adrien TAQUET Sophie Boissard Antoine Piau Alain Decombe Olivier Pomel Alexis Lê-Quôc Yann Fleureau Robert Vassoyan Bunny Ellerin James Hueston Mickael Munier

Big news from CHSI! Our own Marjorie Erdmann, PhD (CHSI) and Bryan Edwards (OSU Spears School of Business), in partnership with the University of Louisville, just published fascinating research on the use of robotics in nursing. Their study explored how robotic assistance can help nurses ambulate patients — and the results show real promise. Even more exciting? Nurses reported positive experiences with this innovative support. Read more about their discoveries here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gAMEawKD For more about University of Louisville's LARRI robotics lab:  https://lnkd.in/gQ-QnXuG

Robots aren't coming for nurses' jobs. They're here to save them. Imagine your loved one is in the hospital. Instead of a hurried nurse rushing between tasks, she has time to sit with you, listen, and truly explain the treatment. That's the promise of robotics in healthcare: not replacing human care, but freeing nurses to do what only they can, heal and connect. The need is urgent. The UK faces a shortage of over 40,000 nurses, and physical strain and burnout are driving talent away. One in three nurses who qualified in 2021 left the NHS within two years. Robotics can handle the tasks that exhaust staff: 🔹Transporting supplies and medication within hospitals 🔹Assisting with patient lifting, thereby reducing staff injuries 🔹Allowing remote consultations through telepresence 🔹Even providing companionship for dementia patients Globally, approaches differ significantly. Denmark involves nurses in co-designing solutions. Japan invests nationally but faces challenges with staff buy-in. India is establishing "AI-first" hospitals from the ground up. The real question isn't whether robots will transform healthcare, but whether nurses will be architects of that change or merely bystanders. In the UK, we're advancing. The Royal Marsden has introduced the country's first Robotic Nursing Fellowship, signalling a future where nurses merge clinical skill with technological proficiency. This concerns nurses performing higher-value tasks while robots manage the logistics. It's about restoring nurses' most valuable resource: time with their patients. When my friend needed care recently, it wasn't the high-tech equipment that made the difference; it was the nurse who noticed he appeared worried and took the time to explain what was happening. That's irreplaceable. #Nursing #Healthcare #Robotics #AI #NHS #FutureOfWork #HealthTech #Nurses #DigitalHealth #Innovation #WorkforceShortage #PatientCare #Technology #HealthcareInnovation #RoyalMarsden

👩⚕️🤖 Foxconn’s AI Nursing Robot "Nurabot" is tackling the global healthcare staffing crisis! 📉 Early hospital trials in Taiwan show workloads cut by 30%, allowing nurses to focus on critical patient care instead of repetitive tasks. ⚡ Built with NVIDIA AI + Kawasaki robotics, Nurabot autonomously delivers meds, guides patients, and supports nurses during night shifts. 🌍 With a projected 4.5M nurse shortage by 2030 (WHO), this could be a game-changer for healthcare systems worldwide. 👉 Do you think robots as nurse assistants will become the new normal in hospitals? #AI #Healthcare #Robotics #Nursing #Foxconn