Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Around the world, healthcare systems are being pushed to the breaking point by staffing shortfalls, especially among nurses.
The World Health Organization estimates a gap of 4.5 million nurses globally by 2030, with pronounced deficits in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Taiwan is among the first to test an AI-powered solution.
Foxconn, in collaboration with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and NVIDIA, has developed Nurabot, an autonomous nursing assistant robot.
Since April 2025, it has been undergoing verification trials at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, with further deployment planned.
Nurabot is designed to relieve nurses from repetitive and physically demanding tasks—including delivering medication, transporting specimens, patrolling hospital wards, and guiding visitors—allowing human nurses to focus on judgement-intensive patient care.
Early results show workload reductions on the order of twenty to thirty percent.
Technologically, Nurabot draws upon Kawasaki’s robotics platforms and Foxconn’s hardware and software engineering.
It incorporates multiple sensors, cameras, safety systems for navigation in wards, and AI systems for recognizing verbal and physical cues.
NVIDIA contributes AI infrastructure to enable features like task scheduling and perception.
The project is not without challenges.
Hospitals and healthcare workers report concerns relating to infrastructure—some wards and corridors are not robot-friendly—and patient preference for human interaction.
Ethical, safety, and data protection protocols remain under rigorous review.
Foxconn and partners aim to launch Nurabot commercially in fiscal year 2026, pending results from current trials and further regulatory and safety verifications.
This AI initiative is part of a broader trend of digital health innovation intended to address rising demand caused by aging populations and insufficient growth in the healthcare workforce.
WHO figures show that while there are currently nearly 29 million nurses worldwide, demand is accelerating faster than workforce supply.
Taiwan is among the first to test an AI-powered solution.
Foxconn, in collaboration with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and NVIDIA, has developed Nurabot, an autonomous nursing assistant robot.
Since April 2025, it has been undergoing verification trials at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, with further deployment planned.
Nurabot is designed to relieve nurses from repetitive and physically demanding tasks—including delivering medication, transporting specimens, patrolling hospital wards, and guiding visitors—allowing human nurses to focus on judgement-intensive patient care.
Early results show workload reductions on the order of twenty to thirty percent.
Technologically, Nurabot draws upon Kawasaki’s robotics platforms and Foxconn’s hardware and software engineering.
It incorporates multiple sensors, cameras, safety systems for navigation in wards, and AI systems for recognizing verbal and physical cues.
NVIDIA contributes AI infrastructure to enable features like task scheduling and perception.
The project is not without challenges.
Hospitals and healthcare workers report concerns relating to infrastructure—some wards and corridors are not robot-friendly—and patient preference for human interaction.
Ethical, safety, and data protection protocols remain under rigorous review.
Foxconn and partners aim to launch Nurabot commercially in fiscal year 2026, pending results from current trials and further regulatory and safety verifications.
This AI initiative is part of a broader trend of digital health innovation intended to address rising demand caused by aging populations and insufficient growth in the healthcare workforce.
WHO figures show that while there are currently nearly 29 million nurses worldwide, demand is accelerating faster than workforce supply.
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