Overview:
Robotic nurse assistant or robotic nursing also known as ‘Carebots’ is the use of autonomous mobile robots which are designed and programmed to perform tasks related to assist (but not replace) nurses in hospitals, care facilities or even homes for treatment and medical care of people especially elderly and physically disabled ones. Robot nurses are also used for performing several routine tasks such as collecting blood sugar and pressure levels.
Over the past few decades there has been great advancements in technology which now has become easily accessible and possess several benefits. In many of the technologically sound regions the population is living longer and bearing few children, thus this has led to an increase in the old age population. Japan is said to be the oldest nation in the world. According to the World Bank database Japans’ 27% of the population (2016) is above 65 years of age. In US the population aged 65 and older accounts to 15% (2016) and in Europe the population aged 65 and older accounts to ~20% (2016). These numbers are presumed to rise in the near future, and thus would be difficult to maintain the ratio of caregivers to geriatric population. High patient-to-nurse ratios and factors such as long shifts, mandatory overtime, lack of experienced staff, and inadequate time to monitor patients has been associated to poor health outcomes such as falls, fractures, skin breakdown, and death among patients, and with back and shoulder injuries among nursing staff.
In order to avoid such risk and reduce the patient-to-nurse ratios, robotic nurse assistant had been developed. Robotic nursing is utilised for various activities such as cognitive help for elderly patients, interaction with patients thus reducing the frequency of personal visits, monitoring patients and gathering patient data, and assisting patients in daily tasks in case of arthritis or severe obese patients.
The first robotic nursing system in 2009 was developed by Hstar Technologies named RoNA in Japan. It focused on developing a human-safe and heavy-lifting robotic system which can function in any clinical environment.
Advantages of RoNA:
RoNA can move in any direction, work in confined spaces, and navigate areas; it can work side by side with a trained nurse, or can be supervised by a remotely located nurse while working with a less trained attendant. It is an intelligent, learning system, able to sense centre of gravity during the patient lift and automatically adjust, thus assuring patient safety. RoNA system will eliminate the need for lifting patients while bed transfers thus avoiding caregiver strain and injuries.
RoNA is under development for addressing various technologically updated challenges, such as moving bariatric patients and casualty extraction.
Other Robotic Nursing Assistants are as follows:
Robotic Nursing Assistant- Geographical Analysis
The market for nursing care robotics is highest in Japan where it currently accounts for JPY 16.7 billion which is 4.5% of the service robotics sector in 2015, it is presumed that this figure would approximately increase by more than 3 times to JPY 54.3 billion in 2020 and even up to JPY 404.3 billion in 2035. Europe also shows an increase in development for robotic nurses. A stronger potential for future growth in the robotic nursing assistant market is expected in rest of the regions as it’s observed there is a general trend for increase in the geriatric population, which would require higher assistance of caregivers.
Robotic Nursing Assistant- Market Segmentation
Key players identified in the Robotic Nursing Assistant market but are not limited to:
The key players in this market are RIKEN-TRI, Hstar technologies, Giraff technologies, Fraunhofer IPA, and Georgia Tech.
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