New technology developed at the University of Waterloo paves the way for the deployment of cloud-based autonomous robots to perform routine tasks, such as moving equipment and supplies in hospitals and long-term care facilities.
A nursing shortage has created an urgent need for cost-effective ways to support overburdened health-care workers, with a critical global shortfall estimated at 5.8 million in 2023 and projected to be 4.1 million by 2030.
"There is a need for creative solutions for transportation systems in the health-care industry that are cost-effective, on the one hand, and can perform basic logistical duties to ease the burden on nurses and staff," said Dr. Amir Khajepour, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at Waterloo
"Our system would allow health-care workers to focus more on medical responsibilities rather than manual labour tasks, reducing the risk of workplace injuries while also improving the overall efficiency of medical care."
Watch a video of the robotic bed in action during testing, featuring indoor motion tracking. (University of Waterloo)
The system features ceiling-mounted sensor nodes equipped with cameras, LiDAR (light detection and ranging), an onboard processor and a 5G WiFi communication interface to connect to the cloud.
Sophisticated algorithms at both ends enable sensor nodes to communicate with the cloud, while robots receive control actions from the cloud to safely navigate busy health-care settings, avoiding people and obstacles.
Khajepour and his team began working on the proposed framework about five years ago to help address anticipated worldwide shortages of nurses and other healthcare workers.
They tested the infrastructure in the lab with a retrofitted, robotic hospital bed capable of autonomously moving itself and supplies to a specified location.
The work, which is supported by Rogers, aligns with Waterloo's Technological Futures initiative, which brings together researchers and industry partners to advance real-world applications of robotics and autonomous systems.
"The technology is very promising, but hospitals are highly regulated environments with strict safety standards, so we are working to see how soon we can get it to become common," said Khajepour.
The latest in a string of academic papers on the project, SAP-CoPE: Social-aware planning using cooperative pose estimation with infrastructure sensor nodes, has been submitted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.
