Human Interactive Robotics for Healthcare

HIRo has introduced a completely new concept for improving healthcare in hospitals and municipalities, by exploring the integration of a humanoid robot (EVE). The goal has been to develop a robot that can act as an assistant to personnel and patients in daily tasks such as transporting or handing over equipment for medical tasks; helping patients find their way around the facilities; or helping patients with various disabilities retrieve objects or move around. The project group started by establishing a reference group and a user panel, and then worked on mapping hospitals and municipalities' challenges related to performing repetitive tasks that could possibly be performed by a robot. Furthermore, it was mapped what different robots exist in these areas today - and where there is a lack of suitable technology. This knowledge was designed as a report. The report led the further work in the project and has been submitted to the Research Council. The project group conducted its start-up seminar in December 2020, where the project and the planned activities were presented. The reference group has consisted of Patrick Holthaus from the Adaptive Systems Research Group, University of Hertfordshire UK: Holthaus has extensive experience with research on robots in health contexts. Greg Reichberg Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) has in-depth knowledge of ethical issues. Dorien Vandormael, i-mens, Belgium works on innovation projects on health technology in users' homes. Katharina Stibrant Sunnerhagen, from the University of Gothenburg and Elisabeth Sørensen, Larvik municipality, have researched the use of welfare technologies. The user panel has consisted of Anders Nupen Hansen, the National Association for Spinal Cord Injury, Ulrik Sverdrup, LHL and Øyvind Gerhardsen, the user committee Sunnaas Hospital and SAFO. Throughout the project, the user group has had good input on what they could want from a robot as an assistant. The first data collection was designed to understand healthcare personnel's activities during a normal day in hospital. A survey was sent out to employees at Sunnaas Hospital. Later, in-depth interviews were conducted with employees in the nursing service. Furthermore, a prioritization of tasks was carried out and Halodi continued to work on the robot so that it could perform these tasks (controlled by an operator). We then tested the robot as an assistant for nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists at Sunnaas Hospital. At the same time, workshops with health leaders and employees were arranged with a demo of EVE. Employees' experiences were that the robot could be a useful contribution in practical tasks such as picking up and bringing equipment to the hospital. They emphasized that the solution had to have few errors and be easy to use. A real-world study of the patients' experiences after demonstration of and interaction with the robot EVE, showed that the patients reflected on the robot as part of the entire rehabilitation process and not just as an assistant. They were positive about robot assistance for practical tasks - but not help in personal care (e.g hygiene). Finally, a plan has been made for what a robot service could look like in a municipality and a hospital setting and important factors for implementation. At the same time, a draft has been prepared for training in the use of a robot as a health care service. The project has generated important knowledge about how patients and staff experience having a robot as a colleague and assistant. The findings have resulted in serveral conference presentations ans scientific papers. Halodi, now 1X Technology, has developed a new version of the robot that is smaller and will be easier to manoeuvre in, for example, a home environment. A robot can be an important future support for healthcare professionals and patients for practical tasks. However, there is a need for more research with longer periods of testing a robot in a realistic environment, automation/integration of AI, solving challenges related to privacy and hygiene and, not least, trying out different methods for the robot to be included as a service in the municipality and in hospitals.

Prosjektet har bidratt til økt kunnskap om bruk av menneskelignende roboter som assistenter for helsepersonell og ansatte i Norge og for øvrig. Vi kjenner ikke til lignende eksperimenter der roboter har blitt testet med pasienter og helsepersonell i reelle settinger. Det kan se ut som integrering av en robot kan gi mer effektive prosesser og mindre opplevd arbeidstyngde hos ansatte. Pasienter er positive og åpne for å motta robotassistanse. Ettersom roboten fortsatt utvikles har det ikke vært mulig å få en reel kost nytte oversikt, men artiklene beskriver langt på vei aktuelle kontekster for bruk av roboter, aktuelle oppgaver roboten vil kunne være nyttig for og fremmere og hemmere for integrering av en robot som tjeneste Prosjektgruppen har fått nye nettverk som kan være nyttig for fremtidig samarbeid. Den massive media-omtalen kan ha bidratt til mindre teknologiskepsis i befolkningen. Ved Sunnaas Sykehus har prosjektet bidratt til en økt teknologi modenhet hos de ansatte, ved gjentatte intranett saker, interne presentasjoner og fysisk demonstrasjonen av roboten EVE i aksjon. 1X Technology har hatt en markant utvikling gjennom prosjekt perioden. Firmaet har fått flere investorer og økt sin stab fra 12 til 120 ansatte. HIRO prosjektet har vært viktig i samtaler med investorer. 1X produserer nå en ny versjon av roboten, blant annet etter innspill kommet gjennom prosjektet. NEO er mindre, nettere, lettere og har ben i stedet for hjul, dermed vil denne roboten kunne manøvrerer lettere i trange omgivelser som brukeres hjem. Det vil være denne roboten som blir aktuell for en eventuelle videreføring av prosjektet med fokus på implementering.

HIRo proposes a new concept for improving healthcare services through the integration of a humanoid robot platform (EVE R3) to support staff and patients in healthcare contexts: from assisting healthcare staff (for instance caring or handing over equipment needed for medical tasks) to supporting dependent patients in everyday tasks (like fetching objects or guiding them in the facilities). This platform will be based on user needs (both healthcare staff and patients) and integrated with ongoing changes in hospital facilities and municipal services, intending to potentiate their impact on work processes and types of services available. Identifying requirements for deployment and adoption barriers will be crucial to the development of useful and efficient technology that is adopted by both healthcare staff and patients in different settings and for specific tasks. In HIRo we will select concrete contexts in healthcare where several types of tasks and applications of an advanced humanoid robot could be piloted and deployed with a thorough need-finding analysis and assessment process to ensure that the technology is useful and accepted by the end-users and achieves the intended goals. We will provide evidence on the relevance, applicability, efficiency, usability and acceptability of robotics in hospital and homecare settings. Our multidisciplinary team, led by end-users and involving robot developers and experimental and organisational researchers in human-robot interaction and safety, is uniquely suited for the task. Through an integrated approach, we aim to gather empirical evidence for human-robot interaction in both controlled/laboratory settings (e.g. studying aspects such as how robot emotional expressions can impact humans' perception of friendliness and trustworthiness), as well as in realistic simulation of rehabilitation settings/home assistance services (users' perception of the robot's intentions and willingness to collaborate).