AI Nursing Robots Alleviate Staffing Crises and Enhance Patient Care Efficiency

Foxconn, the Taiwanese multinational, is set to launch Nurabot, an AI-powered nursing robot designed to address the global healthcare staffing shortage. The autonomous humanoid, which has been in testing at a hospital in Taiwan since April 2025, aims to reduce nurses' workload by up to 30% by handling repetitive and physically demanding tasks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) projects a shortage of 4.5 million nurses by 2030, with one-third of nurses globally already experiencing burnout. Nurabot, developed in just 10 months, is designed to assist with tasks such as delivering medication and guiding patients around the ward, freeing up nurses for more critical patient care and decision-making.

Nurabot: A Collaborative Solution

“This is not a replacement of nurses, but more like accomplishing a mission together,” says Alice Lin, director of user design at Foxconn. By taking on routine tasks, Nurabot allows nurses to focus on essential duties that require their professional expertise and judgment.

Foxconn partnered with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to build the hardware, adapting Kawasaki’s “Nyokkey” service robot model. The robot features multiple cameras and sensors, enabling it to navigate autonomously, and includes a storage space for bottles and vials. NVIDIA provided the core AI and robotics infrastructure, combining multiple proprietary AI platforms to enable independent navigation, task scheduling, and response to verbal and physical cues.

Addressing Global Healthcare Challenges

The world's elderly population is growing rapidly, with the number of people aged 60 and over expected to increase by 40% by 2030. Southeast Asia is anticipated to be one of the regions most affected by healthcare workforce shortages. AI-enhanced systems like Nurabot can provide significant time and cost savings, according to Rick Kwan, associate dean at Tung Wah College in Hong Kong.

“AI-assisted robots can really replace some repetitive work, and save lots of manpower,” says Kwan. However, he highlights challenges such as patient preference for human interaction and the need for infrastructure changes in hospitals. “You can look at the hospitals in Hong Kong: very crowded and everywhere is very narrow, so it doesn’t really allow robots to travel around,” he adds.

Safety and Ethical Considerations

Safety is a paramount concern, both in terms of physical risks and the development of ethical and data protection protocols. Kwan advocates for a cautious approach, allowing for rigorous testing and assessment. “Hospitals are designed around human needs and systems, and if robots are to become central to the workflow, this will need to be reimagined in hospital design going forward,” he explains.

Robots in Healthcare: A Growing Trend

Robots are not new to the healthcare sector. Surgical robots like da Vinci have been in use for decades, improving accuracy during operations. In Singapore, Changi General Hospital currently employs over 80 robots to assist with administrative work and medicine delivery. In the United States, nearly 100 “Moxi” autonomous healthcare bots, built by Texas-based Diligent Robots with NVIDIA’s AI platforms, carry medications, samples, and supplies across hospital wards.

As the healthcare industry continues to face staffing and efficiency challenges, AI-powered solutions like Nurabot are poised to play a crucial role in enhancing patient care and alleviating the burden on healthcare workers.

References

1. Could AI nursing robots help healthcare staffing shortages? | CNN Business