Robot nurses have arrived and they could soon take over hospitals, changing healthcare forever
They say bedside manner is a crucial skill medical staff need to learn when caring for sick patients, but does the same apply for robots?
We might soon find out as the future of nursing could be set to include help from artificial intelligence.
This comes after GSMA Foundry partnered with Singapore’s National University Health System (NUHS) in order to develop and deploy healthcare applications using both AI and 5G connectivity.
One of the innovations created is the intelligent robot nurse companion, which is designed to use real-time data in order to carry out clinical tasks.
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The robot is currently being showcased at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, and will be able to navigate hospital wards autonomously, deliver medicines to patients, monitor patients with sensors, and support clinical staff with other tasks.
The robot comes with a screen that displays a happy face - although I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.
Robots appear to be a hot ticket item for MWC this year as China Mobile also showcased their own AI bots that could take over the day-to-day of restaurant service.
At their booth, the robots can be seen pouring drinks and selecting food from the fridge.
If successful, eager diners could soon walk into restaurants and be shown to their table by an AI-powered server, before a robotic chef prepares their meal.
HONOR also unveiled its first humanoid bot at its launch event ahead of MWC, where the robot was joined by live dancers in which it led a choreographed routine without so much of a stumble - even executing the perfect back flip.
Of course, it’s not known whether these acts were autonomous or if the robot was being controlled by a human, but the engineering behind the bot is still very impressive.
It hasn’t been revealed yet when this product will be made available to buy but the humanoid robot was later joined onstage by the Robot Phone, and HONOR has an important update on this device.
The company confirmed that the futuristic device will be in the hands of consumers this year, with a release window given for the second half of 2026.
If the concept videos are to be believed, the robot could become its user’s companion, offering human-like interactions including head nods and shakes.
One thing’s for sure - AI will remain at the forefront of the industry’s focus for the foreseeable future.