ARNA, a Service robot for Nursing Assistance: System Overview and User Acceptability

Abstract

Using robots capable of collaboration with humans to complete physical tasks in unstructured spaces is a rapidly growing approach to work. Particular examples where increased levels of automation can increase productivity include robots used as nursing assistants. In this paper, we present a mobile manipulator designed to serve as an assistant to nurses in patient walking and patient sitting tasks in hospital environments. The Adaptive Robotic Nursing Assistant (ARNA) robot consists of an omnidirectional base with an instrumented handlebar, and a 7-DOF robotic arm. We describe its components and the novelties in its mechanisms and instrumentation. Experiments with human subjects that gauge the usability and ease of use of the ARNA robot in a medical environment indicate that the robot will get significant actual usage, and are used as a basis for a discussion on how the robot's features facilitate its adaptability for use in other scenarios and environment.