Robotic Nursing Assistant (RNA)

Hospitals are currently facing significant staffing crises, especially a shortage of immediate care personnel such as nurses. As a result of this shortage, the number of work-related injuries continues to increase primarily due to more work shifts, mandatory overtime, the increasing patient weight, and the aging nursing population. To address this issue, this project proposes to develop and implement a prototype Robotic Nursing Assistant (RNA) to assist nurses with patient lifting and transport responsibilities. Our goal in creating the RNA is to match or exceed the performance of existing patient moving technologies, including portable and overhead hoist and stand assist lifts. Our system will be an extremely portable lifting system capable of working anywhere within the hospital, operating at heights from floor to bed level, and able to be used by multiple trained personnel. In Phase I, several preliminary designs of varying complexity were developed, and various intuitive control strategies were tested for the user interface. Our goals in Phase II are to design a working prototype of the RNA system, work with industry experts to develop intuitive control interfaces, and refine the commercialization approach to create a realistic market strategy for the introduction of this technology into hospital settings.