A robot nurse has joined a hospital in Taiwan to ease pressure on overstretched medical staff.
Developed by tech giants Foxconn and NVIDIA, the AI nurse – nicknamed Norabot – is now assisting real nurses by taking over the most physically demanding and repetitive jobs.
The dramatic move comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a shortfall of around 4.5 million nurses in the coming years, due to burnout and huge workloads.
Norabot is already handling tasks at Taichung Hospital, including delivering medications, monitoring fetal health, and carrying wound care supplies.
According to Foxconn, the robot can slash a nurse’s workload by up to 30 per cent.
The bot is equipped with cutting-edge kit, including the FoxBrain smart management system, NVIDIA’s Holoscan and Jetson Orin platforms for real-time processing and Isaac for Healthcare for virtual training. It even features technology from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, known for its robotics expertise.
Foxconn has also unveiled a full suite of AI hospital tools powered by NVIDIA, from digital twins that help plan out hospital layouts, to AI models that monitor vital signs.
Shu-Fang Liu, Deputy Director of Nursing at the hospital, said: “Having a robotic assistant reduces nurses’ physical fatigue and frees up more time to focus on patient care, especially during visiting hours or night shifts when staff are limited.”
Future versions of Norabot are expected to include even more advanced capabilities, such as numerous languages, facial recognition, and physical support to help move or assist patients.
