Taichung hospital uses robots to support medical services

台中醫院利用機器人輔助醫療服務

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Twenty AI-powered Aibo robots have been deployed at Taichung Municipal Hospital for Geriatric Rehabilitation and Comprehensive Care to assist medical staff and help address labor shortages in Taiwan’s healthcare sector.

The robot, jointly developed by China Medical University Hospital and EverBot Technology, can assist nursing staff with tasks, including guiding inpatients around the hospital and providing basic health education. It also has environmental monitoring capabilities and can immediately alert the nursing station if someone falls, per UDN.

Aibo supports multiple languages and is equipped with a camera, allowing doctors to conduct telemedicine consultations with patients. Patient information stored by the robot is protected by a firewall to ensure data privacy.

Its AI-powered system learns from each interaction, improving the accuracy of the health information it provides. The robot can respond to questions within three to five seconds, keeping answers to about 80 words to make them easier to understand.

The hospital said the robot’s base uses a self-driving platform with navigation and obstacle-avoidance capabilities, allowing it to move safely in hospital environments.

The hospital added that one AI server can connect with up to 30 Aibo robots simultaneously and link with its information system to consolidate patient records, helping doctors make faster diagnoses.

The hospital has also integrated its self-developed AI-powered system that can read patients’ heart test in ambulances to check for heart attacks. It added that 30 ambulances in Taichung are using the system.

This year, Taichung Veterans General Hospital started using robots made by Foxconn and Nvidia to help deliver medicine and lab samples. MacKay Memorial Hospital also uses robots from Ubitus K.K. to move supplies, keep patients company, and help with registration. Several hospitals in Taiwan have also used robotic arms for cancer treatment and surgery.