MINA: Multitasking Intelligent Nursing Aid robotic system

Abstract

Nurses play vital roles in healthcare and make up the largest section of health professions. Registered Nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care and educate patients and the public about health conditions. In the U.S., there are more than 3.8 million RNs nationwide. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of RNs is estimated to grow 12% from 2018-2028. We envision the future of work for RNs to be enhanced by a Multitasking Intelligent Nurse Aid (MINA) robotic system. Our goal is to use MINA to augment RNs by performing non-critical tasks such as fetching and carrying supplies, or taking contactless vital signs, and providing information, communication, confidence and as-needed help.

Through our initial interviews with nurses, we have identified several tasks of high importance. We are currently focusing our efforts on two tasks:

Fetching supplies, objects, food, and water for patients' room and carrying supplies necessary for nurse's work.
helping patients walk by carrying Intravenous therapy (IV) and monitoring various gait/walking parameters.

Fig 1: Preliminary setup of the robot. Here, we have mounted a 7 degree of freedom Franka Emika panda arm to the ridgeback mobile base at UTARI.

Research Team

Prof. Fillia Makedon (PI)	Dr. Nicholas Gans (Co-PI)	Dr. Muthu Wijesundara (Co-PI)
Dr. Deborah F Behan (Co-PI)	Dr. George Simens (Co-PI)	Dr. Donald Hicks (Co-PI)
Dr. Matthew Brown (Co-PI)	Dr. Maria Kyrarini (SP)
Akilesh Rajavenkatanarayanan Ph.D. Student - UTA	Harish Ram Nambiappan Ph.D. Student - UTA	Jackson Liler Ph.D. Student - UTA
Mohammadreza Davoodi Research Scientist III - UTARI	Cody Lundberg Research Engineer II - UTARI	Michael Araujo Research Scientist II - UTARI