^{Photo: CNN}

Global Health Care Workforce Challenges

Health care systems worldwide are facing a critical shortage of nurses, with the World Health Organization projecting a deficit of 4.5 million nurses by 2030. Nurses are already under significant stress: roughly one-third report experiencing burnout, emotional exhaustion, and high turnover rates.

Simultaneously, the world’s aging population is placing additional pressure on hospitals. By 2030, the population aged 60 and over is expected to grow by 40% compared to 2019, with the number of people aged 80 and above predicted to surpass the number of newborns. Southeast Asia is expected to experience some of the most severe workforce gaps, further straining health care systems.

Introducing Nurabot: AI-Powered Nursing Assistance

To address these challenges, Foxconn, the Taiwanese tech giant, has developed Nurabot, an autonomous humanoid nursing robot. Designed to handle repetitive and physically demanding tasks—such as delivering medications, transporting samples, and guiding patients—Nurabot can reduce nurses’ workloads by up to 30%.

Alice Lin, director of user design at Foxconn, emphasizes that Nurabot is intended to augment, not replace, human nurses, allowing professionals to focus on critical patient care and clinical judgment. The robot took just 10 months to develop and has been undergoing tests in Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan since April 2025. Foxconn is planning a commercial launch in early 2026, though retail pricing has not yet been announced.

AI Integration and Technological Features

Foxconn partnered with Kawasaki Heavy Industries to develop Nurabot’s hardware, adapting the “Nyokkey” autonomous service robot model. The bot moves on wheels, uses robotic arms to lift and carry items, and is equipped with multiple cameras and sensors for navigation and object recognition.

AI enables Nurabot to communicate naturally, schedule tasks, and respond to verbal and physical cues. Foxconn’s proprietary Chinese language model powers communication, while NVIDIA provides the core AI infrastructure, allowing the robot to perceive, reason, and act in ways that mimic human adaptability. Virtual hospital simulations accelerated development and testing, ensuring Nurabot can safely navigate real-world hospital environments.

Benefits and Early Results

Initial testing shows Nurabot reducing daily nursing workloads by 20–30%. The robot has been piloting on wards treating lung, face, and neck conditions, including lung cancer and asthma. By taking on repetitive tasks, Nurabot frees nurses for higher-value clinical work, which experts say could save time, reduce burnout, and optimize hospital efficiency.

Rick Kwan, associate dean at Tung Wah College in Hong Kong, highlights the potential: “AI-assisted robots can really replace repetitive work and save lots of manpower,” but he also stresses infrastructure and safety challenges. Hospitals, often crowded and narrow, may require redesigns to accommodate autonomous robots safely. Ethical protocols and data protection also remain key concerns.

The Growing Role of Robots in Health Care

Nurabot is part of a broader trend. Hospitals worldwide are increasingly deploying robots: Singapore’s Changi General Hospital operates over 80 robots handling administrative tasks and medicine delivery, while Texas-based Diligent Robots has nearly 100 “Moxi” bots operating in U.S. hospitals.

While studies show potential efficiency gains, challenges persist. Technical malfunctions, communication hurdles, and training requirements can limit effectiveness, and patient acceptance of robot interaction varies.

A Booming Market for Smart Hospitals

The smart hospital sector is expanding rapidly, projected at $72.24 billion in 2025, with the Asia-Pacific region as the fastest-growing market. Companies like Amazon, Google, NVIDIA, and Foxconn are investing heavily in AI-driven hospital technology, aiming to improve workflow efficiency, reduce costs, and tackle the growing demand for health care services.

Nurabot represents a step toward blending AI innovation with patient-centered care, providing a practical solution to staffing shortages while preparing hospitals for an aging global population. Lin concludes, “Nurabot can help alleviate the problems caused by an aging society and hospitals losing talent,” signaling a new era of collaboration between human nurses and intelligent machines.