ENGINEERS at the University of Warwick are helping to design 'R2D2'-type robo nurses which could be in hospitals by 2020. i-WARD is the name of the £2.6 million collaborative EU funded three-year project.
It stands for Intelligent Robot Swarm for Attendance, Recognition, Cleaning and Delivery.
Professor Vinesh Raja, Professor Fellow of Informatics, at the university's International Manufacturing Centre, said the role of the robots was not to replace nurses but to help carry out basic tasks such as leading a patient to a ward, monitoring security surveillance, delivering drugs to a doctor and cleaning a floor.
He said: "i-Ward would mean hospital staff being able to spend more time with their patients, relieving them from the drudgery of mundane tasks."
Like R2D2 in Star Wars, these robo nurses will have the ability to communicate with other robots.
Professor Raja said: "The robots will be able to talk among themselves. If there is a spillage on ward 27, one robot will communicate with another, saying: 'Who has the cleaning ability?'
"We are working on how a human nurse on a ward will communicate with a robot. Some nurses may use a PDA touchpad PC; others may want to give a voice command."
The tiny mobile robots are made as small and versatile as possible, measuring no more than 50cm x 50cm x 50cm.
They will be equipped with an on-board computer, radio module, optical sensors, loudspeakers and cleaning tools for wiping up spills and disinfecting.
Professor Raja said: "This is an early prototype. We are one year into the project. The shape can change dramatically. This robot has to fit into a healthcare setting and needs to be dressed up so it is accepted.
"At the moment it looks like a machine with lots of wires."
The University of Warwick team is primarily looking at how humans will interact with the robots.
Professor Raja said "A key problem we are working on is what would happen when you put a robot in the hospital corridor and children mistake it for a toy and gather round?
"The robot would have sensors to detect any obstacles and would radio for help."
The professor admits to being a big fan of sci-fi movies.
He said: "I have been involved in virtual reality for a number of years. You watch a film like Star Wars and think: 'How can I make this a reality?'
"It could be that a robot can even support a 'virtual consultancy' between doctor and patient. A doctor can use a camera in the robot to get a view of the patient."
The university is one of 10 European partners from seven countries working on the multi-million-pound research project.
Collaborator Simon Thiel, of Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering in Stuttgart, Germany, said: "We are all big Star Wars fans.
"The idea is that the resulting robots should be quite affordable - 700 euros (£500) rather than 7,000 euros (£5,000)."
At the end of the project, teams of working prototype robots will be sent for practical testing in hospitals.
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