1. Proposing robotics nursing
Robotics nursing is “nursing that realizes the development and equipping of a nurse robot that is familiar to humans based on robotics that involves robot design, manufacture and control.” For example, a robot nurse with AI functions can engage in such nursing tasks as measurement of vital signs, etc., thereby reducing the workload on human nurses while raising their efficiency, making them able to focus on tasks nurses should do. The nursing is people-oriented services with high communications skills and holistic approaches. Nursing tasks that require a nurse to view humans must be conducted by a human, and nursing professionals will survive in the age of AI. Nursing professionals are essential workers.
An electronic person is “the legal status of a robot equipped with AI.” In the case a robot is bestowed with intelligent autonomous decision-making, or can independently engage in mutual interaction with a third party, an electronic person will be applied to it. In the future, it will be necessary to resolve such problems related to robot ethics or responsibility. For example, in the case of a robot nurse becoming involved in an incident or accident, who should be held responsible?
2. Online nursing by means of avatar nurses
An avatar is “a digital clone of a person in a virtual space on a network.” An avatar robot is “a robot that is realized in the real world by means of the virtual existence of an avatar.” A human remotely operates the avatar robot, and via what the robot experiences can experience the same thing in his own body. For example, the avatar robot (avatar nurse) placed in the home of a patient acts as the clone of a nursing professional. It can be remotely operated and communicate with the patient or the patient’s family to provide online nursing.
3. The new reality created by XR and its possibility
XR (X Reality) is “cyberspace technology comprehensively expressed through VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and SR (Substitutional Reality).” After web pages (pages viewable on the World Wide Web using a browser) and SNSs (social networking services), XR is expected to become the third huge platform.
XR technology provides a new experience that fuses the real world and virtual world. Differences in terms of the degree of fusion can be found in VR, AR, MR and SR. However, as the borderline between these is vague, XR is the term applied to these multiple new realities.
For example, for nursing students who require practice in bathing, by wearing VR goggles (a head mounted display), will be able to simulate bathing in a virtual bathtub, enabling it to be changed to an actual experience.