Evaluating the smart transfer assistive robot with dual arms in health care workers.

Purpose The care robots including transfer assistive robots have been developed to solve the shortage of health care workers has arisen by reducing their workload. The task of transferring and lifting older adults in facilities and hospitals is known to demanding physical work and it might be caused a musculoskeletal injury (Davis & Kotowski, 2015; Santaguida et al., 2005). Various transfer assistive equipment and devices have been developed including mechanical lifts and powered or robotic systems. However, not many equipment and devices were used in the Korean market due to inconvenience and dissatisfaction (Kim et al, 2022). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the transfer assistive robot based on the objective and subjective health care workers' health and perceptions in long-term care facilities and hospitals to provide a solution for labor shortage issues. Method Fifteen health care workers (long-term care workers) from long-term care facilities (n=15) and fifteen health care workers (nurses, nurse assistants, paid caregivers, and transferring assistants) from integrated nursing care service hospitals. (n=15) participated in the evaluation of the smart transfer assistive robot. We recruited those who physically transferred older adults or patients as their jobs over the 1 year. Our measurements are RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion), NASA-TLX (NASA Task Load Index), and usability items including satisfaction, manipulability, and stability. Results and Discussion We found out the smart transfer assistive robot with dual arms had a better score with RPE, NASA-TLX, satisfaction, manipulability, and stability than the manual which means health care workers conducted transferring work with dummy without robots. The findings provide that the transfer assistive robots could be the solution to decrease the care work burden and increase the health of health care workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]