IALH Research Fellows Andre W. Kushniruk and Elizabeth M. Borycki have co-authored a new scoping review entitled The NAO Robot in Healthcare and Education: A Scoping Review. Weichen Kuang is the other collaborating author. The review was published in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics.

Abstract:

Humanoid robots, designed to resemble the human form, are increasingly becoming an integral technology used in healthcare and education. This paper focuses on the NAO robot, which is engineered with advanced capabilities such as speech recognition, facial expression analysis, and complex motor functions. These features enable NAO to interact with humans more naturally and intuitively. The NAO robot’s versatility allows it to assist in therapeutic settings, enhance learning experiences, and provide emotional support. This scoping review describes the ways in which NAO robots’ have developed for their application and implementation in healthcare and education from a human factors perspective. Findings revealed an increasing range of applications of the robot in healthcare for supporting well-being management, social communication with children, engagement and learning about health, as well as monitoring and supporting healthcare for the elderly and the frail.

To read the full review, see https://doi.org/10.3233/shti250115