Taiwan smart hospital pilots AI-powered robot nurses

Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant known for assembling many of the world’s smartphones, has entered the healthcare robotics market with a new robot designed to support nurses and ease staffing shortages in hospitals around the world.

The company has developed Nurabot, a nursing robot built to take over routine tasks such as medication delivery and specimen transport. Foxconn partnered with NVIDIA to power the robot using advanced AI hardware and software, and it is already being tested at Taiwan’s Taichung Veterans General Hospital (TCVGH), with plans to roll out dozens more before the end of the year.

The timing is critical, as the World Health Organization warns that the global healthcare system faces a shortage of 4.5 million nurses by 2030.

From iPhones to IVs

Foxconn is applying its large-scale electronics manufacturing experience to healthcare. The company’s approach mirrors its smartphone assembly expertise, where precision timing and quality control are paramount. Foxconn’s “three-computer solution” involves training AI models on supercomputers, testing them in virtual simulations, and then deploying the system on edge devices installed in hospitals.

Hospitals participating in the pilot programs have created detailed digital replicas of their nursing stations and patient wards, so the nurse robots can learn to navigate hospital layouts and rehearse their routines before entering real patient care settings. This virtual training approach allows for extensive testing without disrupting actual patient care.

The nurse robot will see you now

Nurabot operates using FoxBrain, a large language model developed by Foxconn using NVIDIA’s AI framework and trained on the company’s supercomputing infrastructure. This allows the robot to understand and respond to spoken commands from staff and patients. Unlike basic service robots that follow predetermined routes, Nurabot can adapt to changing hospital conditions and communicate naturally.

During visiting hours, the nursing robots help guide patients and visitors through hospital wards, freeing up nurses to focus on patient care during busy hours. During night shifts, when hospitals operate with reduced staffing, they can assist with routine monitoring and transport tasks that would otherwise require pulling nurses away from direct patient care. Hospital administrators estimate the robots could reduce nurses’ workloads by up to 30 percent, particularly valuable given chronic staff shortages.

The robots are also being tested for more advanced roles that involve working closely with clinical staff. Future versions could assist with patient mobility, potentially allowing one nurse to safely move patients who currently require two staff members. This capability could be especially valuable in rehabilitation settings where patients are frequently moved.

Smart hospitals get smarter

The nursing robots are just one component of Foxconn’s comprehensive smart hospital initiative. The company is also developing healthcare-specific AI models through its CoDoctor platform, targeting diagnostic applications including vital sign monitoring, retinal imaging, arrhythmia screening, and cancer detection.

Foxconn is working with medical centers to roll out AI-powered video tools that track clinical activity in real time, alert staff to urgent issues, and generate visual summaries for administrators. These systems can identify potential safety hazards or emergency situations that might otherwise go unnoticed during busy periods.

Foxconn has also developed CoroSegmentater, an AI model for coronary artery segmentation that it’s contributing to MONAI, an open-source medical imaging platform. The model analyzes 3D medical images to help with diagnosis, surgical planning, and patient education. By contributing to open-source platforms, Foxconn aims to accelerate broader adoption of AI in medical imaging.

First Taiwan, then the world

Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Baishatun Tung Hospital, and Cardinal Tien Hospital are among the institutions participating in trials of Foxconn’s smart hospital solutions. TCVGH, recognized as one of the world’s top 100 smart hospitals, has been seeking new technologies to address staffing challenges.

Hospitals are tracking both patient outcomes and operational efficiency during these trials. Initial reactions from nurses have been encouraging, with reports that the robots reduce physical fatigue and free up time for patient care. Patients say their experiences with the robots have been helpful and even reassuring in some cases, with many expressing curiosity about the technology.

Can robots shoulder the load?

Foxconn’s biggest challenge will be showing that its robots can boost efficiency without sacrificing the quality of care. While Foxconn’s manufacturing background provides advantages in scaling and quality control, healthcare presents unique challenges around safety, regulation, and human interaction that don’t exist in electronics production.

Regulatory approval processes for medical devices are far more complex than consumer electronics, requiring extensive safety testing and clinical validation. Cultural acceptance also varies significantly between regions, with some healthcare systems being more receptive to automation than others.

Success could establish Foxconn as a major healthcare technology company. Failure would underscore how difficult it is to transfer manufacturing expertise to the complex realities of patient care. The Taiwan trials will show whether robots can actually help solve healthcare’s staffing crisis, and the results could shape how hospitals worldwide think about adopting robotic assistance.