Development of Spiral-Movement Robot to Reduce Anxiety Among Pediatric Patients

Abstract

It is necessary to reduce the stress level among patients hospitalized in pediatric wards since elevated stress levels can lead to treatment rejection or unnecessary nurse calls, which can increase the nursing workload. In particular, the cribs used by pediatric patients are surrounded by a tall rail to prevent falls, which can increase the patient’s sense of isolation or anxiety. In this study, we developed a robot designed to operate in these cribs, with the objective of reducing the sense of isolation or anxiety experienced by hospitalized children. The developed robot is a spiral-movement robot, capable of moving up and down the rail pole as well as moving from pole to pole. Experiments were carried out, and they confirmed the robot’s mobile capabilities.