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Robot Reality Check: Clinical Test Environments for Social Robotics

Physical Consulting Virtual
Unique Identifier: f07814a9-a87a-4353-a168-7424cb5d2c61

Service Description

Who Can Benefit: - Robotics Companies: For testing and validating social robots and speech-enabled systems in realistic clinical environments before market entry. - AI & NLP Developers: For evaluating natural language interfaces on physical robotic platforms in real healthcare workflows. - Healthcare Institutions: For assessing how robotic systems perform in their specific clinical contexts before committing to procurement. - Research Groups: For conducting HRI studies in controlled yet realistic hospital settings with access to clinical staff and infrastructure.

Equipment / Robotics Platforms: - SoftBank Robotics Pepper humanoid social robot designed for increased engagement with the patient via expressive upper body mechanics. - Temi mobile service robot designed for telepresence, guidance, and information delivery as well as conversational interactions.

Key Features: - Access to a dedicated Real-Lab (Reallabor) providing hardware and clinical test environments for evaluating robotic systems in healthcare settings - Testing of NLP/speech-enabled robots in realistic clinical workflows with actual healthcare personnel - Evaluation infrastructure for both controlled laboratory experiments and in-situ ward-level assessments - Multi-disciplinary support combining robotics engineering, clinical expertise, and social science perspectives

Possible Applications: - Ward Assistant Robot Testing: Evaluating mobile robots designed to support nursing staff with logistics, information delivery, or patient guidance in realistic hospital corridors and wards. - Speech Interface Validation: Testing natural language dialogue systems on robotic platforms in noisy, dynamic clinical environments to assess robustness and usability. - Staff Relief Assessment: Quantifying the cognitive, physical, and time-based relief potential of robotic systems for medical personnel through structured pilot studies. - Patient Interaction Evaluation: Assessing how patients (across age groups, health conditions, and tech literacy) respond to and interact with social robots in clinical settings. - Workflow Integration Testing: Evaluating how robotic systems integrate into existing clinical workflows without disruption, including edge cases and failure scenarios. - Multi-Robot Coordination: Testing multiple robotic systems operating simultaneously in shared clinical spaces.

Who We Are: The Fraunhofer Insitute for Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer IIS) has established the Center for Sensor Technology and Digital Medicine (CEMDIS) in cooperation with the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) to enhance modern healthcare through innovative sensor technology and digital solutions. This center focuses on integrating innovative medical technologies such as wearables and robotic systems to support medical diagnostics, patient monitoring and evaluating patient-specific therapies by providing digital health solutions für real-life healthcare. Located at the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, it offers unique infrastructures for the development, integration, and validation of novel health technologies, providing companies opportunities for technological advancements. For more information, visit the Fraunhofer IIS website.

Keywords: human-AI collaboration Real-World Data Social Robotics Healthcare Robotics Clinical Test Environment Robot Evaluation
TEF-Health Use Case Domain: all
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Provider & Contact

Provider Organisation Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung Ev (Fraunhofer)
Provider Country Germany
Organisation Website https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/de/ff/sse/health/forschungsprojekte/projekt-regina.html
Published Email dhs-studien@iis.fraunhofer.de

Pricing is available to registered users. SMEs receive significant state-aid reductions (GBER) — or, depending on the call, free services during the funded project. Sign in or register to see the price for your organisation.

Operational Details

Service Inputs - Robotic System / Prototype: only required if specialized Platform is desired (Pepper and temi platforms can be provided) - Use Case Description / Intended Use Description - Evaluation Criteria and Performance Indices - AI Algorithm for Validation: including required documentation for validation - System Specifications / Known Limitations - Risk Assessment (can also be performed via the service provision)
Service Outputs - Test Protocol & Study Design: structured evaluation plan tailored to the robot and clinical use case - Real-Lab Execution Protocol: supervised testing sessions in clinical and/or laboratory environments - Evaluation Report for HMI: comprehensive results including quantitative metrics and qualitative user feedback - Workflow Impact Analysis: Assessment of how the system affects clinical workflows, efficiency and staff workload
Dependencies & Restrictions - Safety Clearence: customer / SME provided systems must meet minimum safety requirements before study is performed - System Maturity: safetey clearance requires that the platform and evaluated algorithms have reached the necessary maturity as to not endanger subjects or is otherwise confined to laboratory setup - Liability: lies with the sponsor of the study, which is the customer / SME
Comments - The infrastructure is designed to serve as a central test hub for NLP-enabled robotic systems across multiple research consortia. - Testing can range from short-term usability sessions (days) to longer-term integration pilots (weeks/months) depending on scope.

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