Development of smart GPS-based nurse following robot

Abstract

Hospital nurses regularly bring their medicines and healthcare items to the patients using trolley. They need to push or pull the cart to the patient's beds, and then, need to bring it back to the original position many times daily. It can be tiresome for nurses because in a day, they need to treat many patients in the hospital. Thus, many devices have been invented to assist the nurses in their daily work routines. This research is focusing on developing a nurse following mobile robot that follows and carries medical items. The mobile robot is integrated with microcontroller, Global Positioning System (GPS) module, digital compass module and Bluetooth module. To use the robot, the nurse firstly needs to connect her smartphone to the robot through Bluetooth connection. Once the connection is established, the robot will start to follow the nurse. The robot can carry a maximum load of 5 kg and uses two direct current geared motors and a caster wheel to move.