Advancing Healthcare Through Intelligent Human-Robot Collaboration: Overview, Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Integrating intelligent robots into healthcare environments promises to revolutionise patient care, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. This paper reviews the current state of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) in healthcare, highlighting significant advancements and challenges. It provides a comprehensive overview of critical terminologies and concepts, reviews the latest robotics technologies, and explores their potential to enhance healthcare delivery. Our review reveals substantial opportunities for robots to augment healthcare professionals, improve patient monitoring, and manage repetitive or physically demanding tasks. We also discuss the critical challenges of ensuring patient safety, maintaining privacy and data security, addressing ethical considerations, and overcoming technical limitations such as interoperability and adaptability in diverse healthcare settings. By examining recent studies and innovations, this paper identifies emerging trends and suggests future directions for research and development in HRC within the healthcare sector.