Text: Susanne Togeby, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translation: LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs.
Photos: Kristina Tornbjerg Eriksen (private) 

Robots have made their entry into several hospitals in Denmark. They perform tasks previously performed by porters, such as transporting blood samples, service ware and linen between departments. 

According to the recommendations of the Danish Resilience Commission that Søren Brostrøm presented in the autumn, new technologies must be the first choice for solving tasks in the healthcare system. So robots are likely to be even more common in hospitals in the future. 
 
There's just one problem: the self-driving robots do not run all by themselves, as is shown in a PhD project done by Kristina Tornbjerg Eriksen, Aalborg University. She studied the relationship between humans and robots at three Danish hospitals and analysed how the robots actually function in hospital day-to-day life. 

"There is a big gap between our idealized notion of robots and the way they work in practice. Our ideas about robots often stem from science fiction, but the mobile robots we encounter in hospitals in Denmark look markedly different and are not particularly smart. It is incredibly important to identify the gaps between what we think robots will do and what they can actually do," says Kristina Tornbjerg Eriksen. 

Simple tasks can get complicated when a robot takes over 

The mobile robots in hospitals cannot perform tasks on their own or function without human support. Their lack of independent abilities means that they often get stuck if they encounter obstacles in their path. Even the most basic routines that may seem simple to a person – like moving a thing from A to B – can get complicated when a robot is involved. 

Another challenge is that the robots are developed for industry with many more automated processes and large warehouses with plenty of space. Robots work well in an environment where everything is timed and organized to the smallest detail. But that is not the case in a hospital where things are much less structured. An emergency patient may suddenly come out of an elevator, a bed may be crooked in the hallway, or a scooter may stand and block the robot's ability to pass. The robots are not designed to deal with such situations. 
 
Hospital corridors are often not wide enough for robots that require more space than people. This means that staff are sometimes delayed in their work because there is no room for them to pass robots that, for safety reasons, move quite slowly. 

Humans must support robots in order for robots to support humans 

The collaboration between robots can work so poorly that it is easier for the staff to do things themselves, says Kristina Tornbjerg Eriksen, who has even seen examples of sabotaging robots to prevent the robots, for example, getting in people’s way. 

The robots do not necessarily relieve the hospital staff – on the contrary, she says: 
 
"It is tempting for hospital management to purchase robots as a solution to a healthcare system under pressure, but it is difficult to get robots to function optimally. In reality, it requires a lot from the people who have to work with the robots, and they are not automatically a relief. If robots are not supported, there is actually a risk that they will increase the workload of hospital staff.” 
 
In some hospitals, staff have even been given more tasks after robots have been implemented where the robots turn out to have created more of the type of tasks they were installed to remedy. The robots are intended to save staff from long walks in the hospital, but in some cases staff are forced to follow on the heels of the robots to ensure that they perform the tasks they are assigned. 

It is therefore extremely important, says Kristina Tornbjerg Eriksen, that hospital management designate who is responsible for the robots, who takes care of maintenance and gets them up and running again if they break down. 

Recommendations for successful human-robot collaboration