Issues in the Development of Conversation Dialog for Humanoid Nursing Partner Robots in Long-Term Care

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the issues of development of conversational dialog of robots for nursing, especially for long-term care, and to forecast humanoid nursing partner robots (HNRs) introduced into clinical practice. In order to satisfy the required performance of HNRs, it is important that anthropomorphic robots act with high-quality conversational dialogic functions. As for its hardware, by allowing independent range of action and degree of freedom, the burden of quality exerted in human-robot communication is reduced, thereby unburdening nurses and professional caregivers. Furthermore, it is critical to develop a friendlier type of robot by equipping it with non-verbal emotive expressions that older people can perceive. If these functions are conjoined, anthropomorphic intelligent robots will serve as possible instructors, particularly for rehabilitation and recreation activities of older people. In this way, more than ever before, the HNRs will play an active role in healthcare and in the welfare fields.