Nurse-Led Design and Prototype Development of a Smart Care Robot to Support Mental Well-Being in Nursing and Health...

Smart care robots are rarely developed for younger adults, particularly nursing and health care students, and seldom integrate nursing expertise into design.

This study aimed to describe the codesign and proof-of-concept development of a nurse-led smart care robot to support students' emotional well-being and mental health, and to examine its relevance as an educational innovation in nursing.

Nurses and technology experts collaboratively developed a first-generation prototype using a multilayered artificial intelligence architecture. The robot incorporated voice-based companionship, emotion recognition, personalized supportive content, social connection, unobtrusive psychological assessment, and gamified counseling activities.

The prototype showed feasibility in delivering responsive, student-centered emotional support through multilingual communication and emotion-sensitive interaction, with potential to complement existing strategies for addressing loneliness, stress, and psychological well-being.

This nurse-led smart care robot represents a promising innovation in nursing education. Further usability, acceptability, and effectiveness testing is warranted.