Towards Model-driven Enhancement of Safety in Healthcare Robot Interactions

In the continuously evolving landscape of healthcare technology, the evolution of robotics has revolutionized a wide spectrum of services. This situation created a variety of opportunities and challenges. One of the main challenges concerns the interaction of robots with human users and other robots, along with the safety aspect of such interactions. The current paper introduces a project aiming to tackle this challenge, initially via a literature review aiming to explore and structure the domain of robotic interactions in healthcare. Subsequently, the results are conceptualized in a domain meta-model, aiming to establish the foundation for an information system, based on a multi-view modeling approach, with the capabilities to support by documenting and facilitating safer interactions between healthcare robots and external agents. The current study focuses on the safety viewpoint of robotic interaction. The developed model is suitable for initiating the development of the abovementioned system that will use multi-view modeling principles. It is demonstrated in a use case derived from the associated ENDORSE EU project.