Robot dog HELIA aims to make everyday life in hospitals easier

Four-legged, red, made of aluminum – and "the new colleague" on the ward: HELIA is the name of the robot dog that has been shuffling through the hallways of the Dermatology Clinic at Würzburg University Hospital (UKW) on a trial basis since early 2026. In the future, it is intended to relieve doctors and nurses of tedious routine tasks – such as accompanying them on rounds, documenting findings, and transporting items.

A multimedia report on the first robot dog in a German hospital ward.

HELIA arrived at the university hospital and was able to walk and climb stairs, but he didn’t have any arms yet. That changed three months ago. Helia first received an arm so he could better assist with the work at the hospital. However, due to the shift in his center of gravity, HELIA had to learn to walk on his own again. He has since mastered that as well.

HELIA isn’t yet an independent colleague, but rather an XXL-sized remote-controlled toy car: Every movement is initiated via a controller by a person operating the robot. That’s set to change. In the future, HELIA will simply listen and understand what you want it to do — made possible by a language model (LLM) that translates spoken instructions directly into commands. The key feature: The dog learns a task simply by having it explained to it, rather than having every single step painstakingly programmed. But we’re not quite there yet.

Prof. Dr. Astrid Schmieder, senior attending physician in dermatology and a member of the team from the very beginning, explains what HELIA sparked during its debut at the hospital.

According to Schmieder, medical professionals have high expectations — many hope that HELIA will provide noticeable relief in their daily work. However, she says reality hasn’t quite caught up yet: The robot first needs to be programmed, and in her estimation, it will still take several years before technology like HELIA can actually provide relief.

A robot moving among people is not merely a technical issue. That is why, at HELIA, medical professionals from the UKW collaborate with experts in robotics (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT) and computer science (FZI Research Center for Information Technology). In addition, the team receives support and critical feedback from the Ethics Division (Jülich Research Center).

Under the acronym ELSA (Ethical, Legal, and Social Aspects), the Jülich Research Center raises uncomfortable but important questions: What security risks arise if such a flexible system could be misused or reprogrammed? Who is actually responsible when an AI makes a decision, and how transparent must that decision be? Data protection is also on the list. Added to this is the practical perspective: How much trust do patients — especially vulnerable groups — actually place in a robot, and how does that affect the relationship between them and medical staff?

In addition to these fundamental questions, Schmieder points to very practical hurdles: Before a robot like HELIA can be routinely deployed on a ward, appropriate regulations, safety certifications, and CE certification are required — processes that take time but are essential.

Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs from the Jülich Research Center sums up the overarching goal: HELIA should be beneficial without posing a risk — and should alleviate the workload without creating new inequalities in care.

Schmieder describes collaborating with experts from different disciplines as a huge benefit — she constantly gains new perspectives from these people, including for her day-to-day medical practice. It didn’t go entirely smoothly from the start: Each discipline has its own technical jargon, so they first had to learn to understand one another — complete with the occasional puzzled look on both sides. Now, however, the collaboration is not only efficient but also genuinely enjoyable, according to Schmieder: The team was simply lucky to have found each other.

In closing, Prof. Schmieder herself explains why she is committed to this forward-looking project right now, despite all the unanswered questions, and how she views the role of robotics in medicine as a whole.