公視台語台’s program 《台灣新眼界》 aired a special feature titled 〈AI智慧輔具好助手〉 (“AI Assistive-Tech Helpers”) on August 3, with host 黃鵬仁 touring 板橋榮譽國民之家 — a large veterans’ care facility where residents average over 83 years old and more than 60 digital and smart-care tools are already in use. The segment centers on a smart-care environment where medical treatment and eldercare come together as one: powered lower-limb mobility aids, a smart walker that converts into an electric wheelchair, a waist exoskeleton that eases the strain on caregivers, circadian lighting, and zero-contact vital-sign monitoring. The black robot gliding through the halls on camera — delivering supplies by day, running overnight rounds by night — is the autonomous mobile robot Sigma Robotics integrated and deployed.
(The embed starts right at the Sigma robot segment, 22:08; the full feature also covers exoskeletons, the smart walker, and other assistive devices.)
”Do You Have a Robot Vacuum Here?”
The show’s most entertaining moment: the host spots a flat black machine in the common room and asks, “Do you have a robot vacuum here?” 板橋榮家 director 陳桂美 laughs and corrects him — in Taiwanese, “早起的時陣，伊是物送員” (“By day, it’s our delivery guy”): during the day it carries a cargo rack, delivering diapers, towels, tube-feeding formula, and other care supplies to residents’ rooms. When it reaches a glass automatic door, the door slides open on its own to let it through — no escort needed.
“暗時仔就變成咱的守門員” (“By night, it becomes our watchman”): after dark, the same chassis swaps in a zero-contact vital-sign monitor, rolling room to room and parking bedside to measure residents’ breathing, heart rate, and sleep state from a distance, while also detecting falls and bed-exits — no wearable required. It folds the night shift’s most labor-intensive routine checks straight into the system.
That’s when it clicks for the host: this vacuum-lookalike isn’t here to clean floors at all — it delivers goods, and it carries a monitor too. Two jobs, one robot.
One Robot, Two Jobs — Giving the Night Shift Its Time Back
The director is quick to praise how the robot dodges on its own — “看著物件，伊家己會閃” (“when it sees something, it steers around it by itself”) — threading between wheelchairs, bed rails, and residents with no one watching over it. This dual-role model — logistics by day, vital-sign rounds by night — is the same deployment 板橋榮家 detailed in its official release back in October 2025: replacing roughly 250 minutes of work a day and freeing up more than 1,500 hours of staff time a year, letting caregivers shift from rushed rounds to more attentive companionship and observation.
The smart-care ecosystem featured in the segment was built jointly by 板橋榮家 and 緯創醫學科技, which also developed the zero-contact vital-sign system. In this division of labor, Sigma’s robot plays the role of “the legs” — carrying supplies to their destination and bringing the sensor to the bedside. That’s consistent with our positioning throughout: the robot handles the moving and the measuring, while every reading is interpreted and every care decision made by nursing staff.
That same “zero-contact rounds, freed-up labor” product line is also undergoing clinical validation at 新營醫院’s nursing home under the nickname “小黑輪” — from north to south, robot night rounds are becoming a familiar sight across Taiwan’s long-term-care facilities.
Source: AI智慧輔具好助手｜台灣新眼界．文化新台灣｜完整版 (公視台語台, 2026-08-03)