ABSTRACT
The use of care robots feeds our fears of future nursing homes without human staff: we see robots at work at the bedside, efficiently and effectively executing the much-needed physical caring tasks and ignoring the social and emotional needs of the human being lying on that bed. Against a background of an aging population, robots can, however, offer additional “hands-on services” at the bedside. For robots do not suffer from stress, are deployable 24 hours a day, and never forget about providing medication. This image is disliked by a lot of people, because for them the concept of care rubs up against the concept of “technology.” Care stands for attention, warmth, kindness, reciprocity, empathy, and helpfulness. By contrast, technology is associated with effectiveness, efficiency, distance, and impersonality. However, the trends in long-term care indicate that technological innovations are necessary to meet the expected demand in health care. A staffing shortage-due to future aging (see Box 3.1)—is often invoked as an argument for deploying robotics in long-term care. In particular, the growth of the very oldest group (people over the age of 80) will put pressure on care services and will also result in an increase in the demand for various services for the elderly: assisting the elderly or their caregivers in daily tasks, helping to monitor their behavior and health, and providing companionship (Sharkey & Sharkey, 2012).
