Robots and the Future of Welfare Services (ROSE)

Public description of the goals at the beginning of the project

In post-industrial societies such as Finland the demand for welfare and health services is growing strongly and health and welfare services cover the majority of public expenditure. Service robots are believed to have great potential for the area, increasing productivity and enabling quality improvements and new business through novel services. The application area is nevertheless challenging due to the centrality of ethical, legal and social issues.

ROSE project is a multidisciplinary study how advances in service robotics allow product and service innovation and renewal of welfare services, when such services are developed ethically and jointly with stakeholders. The development is studied on individual, institutional and societal levels, taking into account user needs, ethical issues, technological maturity, and the health care service system.

Public description of the results at the end of the project

The main goal of the "Robots and the future of welfare services " project was to evaluate the possibilities offered by robots and their application in the production of services for older adults, and to evaluate the development of the field. In the project, six Finnish research entities joined forces to do multidisciplinary research on the phenomenon on three levels, from the perspectives of individuals, organizations and society. Experiments and other research in the project have shown that robotics as a technology is still, in many respects, immature for services for older adults and the currently operating applications are limited in their intended use. Primary findings of the project have been summarized in the Finnish Care Robotics Roadmap, which sets out a vision of what is likely to be technically possible in both five and ten years. In order for the benefits of robotics to be realized, the ability of organizations to adopt new technology and integrate it into service production must be supported.