Social Robots in Aged Care: Care Staff Experiences and Perspectives on Robot Benefits and Challenges

Abstract

Social robots have the potential to augment the care provided to older adults in residential aged care homes. However, social robots can only be valuable in aged care if care staff successfully incorporate them into their ongoing care practices beyond a limited research period. This study examines the benefits and challenges of using different types of social robots in real-world practices from care staff perspectives. We conducted semi-structured interviews with eleven staff members who have first-hand experience of employing robots in their work. Our findings highlight the entangled relationships among the actors in the older adult/carer/robot triad. We discuss the role of robots in suppor..