Expectations and experiences of adopting robots in elderly care in Finland: perspectives of caregivers and decision-makers

Care robotics is a growing field of innovation and commercial robot applications are little by little entering in the daily care work. This study explores the process and criteria of adopting robots in elderly care in Finland. In particular, we are interested in the expectations that decision-makers in care have for robots, how the decision to purchase a robot is made, and which criteria is used to assess the success (or failure) of the robot in real use. We supplement our interview data from two decision-makers with the perspective of caregivers who have experience of taking a robot (Paro) into use in their daily care work. The results indicate that the interest in care robots is shared by decision-makers and care workers but their expectations of suitable applications may vary. The motivation behind the purchase and use of the current applications in dementia nursing homes is related to quality of life and positive PR value (and not to increasing cost-efficiency in elderly care). In practice, the expected benefits of the new applications may not realise due to the requirements of the daily work as well as lack of encouragement and training.