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

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Social robots have the potential to augment the care provided to older adults in residential aged care homes. However, social robots can only be of value in aged care if care staff perceive them as valuable and incorporate them successfully 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 practice from the care staff perspective. 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 supporting a mutually beneficial relationship between care staff and older adults, and how robopets and humanoid robots impact care staff in different ways. Finally, we offer recommendations for the future deployment of robots. We argue that a successful and sustainable deployment of robots in care practice might involve recognizing and promoting positive impacts for both the human parties in the triad, and that the practice of using robots needs to align with the needs and interests of both caregivers and care recipients.