Orientational Knowledge in the Adoption and Use of Robots in Care Services

Abstract

Abstract Health and welfare technology are expected to help people live independent and healthy lives, including contributing to elderly care. Robots have gained more cognitive functions and improved safety, which makes it possible to use them to provide new types of services. Although care robots have great potential for health and welfare, their application proves challenging. A lack of knowledge is a major barrier to the use of robots in care. This chapter’s authors examine knowledge and knowledge building as a central perspective when introducing, using, and assessing care robots. In their research synopsis, they focus on the micro, meso, and macro levels related to care robot use while unveiling a more systemic view of the issue of its related orientation—a tangible example of the multi-faceted encounter of knowledge and technology. They propose focusing on orientation to care robot use as the continuous co-creative process of introduction to technology use and its familiarization, including the learning of multi-faceted knowledge and skills for its effective use. With this perspective, the authors emphasize the processes and actions that take place among orientation givers and receivers at different levels. The societal-level actors—such as business and industry, public administration, and the non-profit sector, the media, and other stakeholders in the related innovation ecosystem—should not be overlooked.