Acceptance of assistive robots in the field of nursing and healthcare : Representative data show a clear picture for Germany

Abstract

In view of the ageing society and the high costs of support and care in private households, the question arises as to what role assistive robots can play. This article focuses on the extent to which robots in nursing are accepted by the adult population in Germany today, as well as the extent to which gender, age, and experience (professional and private) influence this level of acceptance. The analysis carried out for this purpose was based on three representative surveys conducted among atotal of over 7000 respondents. Of these surveys two were conducted in the second half of 2017 on behalf of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) and the life insurance company ERGO, while the third was commissioned by the German Council of Economic Experts (SVRV) in the spring of 2018. An in-depth and cumulative analysis of these surveys and data sets, which the authors helped to design, with respect to assistive robotics has not yet been published. Despite the different application scenarios for assistive care robots, the results of all three surveys are surprisingly consistent: in Germany there is already asignificant minority of people who are open to, and would accept nursing care robots as long as they do not replace but rather support traditional human nursing. Roughly one third of the sample differentiated according to age and gender, fundamentally rejected assistance by robots.