An Ecosystem for Heterogeneous Robotic Assistants in Caregiving: Core Functionalities and Use Cases

Abstract

Demographic change and its various implications will offer some of the biggest challenges faced by society and our health-care systems in the coming decades. While the number of people in need of caregiving is steadily growing in most industrial nations, the number of caregivers is not keeping up with this increasing demand. Robotic assistance systems have the potential to mitigate this problem and support caregivers, people in need, and, thus, the healthcare systems in numerous ways.