Furthermore, the rapid advances in robotics may be difficult to understand for the public, with negative perceptions and overestimated expectations that should be clarified. However, this evolution will also create new dangers and responsibilities that need to be elucidated and contained. Robotic technologies are progressing fast, continuously delivering new and powerful technologies creating new opportunities for people and potentially able to transform the society in the near future. INBOTS ( 3) project aimed to coordinate and support relevant efforts in the field that covers those robots that are in close proximity and interact with a person, the main goal of the project was to create a community hub bringing together experts from different and complementary fields to debate and create a responsible research and innovation paradigm for Interactive Robotics and therefore to provide a platform establishing a working synergy between the main pillars covering the main stakeholders. VDI/VDE-IT Innovation + Technik GmbH (VDI/VDE-IT) DE Otto Bock Healthcare Products GmbH (OBHP)Ĭonsultants and authorities (facilitators)įundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation (TECNALIA) ES Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH)Įuropean Lab for educational technology (EDUMOTIVA)Īgencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) Scuola Superiore de Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento Sant'Anna (SSSA) Data collection was carried out by stakeholders representing 14 European universities and research laboratories, six businesses and five facilitators ( Table 1). The study is part of the European Commission-funded Horizon 2020 project Inclusive robotics for a better society-INBOTS, and more specifically, seeks to promote uptake of robotics in the field of health. Thus, the current study constitutes a step between pure speculation and studies into how robots are used in real life. This paper does not seek to answer questions about the contextualization of robots in real life, but rather presents the perspectives of researchers and companies that provide robot applications which have reached the stage of being full commercial applications, i.e., technology available for consumers. The evaluation we present in this work, being made by stakeholders, rather than end users, gives a well-founded assessment of solutions that have reached the level of robot applications already implemented or about to be implemented. We have come a long way in developing robots, but where are we in terms of implementing them in “real life” outside of research laboratories and factories? What is missing that prevents products with high technology readiness from being adopted? And where in the health sector are interactive robots already being used? The goal of the analysis is to understand how we can increase the social uptake of robots and what prevents this. Secondly, an assessment of adoption potential is made based on Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovation ( 2): this theory assumes that just because an application is deemed technology ready valued by manufacturers or researchers, it does not mean that it will be adopted by users. The purpose of the study is, firstly, to assess the relationship between technology readiness and adoption with respect to several products in the health sector, using the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale, which traces the path of innovation from ideas, tests, and demonstrations of prototypes to commercialization and procurements ( 1). In this paper, the term “interactive robots” refers to robots close to individual users and which work in direct interaction with the individual. More specifically, rather than discussing about their usefulness for certain target groups, the paper seeks to answer the questions on what is available, and why some robots are not adopted despite high technical maturity, i.e., those that are already implemented or are about to be implemented in a social context. This paper investigates the social uptake of interactive robots in the healthcare sector in Europe.
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