“Robots do not replace a nurse with a beating heart”: The publicity around a robotic innovation in elderly care
Information Technology & People
ISSN: 0959-3845
Article publication date: 10 December 2018
Issue publication date: 30 January 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the publicity around the implementation of the Zora robot in elderly-care services in Lahti, Finland. The aim is to discover opinions concerning the use of robots in elderly care as well as the arguments and justifications behind those opinions. Zora is a humanoid robot intended to promote mobility and rehabilitation. The Lahti pilot was the first Zora pilot in Finland in public elderly-care services. It received much publicity, both regionally and nationally.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an empirical case study on the implementation of the Zora robot in elderly-care services. The data consist of interviews with personnel who operated Zora and comments from the general public about the “Zora” robot. Two data sources were used: 107 comments were collected from online and print media, and the personnel (n=39) who worked with Zora were interviewed. The data were analysed by means of interpretative content analysis.
Findings
The results show that public opinion is mainly negative, but that the commentators apparently have little information about the robot and its tasks. The personnel had more positive views; they saw it as a recreational tool, not as a replacement for their own roles.
Originality/value
There is clearly a need for more information, for a better informed discussion on how robots can be used in elderly care and how to involve the general public in this discussion in a constructive way.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland (project name: Robots and the Future of Welfare Services (ROSE), decision numbers: 292,980, 314,180) and the LUT Research Platform on Smart Services for Digitalisation (DIGI-USER). The authors also wish to thank the City of Lahti, Finland, for support.
Citation
Tuisku, O., Pekkarinen, S., Hennala, L. and Melkas, H. (2019), "“Robots do not replace a nurse with a beating heart”: The publicity around a robotic innovation in elderly care", Information Technology & People, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 47-67. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-06-2018-0277
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited