Robotic devices and ICT in long-term care in Japan: Their potential and limitations from a workplace perspective

In light of its rapidly aging society, Japan is pressured to full-heartedly address the labor shortage in long-term care. Among the various policy options currently in discussion, government agencies and business sector representatives agree that robotic devices and information and communication technology (ICT) constitute a suitable countermeasure. However, during our research in Japan in 2019, we found that robotic devices and ICT are only reluctantly being introduced into long-term care facilities. Based on our field visits and interviews as well as supplementary document research, this paper discusses the potential that facility managers ascribe to robotic devices and ICT when it comes to alleviating the labor shortage in the long-term care institutions they run. Of particular interest is the question to what degree the usage of robotic devices and ICT could reduce the physical hardships and mental stress that staff in long-term caregiving experience. This paper will further our understanding of the labor situation in long-term care facilities and contribute to the research field of robotic devices and ICT in Japan’s labor market

Trusting Intentions Towards Robots in Healthcare: A Theoretical Framework

Within the next decade, robots (intelligent agents that are able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence) may become more popular when delivering healthcare services to patients. The use of robots in this way may be daunting for some members of the public, who may not understand this technology and deem it untrustworthy. Others may be excited to use and trust robots to support their healthcare needs. It is argued that (1) context plays an integral role in Information Systems (IS) research and (2) technology demonstrating anthropomorphic or system-like features impact the extent to which an individual trusts the technology. Yet, there is little research which integrates these two concepts within one study in healthcare. To address this gap, we develop a theoretical framework that considers trusting intentions towards robots based on the interaction of humans and robots within the contextual landscape of delivering healthcare services. This article presents a theory-based approach to developing effective trustworthy intelligent agents at the intersection of IS and Healthcare

A systematic review of attitudes, anxiety, acceptance, and trust towards social robots

As social robots become more common, there is a need to understand how people perceive and interact with such technology. This systematic review seeks to estimate people’s attitudes toward, trust in, anxiety associated with, and acceptance of social robots; as well as factors that are associated with these beliefs. Ninety-seven studies were identified with a combined sample of over 13,000 participants and a standardized score was computed for each in order to represent the valence (positive, negative, or neutral) and magnitude (on a scale from 1 to − 1) of people’s beliefs about robots. Potential moderating factors such as the robots’ domain of application and design, the type of exposure to the robot, and the characteristics of potential users were also investigated. The findings suggest that people generally have positive attitudes towards social robots and are willing to interact with them. This finding may challenge some of the existing doubt surrounding the adoption of robotics in social domains of application but more research is needed to fully understand the factors that influence attitudes

Understanding Anthropomorphism in Service Provision: A Meta-Analysis of Physical Robots, Chatbots, and other AI

An increasing number of firms introduce service robots, such as physical robots and virtual chatbots, to provide services to customers. While some firms use robots that resemble human beings by looking and acting humanlike to increase customers’ use intention of this technology, others employ machinelike robots to avoid uncanny valley effects, assuming that very humanlike robots may induce feelings of eeriness. There is no consensus in the service literature regarding whether customers’ anthropomorphism of robots facilitates or constrains their use intention. The present meta-analysis synthesizes data from 11,053 individuals interacting with service robots reported in 108 independent samples. The study synthesizes previous research to clarify this issue and enhance understanding of the construct. We develop a comprehensive model to investigate relationships between anthropomorphism and its antecedents and consequences. Customer traits and predispositions (e.g., computer anxiety), sociodemographics (e.g., gender), and robot design features (e.g., physical, nonphysical) are identified as triggers of anthropomorphism. Robot characteristics (e.g., intelligence) and functional characteristics (e.g., usefulness) are identified as important mediators, although relational characteristics (e.g., rapport) receive less support as mediators. The findings clarify contextual circumstances in which anthropomorphism impacts customer intention to use a robot. The moderator analysis indicates that the impact depends on robot type (i.e., robot gender) and service type (i.e., possession-processing service, mental stimulus-processing service). Based on these findings, we develop a comprehensive agenda for future research on service robots in marketing

UNDERSTANDING PRE-INTERACTION RESPONSE TO HUMANOID ROBOTS: A VIEW OF COMFORT WITH ROBOTS

Despite the growing body of research exploring consumer responses to robotics, the existing comprehension of this topic locates mainly on consumers’ post-interaction reactions to robots based on technology-related and service-related views, leaving the complexity of pre-interaction uninvestigated. Motivated by a scarcity of knowledge on consumers’ reactions to service robots before their actual interaction, this study disentangles how perceived comfort with robots, as a pre-interaction perception triggered by robot anthropomorphism, penetrates customers’ implicit social decision-making and affects customer responses. By a large-scale scenario-based experiment, this study allocated a fine-grained spectrum of anthropomorphism and cartographically delineated the UV-resemblance effect of anthropomorphism degree on perceived comfort of robots and trust. Furthermore, our study reveals the role of human-robot trust in mediating the relationship between comfort with robots and usage intention. The findings provide tools for future studies into understanding pre-interaction responses from social-psychological elements that could inform the design of socially competent robots

Enhancing the Quality of Care in Long-Term Care Settings

Quality of care in long-term care is a worldwide issue given the growing numbers of dependent older people. This book presents international research, 22 varied papers, exploring quality of care from several different angles. Important themes include: (1) workforce issues, such as staff training and support; job competencies, satisfaction, and intention to stay in work; staff burnout; effects of personal- and work-related factors on quality of care; (2) intervention studies: for depressive symptoms in nursing home residents; adjustment for new residents; social and psychological support; and loneliness and isolation; (3) methodology, including: developing and testing quality indicators; measuring residents' experience of quality; and assessing partnership between staff and families; and (4) older people's experiences, such as dry eyes and using ocular lubricants; associations between length of stay and end of life care; palliative care service use and comfort at end of of life; and causes of infection-related hospitalization. The book concludes with a systematic review of the current evidence base of care home research in Brazil

Service robots in long-term care: a consumer-centric view

Service robots with advanced intelligence capabilities can potentially transform servicescapes. However, limited attention has been given to how consumers experiencing vulnerabilities, particularly those with disabilities, envisage the characteristics of robots’ prospective integration into emotionally-intense servicescapes, such as long-term care (LTC). We take an interdisciplinary approach conducting three exploratory studies with consumers with disabilities involving Community Philosophy, LEGO® Serious Play® and Design Thinking methods. Addressing a lack of consumer-centric research, we offer a three-fold contribution by: 1) developing a conceptualization of consumer-conceived value of robots in LTC, which are envisaged as a supporting resource offering consumers opportunities to realize value; 2) empirically evidencing pathogenic vulnerabilities as a potential value-destruction factor to underscore the importance of integrating service robots research with a service inclusion paradigm; and 3) providing a theoretical extension and clarification of prior characterizations of robots’ empathetic and emotion-related AI capabilities. Consumers with disabilities conceive robots able to stimulate and regulate emotions by mimicking cognitive and behavioral empathy, but unable to express affective and moral empathy, which is central to care experience. While providing support for care practices, for the foreseeable future service robots will not, in themselves, actualize the experience of ‘being cared for.

Machine Medical Ethics

In medical settings, machines are in close proximity with human beings: with patients who are in vulnerable states of health, who have disabilities of various kinds, with the very young or very old, and with medical professionals. Machines in these contexts are undertaking important medical tasks that require emotional sensitivity, knowledge of medical codes, human dignity, and privacy. As machine technology advances, ethical concerns become more urgent: should medical machines be programmed to follow a code of medical ethics? What theory or theories should constrain medical machine conduct? What design features are required? Should machines share responsibility with humans for the ethical consequences of medical actions? How ought clinical relationships involving machines to be modeled? Is a capacity for empathy and emotion detection necessary? What about consciousness? The essays in this collection by researchers from both humanities and science describe various theoretical and experimental approaches to adding medical ethics to a machine, what design features are necessary in order to achieve this, philosophical and practical questions concerning justice, rights, decision-making and responsibility, and accurately modeling essential physician-machine-patient relationships. This collection is the first book to address these 21st-century concerns