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

Jörn Vogel, Daniel Leidner, Annette Hagengruber, Michael Panzirsch, Berthold Bäuml, Maximilian Denninger, Ulrich Hillenbrand, Lioba Suchenwirth, Peter Schmaus, Marco Sewtz, Adrian Simon Bauer, Thomas Hulin, Maged Iskandar, Gabriel Quere, Alin Albu-Schäffer, Alexander Dietrich

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.