Social problems, technological solutions? German nursing care experts’ perspectives, evaluations, and imaginaries of care robotics research

Nursing care work in Germany has been facing significant challenges, among them a steadily increasing shortage of nursing care workers. Funding programs promote the use of care robotics to mitigate these challenges' negative effects and to support nursing care practice. However, most robotics research on the topic has so far followed a technology-centered approach that hardly considers nursing care experts' distinct experiences, knowledge, or expertise. Drawing on interviews, focus groups, and workshops with nursing scientists, students, and practitioners, this study investigates the perspectives, evaluations, and imaginaries of German nursing care experts regarding care robotics. In their accounts, we found three salient themes that highlight care robotics as an open-ended, empirical concern for the nursing sciences; as a means for delineating between automatable and non-automatable nursing care activities; and as a potential remedy for nurses' assistive and executive responsibilities. Each of these themes highlights a particular set of challenges that nursing care work currently faces in the context of German healthcare from the nursing care experts' perspective and that shapes their perspectives on care robotics. We discuss the nursing care experts' responses as a reference point to re-articulate deep-seated disciplinary and professional concerns along three distinct dimensions: a nursing-as-science, nursing-as-practice, and nursing-as-profession dimension. We further conceptualize these dimensions as matters of care that care robotics research should engage with to generate care for nursing care work and workers. We conclude by suggesting ways for incorporating these dimensions into care robotics research and development.