When Peanut serves the tea – a podcast episode about robots in care

The future of care seems bleak because more and more skilled workers are lacking. At the same time, our society is ageing and more and more people need to be cared for. Can robots help? And if so, at which activities is the limit? BFH researcher Stefan Rose examined this topic in a study with students.

Technology simplifies many work processes and replaces some jobs. This triggers fears among employees in some sectors, while in others there is an acute shortage of skilled workers. For example, humanoid robots are already being tested to compensate for staff shortages. But what about in the care professions – will we be cared for by machines in our old age?

Stefan Rose talks about this topic in the latest podcast episode. He is a research professor at the Institute of Marketing and Global Management. Together with students and his colleague Sven Feurer, he investigated how residents, relatives and staff of a retirement home in Bern reacted to the service robot “Peanut”. During a test, the robot served the residents with tea, among other things.

Listen in now:

More about the project

At the centre of the trial, which lasted several weeks, was a student project at the Bern University of Applied Sciences. In the Bachelor’s module “Entrepreneurial Marketing”, Prof. Dr. Stefan Rose and Prof. Dr. Sven Feurer are investigating together with students how senior citizens react to the use of service robots. The Bernese start-up Bebop Robotics AG, which developed the service robot and sees it as a measure to counteract the current shortage of skilled workers, is a practical partner.

Stefan Rose and Sven Feurer were awarded the Best Teaching Award for their module with the service robot.