In the areas of healthcare where the lack of qualifications is the strongest, new technologies are very much appreciated, and social assistance is one of these areas. The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology studied the use of robotic technology in this field and concluded that it could not be said for sure whether robots could play a leading role in healthcare. Many robots are still at the design stage, but the question of whether they can integrate into the existing technologies and existing social environment or even replace them is already actively discussed. One of the most interesting and successful projects in this area is GrowMeUp, which is sponsored by the EU and has developed a robot called GrowMu. It can adapt to changes in the environment, grow with the patient and develop an understanding of a person’s routine and the ways it may be improved.
GrowMu has a cloud-based platform with access to a great amount of data and a social assistance network. Their major advantage is that these robots are also suitable for older people who are very happy to accept them as assistants, although afraid to give them too much control. Of course, it will take time before the robots appear in nursing homes and begin to care for the elderly, but now developers are moving in this direction because this will lead to significant money savings. Moreover, such technologies will be able to free human personnel so that they can perform other tasks they are better at. However, there is a fear that robots will not be staff assistants but their replacement, which will lead to higher unemployment and a decrease in medical care. Many new technologies must first overcome several obstacles in order to become a part of the service environment, and robots are no exception. Nevertheless, people can safely assume that in the near future, robots will actively begin to become assistants to health workers.