The PADERO Project

The PADERO (Participatory Design in Robotics for Elderly Care in Germany & Japan) project aims to use participatory methods to communicate new approaches in nursing robotics in order to establish and generate innovative solution models for the challenges of demographic change in the field of nursing robotics among the general public. The participatory approach ensures the inclusion of various stakeholders, i.e. caregivers, patients and relatives in the design process and aims to reach acceptance and the sustainability of the developed technology. What should our work with robots in nursing care look like? Do senior citizens accept digital assistants in everyday life? And what skills do carergivers have to learn in the development process? All these questions will be explored in an interdisciplinary and diverse team. In Japanese society, robots are already used in many areas. The robot Pepper can be seen, for example, in electronics stores or restaurants, where digital assistants advise customers on products or assign them a table. Many people have a positive attitude toward robotics. The combination of an affinity for technology and a broad spectrum of already existing technical solutions for the challenges of healthcare in a constantly aging society can serve as an inspiration for Germany, which has to face the same social challenges.

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The Future of work

In its current High-Tech Strategy 2025, the German Federal Government has defined Economy and Work 4.0 as one of six priority topics for the promotion of research and innovation. The Federal Ministry of Education and research (BMBF) is taking this goal to an international level with its current campaign The Future of Work. The focus is on four topics: Education and Big Data, Industry and Networking, Technology and Organization as well as Workplace and Society. Germany and Japan are among the countries in which demographic change is progressing the most rapidly and will therefore have to face enormous challenges in the coming years. Germany and Japan are among the countries in which demographic change is progressing the most rapidly and will therefore have to face enormous challenges in the coming years.

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My role

I was the local coordinator for the Tohoku University site: I managed the relevant parts of the project to be carried out locally and internationally. I served as organizer and judge during the first PADERO workshop and hackathon.