Service robots in hospitals: new perspectives on niche evolution and technology affordances

Changing demands in society and the limited capabilities of health systems have paved the way for robots to move out of industrial contexts and enter more human-centered environments such as healthcare. We explore the shared beliefs and concerns of health workers on the introduction of autonomously operating service robots in hospitals or professional care facilities. By means of Qmethodology, a mixed research approach specifically designed for studying subjective thought patterns, we identify five potential end-user niches, each of which perceive different affordances and outcomes from using service robots in their working environment. Our findings allows for better understanding resistance and susceptibility of different users in a hospital and encourages managerial awareness of varying demands, needs, and surrounding conditions a service robot must contend with. We also discuss general insights into presenting the Q-methodology results and how an affordance-based view could inform the adoption, appropriation, and adaptation of emerging technologies.