Attitudes of heads of education and directors of research towards the need for social robotics education in universities

Abstract

We explored the attitudes of the Heads of Education and the Directors of Research towards the need for Social Robotics Courses in Finland. The methods consisted of a cross-sectional survey (n = 21) and data was analyzed with descriptive methods and Pearson correlation tests. The results showed that the attitudes of respondents towards social robots were positive and they stated that robotics courses would be essential for universities. The respondents reported that the social service and healthcare sector will use social robots in the near future, but more training sessions are needed. So far, universities have offered only few applied robotics courses for healthcare students. This study also found that the surveyed universities have not yet taken into account the development of service and social robotics in the healthcare sector.