This symposium focuses on the innovative applications and evidence-based development of social robots in the healthcare field, addressing the urgent demand for smart care in aging societies. The conference covers three main themes: clinical applications and proven effectiveness, smart healthcare and interdisciplinary integration, and future development with ethical challenges.
On the clinical front, the symposium will explore the use of social robots in elderly care, chronic disease management, rehabilitation training, and emotional support. Case studies such as the widely adopted PARO robot in clinical and long-term care institutions will illustrate how such robots effectively reduce patient anxiety, enhance social interaction, and improve quality of life and care efficiency.
In building smart healthcare systems, the conference will analyze how social robots integrate with technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data to develop responsive and personalized care models. Emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary collaboration, showcasing how professionals from medicine, nursing, engineering, information science, and social sciences work together from design and implementation to ethical reflection, advancing human-centered care technologies. Future-oriented discussions will also highlight the potential of social robots in addressing workforce shortages and increasing elderly care demands, while also tackling ethical concerns such as human-robot trust, patient privacy, and surrogate emotional connections—offering insight for policy formulation and educational program development.
