Helping tomorrow’s social professionals to learn about social robotics

Abstract

This paper identifies that social robotics and autonomous technologies will inevitably impact on the field of care for human beings. Those currently employed in caring roles, and those about to enter these roles, are generally ill-prepared to respond to this challenge: whether it is to develop the skills to work alongside such technologies or to critically engage with their development. The paper outlines a current Erasmus+ funded international project (PRoSPEro) that brings together social roboticists, educators, learners, practitioners and policymakers in order to develop, pilot, assess and deploy innovative pedagogical materials to address the gap in provision. It also describes a locally-generated learning opportunity within futures studies that facilitates learners to engage directly with these new technologies. The paper provides ideas for strategies and techniques to successfully engage learners from social science and therapeutic-based fields to engage with urgent contemporary technological issues.