Two parallel revolutions are currently taking place in postindustrial societies including Finland: 1) enormous growth in the demand for welfare and health services and 2) the rise of new generation cognitive robots. Both give rise to speculations of utopic and dystopic future scenarios, but these revolutions are on their way and the societies must find solutions and make far reaching choices during the next 5-10 years.

In ROSE we focus on the intersection of the two revolutions and the potential they create. Robots have gained more cognitive functions and improved safety, which has made it possible to use robots for providing completely new types of services. The use of robots in providing health and welfare services is in our reach as recognized also by the European Union’s strong commitment to developing the area. Health and welfare services cover the majority of public expenditure in Finland and this is rising due to demographic changes, especially the aging population. We are facing a challenge of providing better and more wideranging services more efficiently in the context of changing dependence ratio due to the ageing of the population.