Robotics and Autonomous systems are increasingly being recognised for their potential to help people age well and play an active role in society. However, while there has been considerable foundational research to underpin the development of assistive and rehabilitation robots, there is still a big gap between testing in the lab and use in real-world contexts.

With a rapidly ageing population, the proportion of the world’s population who live with or are susceptible to frailty is growing. There is, therefore, a pressing need for interventions that address the particular challenges posed by frailty in order to ensure access to appropriate support for all those who need it so that they are able to continue to enjoy life to fullest.

Our ambition is to support the development of high-quality assistive robotics technology solutions for managing, mitigating and monitoring frailty. In addition to the design and implementation of robotic devices to meet identified needs, we are also looking for the research community to address the challenge of ensuring any proposed devices and the associated service models address the various barriers to adoption in the real world.

The Robotics for Frailty Challenge has awarded funding to the following trailblazer projects: