**5. Conclusions, discussion and outlook**

The paper describes the concept and design of a user-centered approach of developing a mobile robot to assist people in need of care. To date, interdisciplinary research on the subject of human–robot interaction is still a field where there is a lack of convincing research methods and results. However, robots are continuously finding their way into our everyday lives and are already indispensable today. Therefore, researchers from the field of humanities as well as robotics and general engineering need to work closer together and develop convincing technologies that are not just functioning on a level of technology but also allow for acceptance and collaboration between robots and humans. One decisive element in this process is that those teams need to work closely together and actively engage the designated users through the whole of the development process.

In order to pursue that goal, a team of researchers from both robotics and humanities has put together a concept and design of a project for the development of mobile robots that are supposed to assist humans in need of care. The concept shows that not only the technology has to be carefully thought through in order to provide a secure service and show no gap between the robot's appearance and its actions. The social aspects and requirements of people in need of care, the nursing staff as well as relatives need to be taken into consideration and carefully used to develop the technologies. The research questions that have been raised include both human and technology factors that are crucial for the acceptance and success of future interactions between robots and humans.

However, this paper only marks the starting point of the project. It will be subject to further research and publications to show results of the studies and analyses in order to give recommendations on the process of developing social robots of the future. Since technology is continuously developing rapidly, it will not be sufficient to engage the users in just one design process. Rather, interdisciplinarity and user involvement need to become standard requirements in the process of designing technologies that are meant to work at the interface between humans and machines.
