The global eldercare workforce is short by approximately 100 million workers, according to the International Labour Organization. In the United States alone, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortage of over 400,000 home health and personal care aides by 2030. Meanwhile, the population over 65 is growing at 3% annually, with the 85-and-over segment (the highest-need group) growing even faster.
This is not a problem that can be solved by recruitment alone. Eldercare wages average $15-17 per hour, turnover exceeds 60% annually in many facilities, and the physical demands of the work deter potential applicants. Robotics is not replacing caregivers. It is enabling the caregivers who remain to focus on the human elements of care that no robot can provide.
The Caregiver Shortage by the Numbers
Understanding the scale of the problem contextualizes why eldercare facilities are turning to automation.
Demand growth: The US has approximately 16,000 nursing homes and 30,000 assisted living facilities serving roughly 3 million residents. By 2030, the number of Americans over 85 will exceed 9 million, up from 6.7 million in 2020. Each additional million elderly residents requiring care translates to approximately 300,000 additional caregivers needed.
Supply decline: Certified nursing assistant (CNA) training program enrollment dropped 15% between 2019 and 2024. Immigration policy changes have reduced the pipeline of internationally trained caregivers. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated burnout-driven exits from the profession, with an estimated 20% of eldercare workers leaving the field between 2020 and 2023.
Economic reality: The median annual salary for a home health aide is $33,530 (BLS, 2025). The median for a nursing assistant in a residential care facility is $35,760. These wages compete poorly with retail ($35,000+), warehouse ($38,000-45,000), and food service ($32,000-38,000) roles that are less physically demanding and emotionally taxing.
Turnover cost: Each nursing aide turnover event costs a facility $3,500-$5,500 in recruitment, onboarding, training, and temporary staffing. At 60% annual turnover for a 100-bed facility with 50 aides, that is $105,000-$165,000 per year in turnover costs alone.
Robots Currently Deployed in Eldercare
Several robotic platforms are operating in eldercare facilities today, handling non-clinical tasks that consume significant caregiver time.
TUG by Aethon (ST Engineering)
TUG is an autonomous mobile robot designed for healthcare logistics. It navigates hospital and facility corridors independently, transporting meals, medications, linens, and waste. Over 700 TUG robots operate in healthcare facilities across the US.
In eldercare specifically: TUG handles meal delivery, linen distribution, and waste collection. These tasks consume an estimated 20-30% of nursing aide time in a typical 100-bed facility. By automating transport, TUG frees aides to spend that time on resident care.
Performance data: TUG achieves 95%+ on-time delivery rates, operates 24 hours per day with charging breaks, and navigates around residents, staff, and obstacles using LiDAR and sensor arrays. The system integrates with facility management software for automated scheduling.
Relay Robotics
Relay builds autonomous delivery robots deployed in over 500 hospitals and an increasing number of senior living facilities. The Relay platform handles room-to-room delivery of supplies, medications (in secure compartments), and personal items.
In eldercare specifically: Relay robots deliver items directly to resident rooms, reducing the need for aides to make repeated trips to supply closets and medication rooms. Residents can request deliveries through a simple interface or voice command, promoting independence.
Performance data: Relay reports 98% successful delivery rates and average delivery times of 5-8 minutes within a facility. The robots use elevators autonomously and navigate multi-floor buildings without assistance.
Social and Companion Robots
PARO (therapeutic robotic seal) has been used in dementia care since 2004, with documented benefits in reducing agitation and improving mood in residents with Alzheimer's disease. Over 5,000 PARO units are in use globally.
ElliQ by Intuition Robotics is a proactive social robot designed for older adults living independently. It initiates conversations, reminds users about medications and appointments, and facilitates video calls with family. Several state Medicaid programs now cover ElliQ as a care management tool.
Pepper by SoftBank Robotics operates in some Japanese eldercare facilities for reception, activity facilitation, and basic communication with residents. Adoption outside Japan has been limited.
Emerging Humanoid Platforms
Humanoid robots from companies like 1X Technologies, Unitree, and Fourier Intelligence are entering eldercare pilot programs. The humanoid form factor offers advantages for eldercare: the ability to navigate residential spaces designed for humans, use standard doors and elevators, and interact in a form that residents find more natural than wheeled platforms.
Fourier Intelligence's GR-2, built on the company's rehabilitation robotics expertise, is specifically designed for healthcare safety requirements. Early pilots focus on supply delivery and facility monitoring rather than direct personal care.
ROI for Eldercare Facilities
The financial case for robots in eldercare rests on four pillars.
1. Recaptured Caregiver Time
Nursing aides in a typical 100-bed facility spend approximately 25-35% of their time on non-clinical tasks: transporting supplies, delivering meals, collecting laundry, and fetching items for residents. For a facility with 50 full-time aides, that represents 12-17 FTE (full-time equivalent) positions worth of labor dedicated to tasks that robots can perform.
Deploying transport robots to handle these tasks does not eliminate 12-17 positions. It converts that time into direct care time, improving care quality and potentially allowing the facility to operate with fewer total aides without reducing care hours per resident.
Estimated value: If each FTE of recaptured time is valued at $40,000 annually (loaded cost of a nursing aide), 12-17 recaptured FTEs represent $480,000-$680,000 in equivalent labor value redirected to care.
2. Reduced Turnover
Facilities that deploy robots for non-clinical tasks report lower caregiver turnover. The mechanism is straightforward: when aides spend more time on meaningful care activities and less time on physically demanding transport tasks, job satisfaction improves. Early data from facilities using TUG and Relay robots shows turnover reductions of 10-15 percentage points.
Estimated value: Reducing turnover from 60% to 45-50% in a 50-aide facility saves $52,500-$82,500 annually in turnover costs.
3. Reduced Injury Claims
Material handling (lifting, carrying, pushing) is the leading cause of workplace injury for nursing aides, accounting for over 40% of injury claims. Robots handling heavy transport tasks (laundry, meal carts, supply deliveries) directly reduce injury exposure.
Estimated value: The average workers' compensation claim for a nursing aide injury costs $15,000-$30,000 in direct costs. A 100-bed facility typically sees 8-15 recordable injuries per year. Reducing material-handling injuries by 30-40% through robot deployment saves $36,000-$180,000 annually.
4. Census and Revenue Protection
Facilities with better care quality metrics maintain higher occupancy rates. CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) star ratings influence referrals and family decision-making. Facilities where staff spend more time on direct care tend to score higher on quality metrics, which protects census and revenue.
Estimated value: Each occupied bed generates $250-$400 per day in revenue for a skilled nursing facility. Maintaining occupancy even 2-3 beds higher through quality improvements represents $180,000-$440,000 in annual revenue.
Total ROI Calculation
For a 100-bed facility deploying 3-5 transport robots:
Annual costs: $120,000-$200,000 (RaaS model including maintenance and support)
Annual benefits:
- Recaptured caregiver time: $480,000-$680,000
- Reduced turnover: $52,500-$82,500
- Reduced injuries: $36,000-$180,000
- Census protection: $180,000-$440,000
- Total: $748,500-$1,382,500
ROI: 275-590%
Even using only the most conservative benefit estimates and excluding census protection (which is harder to attribute directly), the ROI exceeds 200%. Payback period for the annual RaaS investment is under 3 months.
Implementation Guide
Deploying robots in an eldercare facility requires careful planning that accounts for the unique characteristics of the environment and population.
Resident and Family Communication
Inform residents and families before robots arrive. Explain what the robots do (delivery, transport) and what they do not do (personal care, medical decisions). Address common concerns: robots are not replacing caregivers, robots cannot access personal information, robots are programmed to yield to residents in corridors.
Facilities that communicate proactively report significantly higher acceptance than those that introduce robots without preparation.
Staff Training and Buy-In
Caregiver staff may initially view robots as a threat to their jobs. Frame the deployment accurately: robots handle the tasks that caregivers dislike most (hauling laundry, making delivery runs) and free up time for the work that drew them to caregiving (resident interaction, clinical care).
Include frontline staff in the deployment planning process. Their knowledge of facility workflows, bottlenecks, and resident needs is essential for effective robot routing and scheduling.
Facility Preparation
Most eldercare facilities require minimal physical modifications for wheeled delivery robots. Ensure doorways are wide enough (minimum 36 inches), corridors are clear of permanent obstructions, and WiFi coverage is consistent throughout the facility.
For humanoid robots, additional considerations include floor surface consistency (carpet transitions can challenge bipedal locomotion), lighting levels for visual navigation, and elevator compatibility for multi-floor facilities.
Phased Deployment
Start with a single use case (typically meal delivery or supply transport) and expand after demonstrating success. A phased approach reduces disruption, allows staff to adapt, and provides measurable results to justify expansion.
Phase 1 (months 1-3): Deploy 1-2 robots for a single transport function. Measure time savings and staff satisfaction.
Phase 2 (months 4-6): Expand to additional transport functions. Add robots if volume justifies it.
Phase 3 (months 7-12): Evaluate advanced functions: medication delivery (with appropriate security), resident room monitoring, activity facilitation.
Key Takeaways
- The global eldercare workforce shortage of approximately 100 million workers cannot be solved by recruitment alone, making automation essential for maintaining care quality.
- TUG and Relay robots are deployed in hundreds of healthcare facilities, handling supply delivery, meal transport, and logistics that consume 25-35% of caregiver time.
- ROI for eldercare robot deployments ranges from 275-590% when accounting for recaptured caregiver time, reduced turnover, fewer injuries, and census protection.
- Social robots like PARO and ElliQ provide documented benefits for dementia care and independent living support, with some now covered by state Medicaid programs.
- Humanoid robots from Fourier, 1X, and Unitree are entering eldercare pilots, offering the ability to navigate residential spaces without facility modifications.
- Start with a single transport use case, communicate proactively with residents and families, and include frontline staff in planning.
- See our eldercare robot buying guide and eldercare solutions page for platform-specific recommendations.