Humanoid and social robots in care: companionship, activation, reception

Attention is not cancelled out of ill will, but out of lack of time

In care settings, attention is the first thing cut when a shift is short. According to the OECD, Europe is short of around 1.2 million healthcare professionals today; by 2030 it could be more than four million. For Germany, the Federal Statistical Office expects a gap of 280,000 to 690,000 nursing staff by 2049.

The consequence is not worse care in a medical sense. The consequence is that nobody talks to people any more.

Our answer: uMe, a humanoid robot whose name is the programme – u & Me, so that you have more time. It speaks, listens, shows content on its display and activates. Not instead of a carer, but during the hours when none is free.

What a humanoid robot does in care

Humanoid and social robots in care are human-like systems for interaction, activation and information. uMe is 1,200 mm tall, has 23 degrees of freedom, speaks through a six-microphone ring array and processes AI on an NVIDIA AGX Orin inside the device. It carries CE marking per Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and is designed to ISO 13482 for personal care robots.

• Structured conversations and activation, repeatable at the same quality
• Reminders for appointments, drinking and movement
• Reception and orientation for visitors and relatives, multilingual
• A display for people with hearing impairment – speech alone is not enough
• Configuration in uGo+ by your team, without programming skills
• Three tiers: Uno, Duo with gripper, Trio with LiDAR navigation

What we do not promise

uMe lifts nobody, washes nobody and makes no medical decisions. It is not a substitute for a conversation with a human being, and it is not meant to be. And it will not be liked by everyone – acceptance grows where the team explains and frames it. Anyone selling humanoid robotics as the solution to staff shortage is not telling the truth. It shifts what the available time is spent on. That is a great deal, but it is something else.

Your robot. Your data.

A robot that works inside your building sees and hears things that are nobody’s business outside it. That is why AI processing runs on the device, not in someone else’s cloud. No permanent internet connection is required for operation, which makes closed hospital, care-home and laboratory networks possible. What is generated in your building stays in your building: you decide what is stored, analysed or deleted. Through uGo+ you define who may start which tasks, and mission reports are auditable – the basis for a data protection impact assessment, your works council and any inspection.

Buy or rent: Robot-as-a-Service

You can buy, or rent under Robot-as-a-Service. With rental you pay a recurring monthly fee that covers hardware, software maintenance and service together – from the operating budget rather than the capital budget. That is the usual route for a pilot and for a staged rollout across several sites.

An honest note: renting is not automatically cheaper than buying – it shifts risk and timing. What works for your organisation depends on term, quantity, available funding and budget structure. We work through that openly in a first conversation instead of selling you a model. We do not publish prices, because configuration and integration scope decide the number – a figure without that context would be misleading.

Why us

• More than 500 units in daily operation in hospitals and laboratories – not pilot promises, but shift work.
• More than 20,000 robots deployed across all our product lines – 15 years of experience with people who work alongside robots.
• uGo+ as a single interface for tasks, permissions, reporting and fleet management – across multiple sites.
• Manufacturer, not reseller. Development, integration and service come from us.

Frequently asked questions

What does a humanoid robot actually do in care?

It holds structured conversations, activates through movement and memory exercises, reminds residents of appointments and drinking, greets visitors and gives information. Content is configured in uGo+, without programming skills.

What does the name uMe stand for?

uMe stands for u & Me – so that you have more time. The robot is designed as a counterpart, not as a device.

Is such a robot suitable for people with dementia?

It can offer structured, recurring activation that many people respond well to. Whether and how it is used in an individual case is decided by the care professional – not by the robot and not by us.

Are conversations recorded or sent to a cloud?

Processing runs on the device. No permanent cloud connection is required for operation. Your organisation decides what is stored and analysed.

Is the robot available?

Yes. uMe can be ordered now with a delivery time of around eight weeks, for purchase or as a rental under Robot-as-a-Service.

The next step

A first conversation takes twenty minutes. Afterwards you will know whether deployment pays off in your organisation – and if it does not, we will say so. Reach us through the contact form or your existing contact at United Robotics Group.

Sources: OECD, Health at a Glance: Europe 2024 · German Federal Statistical Office, nursing workforce projection, press release of 23 January 2024 · German Economic Institute (IW), STEM Spring Report 2026.