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Automation in care: robotics and artificial intelligence for an aging society By Dirk Rothig | CEO, VERDANTIS Impact Capital | March 11, 2026 Germany is heading towards a health catastrophe. Today there are already 200,000 health workers missing; by 2035, the gap will increase to 500,000. At the same time, the number of people requiring care is increasing from 5.0 million to the projected 6.8 million. The solution cannot lie solely in more staff, which simply does not exist. Robotics, artificial intelligence, and smart sensor technology offer a realistic path to maintaining quality care, not as a replacement for human care, but as a complement that frees care workers from physically demanding and repetitive tasks. Tags: Care, Robotics, AI, Demographics, Health The care crisis in figures Germany's healthcare landscape is facing a perfect storm: increasing demand with decreasing supply. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, at the end of 2024 approximately 5.0 million people in Germany were in need of care as defined in Book XI of the Social Code, which is an increase of 36 percent compared to 2019 (BMG, 2025). The Bertelsmann Foundation projects that 6.8 million people will need care by 2035 (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024). At the same time, approximately 500,000 care workers will leave the profession due to age in the next decade, while training numbers will stagnate. Dirk Röthig, who as CEO of VERDANTIS Impact Capital evaluates technological solutions to society's structural challenges, sees the care crisis as a systemic market failure: "We cannot expect 500,000 young people to enter a physically exhausting, emotionally draining and comparatively poorly paid profession. The only realistic alternative is to improve working conditions through technology so that the remaining caregivers can achieve more and burn out less." The figures on physical exertion are alarming: 73 percent of caregivers of elderly people report back problems, 42 percent suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain (BGW, 2024). The average tenure in aged care is only 8.4 years, less than half the tenure in comparable healthcare professions (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2024). Any technology that reduces physical strain and keeps care workers in the profession delivers a direct demographic dividend. Robotics in care: the state of technology in 2026 Assistive robotics is no longer a promise for the future: it is a reality, although with different degrees of maturity. The applications can be divided into four categories: assistive robotics, social robotics, logistics robotics and exoskeletons. Assistive robotics: lifting, carrying and transferring The most physically demanding task in care is patient transfer: lifting, repositioning, and mobilizing bedridden people. An average caregiver moves between 1.5 and 2.5 tons of body weight per shift (INQA, 2024). Assistive robots such as the Japanese Robear, a lifting robot developed by RIKEN, can fully take care of this transfer. Robear gently lifts patients weighing up to 80 kilograms from bed to wheelchair and back. In Japanese pilot facilities, back strain on healthcare workers was reduced by 68 percent (RIKEN, 2023). In Germany, Fraunhofer IPA's HOME assistive robot is being tested in several facilities. CASERO takes care of pick-up and transport services (laundry, medications, meals) and frees healthcare workers from walking routes that account for up to 30 percent of working time (Fraunhofer IPA, 2025). In a pilot study at Stuttgart Hospital, each healthcare worker gained an average of 47 minutes per shift for direct patient care through CASERO. Röthig highlights the economic dimension: "47 additional minutes of patient time per shift seems like a small figure. If extrapolated to 14,000 nursing homes in Germany, each with three shifts and an average of eight caregivers per shift, this equates to an additional 4.7 million

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