Innovation districts and transformative workspaces: A scoping review of AI-pet robots companionship for aging employees balancing productivity and wellbeing.

Authors

Bruno Pereira, Adela McMurray, Ashokkumar Manoharan, Johnsam Rajesh Irudhaya, Ryan Jang

Published in

Health care management review. Volume 51. Issue 3S. Pages S24-S33. Epub Jul 02, 2026.

Abstract

Considering the future of work and an aging workforce, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots are promising fields to promote wellbeing, companionship, and care, together with operational efficiency in workplaces.
Using Design theory, this review examines how AI-pet robots can be adopted to interact with aging workers in innovation districts and health care innovative environments, considering the Human-robot attachment and Ethorobotics approaches.
A scoping review was guided by the Population, Concept, Context (PCC) framework, as suggested by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), to explain the scope and eligibility criteria, followed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Academic peer-reviewed transdisciplinary studies that were published on or before 2024 were sourced from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The review included empirical and non-empirical studies, published in the English language, and excluded non-peer-reviewed publications.
A total of 31 studies were reviewed. The key findings revealed that AI-pet robots enhance emotional wellbeing through human-robot attachment. By adopting a human-centric perspective, organizations can implement advanced technologies that promote not only productivity but also companionship and support for aging workers. These findings provide a strategic health care management pathway for innovative solutions that integrate AI-driven pet robotics into workspaces, specifically in innovation districts.
The study emphasizes the transformative potential of AI-pet robots, in addressing the challenges of an aging workforce within innovation districts. While most of the reviewed studies are situated in general innovation environments and health care, the findings have strong applicability to innovation districts. The results reveal that human-robot attachment, supported by AI and the Ethorobotics approach enhances emotional wellbeing and operational efficiency in workplaces. These insights are particularly relevant to innovation districts, where human-centered technologies can be trialed and embedded to support inclusive workforce transitions.

PMID:
42378382
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Jul 2026.

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