Robots in LTC Dining: Bridging Gaps Without Losing

As defined by NIA scientists and other experts in 2023, long-term care (LTC) encompasses a range of services that are structured to meet an individual’s needs in their health or personal care when they are no longer not able to do daily activities by themselves. As global populations age (See Figure 1), an unprecedented workforce shortage is being faced by the long-term care industry with the data showing that such crisis will continue to be worse, which is additionally compounded by rising malnutrition rates (American Health Care Association, 2022).

While the urgent need for innovative solutions has highlighted robotics as a promising tool, it also sparks on-going debates among healthcare professionals. In trying to answer the question that do robots truly belong in the LTC dining rooms where empathy and human connection are vital, this blog will examine the evidence, challenges, and eventually stand for a balanced integration of technology as a human care enhancement rather than a replacement.

Figure 1 – The aging World Population (Source: Van Ginneken, 2017)

In an interview with Ms. Miranda Ferrier as the current president of the Canadian Support Workers Association, she highlighted that more than 80% of the workforce in Canada LTC homes are made up by personal support workers (PSWs) (Mitchell, 2020). But during the end of year 2019, an annual report prepared and issued by the Ontario Health Coalition released indicated that the acute shortage of PSWs is causing short staffing in LTC homes, which meant there was not enough time to give residents even basic care (Ontario Health Coalition & Unifor, 2019).  

Moreover, also in Canada alone, a concerning prevalence of malnutrition exists within the LTC population up to 60% of residents, 28.9% to 53.7% of older adults are either malnourished or susceptible to malnutrition, with the variation in these statistics linked to the method of measurement (Middleton et al., 2025).

While food access is a factor, many journalists argue the core issue is a severe lack of staff time because they believe overworked caregivers struggle to properly monitor food intake, personalize meals, and engage residents during mealtimes, all of which are crucial for stimulating appetite (Keller et al., 2019). As we can see that traditional solutions like hiring more personnel are no longer sustainable, it is time when robotics can play a transformative role in the field of LTC dining.

Real figures like a 20% reduction in staff burnout and a 15% increase in resident meal compliance due to streamlined workflows as reported by a 2023 Journal of Aging Research study are speaking figures about how robots can remarkably transform LTC facilities (Trainum et al., 2023). Similarly, through a pilot program, Singapore is enabling food and beverage outlets on Sentosa to deliver orders via drones to customers on St. John’s Island, which have preliminary reports of faster service times with meals arrived hotter and increased resident satisfaction (Yu, 2022).

But viewing the situation from an opposite viewpoint, critics argue robots can erode the human touch central to LTC, however, a hybrid model where robots handle logistics actually frees staff for meaningful interactions instead of replacing such physical interaction. In addition, they also argue that cost remains a barrier with most robots’ prices ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 (Beard, 2025) but ROI analyses show reduced food waste, fewer hospitalizations, and lower staff turnover can offset expenses over the course of from two to three years (Goossens et al., 2019).

As a result, I personally believe that robotic solutions are not a cure-all option, but rather they are a pragmatic tool to address current systemic gaps in the LTC industry. And more than that, the future of dining in LTC lies in collaboration between human compassion and robotic efficiency so let’s innovate thoughtfully to ensure technology serves humanity, not the other way around.