Long-term care robots are being developed with the aim of assisting the self-sufficient living of elderly people and reducing the burden on nursing care staff. However, there were no documents summarizing information such as safety design and testing methods for development of long-term care robots, or a design method that includes life function goals for care recipients and nursing care staff. This meant that developers had to proceed with development by trial and error, so documents that cover these contents were demanded.

"Long-term Care Robot Development Guidebook" and related documents were created in cooperation with the Japan Quality Assurance Organization, Applied Vision Systems Corporation, Aichi Medical University, Japan Automobile Research Institute, Japan Organization of Occupational Health and Safety, Nagoya University, Japan Assistive Products Evaluation Center, Japan Robot Association, and Japan Assistive Products Association. Free distribution via a long-term care robot portal site (http://robotcare.jp/) started from September 10, 2018.

This guidebook mainly targets long-term care robot developers, and systematically summarizes information such as safety design and testing methods for development of long-term care robots, and a design method that includes life function goals for care recipients and nursing care staff. Related documents also published simultaneously with the guidebook include "Safety Handbook for Development of Long-term Care Robots", "Long-term Care Robot Proving Test Guideline", "Ethical Review Application Guideline", and "Long-term Care Robot Development and Introduction Guideline". It is expected that use of these documents by long-term care robot development sites will promote the development of even safer and more effective long-term care robots, help address issues in long-term care such as assistance to the self-sufficient living of elderly people, and a shortage of nursing care staff.