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Aging Japan Looks to Bots For Care

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the who-doesn't-like-a-nice-bot dept.

An anonymous reader writes to mention a Yahoo! news article about robotics in Japan. While many research bots are working on interacting with their environment, some of Japan's commercial robotics are focusing on building bots for elderly care. From the article: "The 100-kilogram (220-pound) robot can also distinguish eight different kinds of smells, can tell which direction a voice is coming from and uses powers of sight to follow a human face. 'In the future, we would like to develop a capacity to detect a human's health condition through his breath,' Mukai said. Japan is bracing for a major increase in needs for elderly care due to a declining birth rate and a population that is among the world's longest living." That sure sounds familiar.

3 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Pity the US doesn't think so... by dcapel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We have the problem of people in high places just looking out for themselves -- caring for them won't be their problem; life-extension or other medical advances won't be in developed in time to help them, etc.

    And the sad part is, when younger people get into those places, we will probably do that same thing.

    --
    DYWYPI?
  2. The price is around 40 million yen I hear by KNicolson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Versus about 4 million yen for a real live nurse, if only Japan was more accepting of foreign labour to look after all the old folk.

  3. Re:Screw intelligent robots! by Profound · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You need people to get old and die.

    Most people who lived believing that demonic posession rather than germs were responsible for sickness died still believing it. They were just eventually replaced by people whose minds were open to new theories.

    If people don't die die, old (wrong) ideas will never die, and humans will never improve.