Ageing Japan: Robots may have role in future of elder care
TOKYO: Paro the furry seal cries softly while an elderly woman pets it. Pepper, a humanoid, waves while leading a group of senior citizens in exercises. The upright Tree guides a disabled man taking shaky steps, saying in a gentle feminine voice, “right, left, well done!”
Robots have the run of Tokyo’s Shin-tomi nursing home, which uses 20 different models to care for its residents. The Japanese government hopes it will be a model for harnessing the country’s robotics expertise to help cope with a swelling elderly population and dwindling workforce.
“These robots are wonderful,” said 84-year-old Kazuko Yamada after the exercise session with Softbank Robotics Corp’s Pepper, which can carry on scripted dialogues. “More people live alone these days, and a robot can be a conversation partner for them.”
Many obstacles may hinder a proliferation of elder care robots: high costs, safety issues and doubts about how useful they will be.
The Japanese government has been funding development of elder care robots to help fill a likely shortfall of 380,000 specialised workers by 2025.
Despite steps by Japan to allow foreign workers in for elder care, obstacles to employment in the sector, including exams in Japanese, remain.
Authorities and companies are also eyeing a larger prize: a potentially lucrative export industry supplying robots to places such as Germany, China and Italy, which face similar demographic challenges.
“It’s an opportunity for us,” said Atsushi Yasuda, director of the robotic policy office at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI. “Other countries will follow the same trend.”
“It’s potentially a huge market,” said George Leeson, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing.
Softbank’s Pepper is used in about 500 Japanese elder care homes for games and exercise routines.
Cute, furry and responsive, Paro reacts to touch, speech and light by moving its head and blinking its eyes.
“When I first petted it, it moved in such a cute way. It really seemed like it was alive,” giggled 79-year-old Saki Sakamoto, a Shin-tomi resident.