Will the live-in caregiver of the future be a robot?
More investment, more new products -- this example is from China.
From time to time, I like to update the state of play with robotics and healthcare. It seems there’s always a new announcement, adding up to a steady stream of capital and product development.
Today’s example, as covered in an article here, comes from China, which faces a particularly serious double threat of an aging population and a shrinking younger workforce. China has 280 million people over age 60 today, and this number is expected to skyrocket to 400 million over the next 12 years. Meanwhile there’s a critical labor shortage, particularly when it comes to healthcare.
In response, a Shanghai-based firm, Fourier Intelligence, has developed a humanoid robot for healthcare facilities.
The robot, called the GR01, is 1.64 metres tall (or about 5 feet 5 inches) and weights 55 kg (or about 120 pounds). It can walk, avoid obstacles, and pick up things — including lifting someone from bed to wheelchair.
The article quotes company CEO Zen Koh: “As we move forward, the entire GR-1 could be a caregiver, could be a therapy assistant, can be a companion at home for the elderly who stay alone.”
GR-1 was presented at the recent World AI Conference in Shanghai. There were other similar products, too — like prototype from Tesla called the Optimus and a robot called the X20, from a Chinese company, DEEP Robotics.
There are many other functions being envisioned, or already being added, to prototype robots, including human-like emotional interaction and reception and transmission of real-time monitoring data.
Looking forward, I think it’s very likely that robots will be widely deployed in healthcare facilities, especially when it comes to replacing routine functions (like checking patients and administering medications) now performed by nurses, and will also be deployed (for those who can afford it) as in-home caregivers. The home care industry is booming but faces a critical shortage of workers. There’s no question robots will be in that future.
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I wonder if that care-giver robot could be made to look human - I'd pick the attractive young woman model, and tick the boxes for 'good upper body strength for pushing wheelchairs', human-like smooth hands, factory-installed software for 'therapeutic massage skills', upgradeable software to equip the bot for intellectual conversation in 'siri type' voice variations, motor vehicle maintenance and gardening skills. I would NOT choose the 'plays pickleball', watches daytime television or takes time for weekly meetings with other bots for. I know the bot-at-home is brain candy, but your take on it implies we'll have these aids-to-daily-living soon. Cheers, Mark
p.s. today is my first read of your column - I look forward to reading more!
p.p.s. for now, I'd like one of those for the office - an unpaid assistant who can work for me 24/7 at the office whether I'm here or not - and there will be no requests for time off for vacations, medical appointments, maternity leaves or 'taking a course'; the possibilities are far beyond a 'online virtual assistant' or 'fiver-for-hire' in another country