Becoming older can be a scary time for some people. You aren’t as mobile as you once were and you may find everyday tasks getting a little harder to do.
Currently, we have systems in place where you can get help from care staff if you need to; having them come round and help you cook your meals and clean your home amongst other helpful services. But what is the future of this often essential service? Are robots really going to take over every aspect of our lives?
Well, it’s not actually too far from the truth.
The Henn na Hotel, Japan
A hotel has recently opened its doors in Japan’s Nagasaki Prefecture which is staffed by human-like robots. The Henn na Hotel’s robot staff will welcome guests in several different languages! It will provide housekeeping services such as room maintenance and guest check in.
Japan is one of the world’s fastest ageing nations. Coupled with an extremely low fertility rate, it means that there are fewer young adults to provide care for older generations. It may be that years in the future, our elderly care services may be making use of these helpful robots a lot more than we think.
With technology advancing at such an astonishing rate, we may be able to combat the need for more care staff by using robots alongside existing carers. It’s a well known fact that the care industry is pushed to its limits. Especially as more and more of the population require some form of care.
Many of these carers working extremely long hours and, after all, they are only human. Could these new care robots be a turning point in shifting some of the strain within the carer community?
The Future?
Although these technological advances might sound like a good idea, there are some people don’t think that having robots help us care for our elders is a good idea.
Many researchers have referenced a concept known as the uncanny valley. This looks at how uncomfortable humans feel when something looks and acts like a human… but isn’t. Do we really want these human-like robots trying to do the job of a human caregiver?
There is also an argument for the use of these systems; with the advances in technology, will more people be more accepting of these robots after seeing how far technology has already advanced?
No one knows what the future holds, but there is one thing that we can be certain about; the care of our elders should be what we are concerned with first and foremost. Until then, we can still take advantage of the time, effort and care that our fantastic carers provide.
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