“They react differently to the robots than they do to us.” “It’s fun, seeing them react like that,” says Okabe, who’s worked at the nursing home for five years. The staff say that this particular patient is usually very quiet, but not with the robot.
The smiling resident holds Telenoid like a baby and says, “Let’s sing a song again”. One resident, a woman with dementia, holds a Telenoid as 27-year-old staff member Minami Okabe, down the hall, sings a Japanese folk song into a headset.
Some publications have criticised Telenoid as being creepy, but Fujimoto and her staff say it’s beloved by the residents. A staff member in a different room talks through the robot, and the voice comes out of its mouth. One of the most popular additions is Telenoid: a baby-like robot with no legs and tiny arms. Residents love to play with him because he’s cute, and the staff love him because he’s clean, doesn’t require food and no one’s allergic to him. Last year she wrote a bestselling book seeking to reinvent the image of nursing home work, and she thinks robots can help.Īt the Hyogo nursing home, staff have rolled out several robots that have been big hits with residents, like Paro the talking, fuzzy baby seal bot, which was developed a decade ago. Kayoko Fujimoto, chairperson of trustees for the Ryusei Fukushikai Social Welfare Foundation, runs a nursing home in Hyogo prefecture, about 100km southwest of Kyoto. “Elderly care facilities and hospitals see a severe lack of healthcare workers there are not enough humans to do the tasks the way they used to be done.” This leads to a number of issues facing Japanese society which the West can learn from,” says Roger A Søraa, robotics researcher at Centre for Technology and Society in Norway. “Japan is facing major demographic challenges due to the elderly wave, low fertility rates and a shrinking population. (Some studies have shown that over 80% of nurses in Japan experience lower back problems.) Upstairs, staff have access to robotic exoskeletons that fit around the waist and lower back: these apparatuses ease the severe body strain as they help their elderly clients get in and out of bed. But Matsui says companies in China and South Korea are interested in his company's work, which also includes cleaning robots for use in houses and schools.īut it’s not only in the common room that robotics is being employed. Right now, the police bot – whose built-in camera allows guards downstairs to see things from the robot’s point of view – is one of only two prototypes in the country. “It’s important for the robot to feel cute, so you’re not intimidated,” says Ken Matsui, CEO of Mira Robotics, the start-up behind Ugo. His digital “face” – which usually displays two big blue cartoony eyes – is replaced with the Japanese text for “on duty”. His battery lasts up to half a work day, and every two hours he’ll do a routine patrol around the building – even summoning lifts by pushing the call button himself. Standing up to five feet tall with wheels and a blue police cap, “his” name is Ugo. It all seems pretty unremarkable, until you realise one of those security guards is a robot. As they walk through the glass doors, they pass two security guards, each dutifully flanking the passage in stern silence.
#HUMAN JAPANESE PRICE SERIES#
Gen J, a new series by BBC Worklife, keeps you up to speed on how the nation's next generation is shaping the Japan of tomorrow.Īt a sleek office building in Shinagawa, Tokyo, workers are strolling in and out for lunch. That's where the country's young people come in. Japan is changing: a rapidly ageing society, a record-breaking influx of visitors from overseas, and more robots than ever.
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