Robotic Bubble Baths for Japan's Elderly 149
LukePieStalker writes "New York Times (open kimono before entering) is carrying an article on various robots that are being used in assisted living situations. In addition to mentioning the Wakamaru, the story has illustrations of a human washing machine and a description of robotic pants that help those with mobility problems. Apparently, the devices are considered the better choice in a country that is not inclined to grant working visas to foreigners. As Japan's population shrinks, will the robot population make up the difference?"
To the home with you! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:To the home with you! (Score:2)
Re:To the home with you! (Score:4, Funny)
my parents run a retirement home (Score:5, Insightful)
this would save in time and labour as well as being more comfortable for the person being washed than having a human do it for them. it IS a pride thing, but people prefer to be helped into something like this than have the "stigma" of being so helpless that they need some one to wash them.
Wrong culture (Score:1, Interesting)
Japan's very different. Traditionally, women were slaves to their families, in a sense. When parents became too infirm, that was it for their daughters.... years of subservient home-care lay ahead, with no hope of reprieve until death.
So you can view this as "packing the parents off to the home" or as "the long term impact of freedom for women."
Maybe eventually Japan will be able to move back towards cring for the elderly at hhome in a more reasonable, non-o
Revolt! (Score:5, Funny)
DOOMED!
Re:Revolt! (Score:1)
KFG
Re:Revolt! (Score:1)
No, I meant dogs.
Clifford Simak's "City" [eternalnight.co.uk]
KFG
Re:Revolt! (Score:2)
Are you kidding? I'd gladly buy such a robot, it might have learnt traditional home-made cooking from his previous granny master and I'd save on japanese restaurant bills.
Re:Revolt! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Revolt! (Score:1)
hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Is this a literal reference towards the elderly?
What ever happened to... (Score:2, Interesting)
-Coward for an obvious reason
Re:What ever happened to... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What ever happened to... (Score:1)
Re:What ever happened to... (Score:1)
its called "a bun in the oven"
mmm...nothing like freshed baked bread!
I hope they come with the three laws of robotics. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I hope they come with the three laws of robotic (Score:2, Informative)
My God, dying by being shat on for weeks by your caretakers must be horrible!
Re:I hope they come with the three laws of robotic (Score:1)
Re:I hope they come with the three laws of robotic (Score:2)
Informative? That was a mistake, I hope (Score:2)
Re:I hope they come with the three laws of robotic (Score:5, Interesting)
Lets say that you import or hire workers to take care of the elderly. Are they going to be making a huge salary? NO, because those jobs are literally shit, and you get very little respect. If you were to pay more then health care costs sky-rocket.
Frankly on this issue the Japanese have the right attitude. Hire less professionals, pay them more and overall you have a better system. Instead of forcing the professionals to do "grunt" work let them focus on interacting with the elderly.
Re:I hope they come with the three laws of robotic (Score:2, Informative)
Ano... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Groundless assumption? (Score:1)
There are also LOTS of wheelchair-unfriendly buildings. To their credit, an awful lot of intersections have audio signals for pedestrians, which I rarely see on this side of the Pacific.
And the toilets aren't aimed at the handicapped. Hell, I longed for one this week, as
When will they learn? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:When will they learn? (Score:1)
Re:When will they learn? (Score:1, Informative)
Work visas? (Score:4, Informative)
I was offered a job and a work visa in '96 and turned it down, a friend of mine has been over there since '98 on a work visa.
ii na- (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:ii na- (Score:1, Funny)
on the bight side... I had to beat the girls off with a 2x4 ;-)
Kinky...
typo (Score:1)
Re:ii na- (Score:1)
I had to beat the girls off with a 2x4
Last time i checked, beating girls with a 2x4 was a violent crime. Gaijin da
Re:Work visas? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Work visas? (Score:2, Insightful)
Getting a re-entry permit is a pain. I know, I had to get a dozen or so when I was there. I also had to leave the country to change my visa (I came over on a working-holiday visa -- takes 2 weeks -- then switched to a work visa, then got a spouse visa when I married a Japanese), but she will have to do the same thing when she comes to Canada this su
Re:Work visas? (Score:2)
4 months? You're dealing with a country's immigration here -- that's LIGHTNING fast. Shit, I had to wait nearly that long to get the Colorado DMV to give me a title (after a title bond) for my car when I forgot to get the transfer notarized.
Re:Work visas? (Score:2, Insightful)
But do you really think that the same thing would happen for a S.E. Asian or African or Middle Eastern applicant who wanted to support themselves in Japan as an aide to the elderly, or as a housekeeper, or as anything else that could be perfor
Perfect! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Perfect! (Score:2)
But visions of them in the spin cycle evoke laughter!
They're the wrong trousers Matsushita and... (Score:1, Funny)
Robot population (Score:2)
That being said, I wanna be a cyborg
Good Idea... (Score:3, Interesting)
But seriously, the next logical progression in a technologically advancing society is to replace menial labour with automated systems, we have already done it with the factory production system, and the next step is the services industry.
As long as we dont give them unnecessary AI and for some reason equip robots designed to clean houses with tactical thermonuclear devices, we wont have to worry about any robotic revolutions.
Re:Good Idea... (Score:1)
Why would they bother to do that? The humans doing that work never showed any signs of it either...
<J/K!>
Re:Good Idea... (Score:1)
Re:Good Idea... (Score:3, Funny)
You haven't seen my apartment. Those tactical thermonuclear devices may be necessary.
robotic pants (Score:2)
Doug Moen
human touch (Score:2, Funny)
Possibilities (Score:5, Funny)
And on this side of the Pacific, elderly citizens already delighted by their mail application's ability to inform them "you've got mail" upon receipt thereof will be pleased to hear that their talking robotic geriatric care undergarments will now inform them of the arrival of such as is deposited within their own "inbox."
Re:Possibilities (Score:2)
Loneliness (Score:5, Insightful)
We need to humanize the problem of the increasing elder population and stop talking about 'technical' solutions.
Loneliness can kill [scienceblog.com].
Re:Loneliness (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree on that, but I also know of several workers at nursing homes saying that the elderly is annoyed with them. They don't want them to bath them and take care of them, and if the elderly likes to be taken care of by robots or machines or whatever, then maybe it's an okay solution. Elderly not at nursing homes on the other hand want human contacts and not machines to take care of them.
And I think too it has gone to far with all these technical solutions. We are humans afterall.
Re:Loneliness (Score:1)
I see you opinion becoming more prevalent in the next 5-15 years. Stop and think for a minute hardware specs 15 years ago and the ablity of any computing system then compared to now. A TI-89 has more computing power than the computers we sent a man to the moon (yes, I realize that is more than 15 years, but the point stands). I think we will see some people trying to avoid using excessive technology because th
Re:Loneliness (Score:2)
But in any case, these
Re:Loneliness (Score:5, Insightful)
Technical solutions ARE relevant. I doubt needing to get help from someone to wash myself would be my preferred form of social contact if I was old.
But it is a tool - not a solution in itself
Re:Loneliness (Score:1)
Re:Loneliness (Score:5, Interesting)
These aren't robots to keep them company. They're robots to keep them clean and robots to help them with everyday tasks. Get a grip on the situation and get off your soapbox.
I suppose in your world we shouldn't allow old people to drive cars because then they'd be lonely. Instead, we should have 6 fit young men carrying each old person around on a litter.
Instead of impersonal cooking machines, like microwaves, we can just hire teams of people to breathe heavily on the food until it's cooked. Heavens forbid that old people use a "technical solution" to cook their food.
I wonder what you might say if I explained to you the concept of a phone; a "technical solution" that allows for *greater* human interaction. Probably your head would explode as you tried to reconcile the paradox.
Stop being such a drongo. Robots to keep the elderly clean is a great thing. It means they'll receive better care, at an affordable price, and they can clean themselves when they want to rather than when the overworked nurse is available. A nurse, by the way, who could actually improve the quality of their patients lives if they weren't wasting their valuable time giving sponge baths.
Re:Loneliness (Score:2)
And you call yourself a geek?!
Re:Loneliness (Score:1)
I am surrounded by idiot technicians as assistant manager all day long. I would take robot bath from mechanical instead of my girl friend, if only no more lab co-workers who act foolish and don't work hard.
Re:Loneliness (Score:2)
You can't pay strangers to actually care about you. If you don't have family, you are likely to be lonely. If you do have family, they won't stop visiting just because you can bathe yourself (with robotic assistance).
Re:Loneliness (Score:2)
Re:Loneliness (Score:2)
The Europeans in their eighties committed themselves in their twenties to the mass murder of millions of other Europeans of their generation, simply because of slight differences in nationality or religion.
Now they're lonely. Speaking on behalf of the 70,000,000 people killed so enthuastically by these people in the European World Wars One and Two
Fuck 'em!!
Re:Loneliness (Score:1)
Working visas (Score:5, Interesting)
That's misguided and inaccurate. If you meet the criteria of having a 3 or 4 year degree, and a company values you enough to sponsor you, you can get a working visa.
Always remember, work visa arrangements between countries are reciprocal. If you find it hard to get a visa for Japan, chances are Japanese people find it much harder to get a visa for your country.
Oh, and if you want a job wiping up after old people, I'm sure the Ministry of Immingration will make an exception for you.
Re:Working visas (Score:1, Insightful)
It is interesting to note a few things about it. If anyone has ever studied in Japan, particualrly at University level you will notice that many foreign students are from other Asian countries. In the past the majority of people were from Western countries. This is a direct result of Japan trying to improve its status in Asia
Re:Working visas (Score:1, Informative)
Don't know much about the business world, but in education, foreigners are generally limited to short term contracts - like a one year contract that can only be renewed two or three times. No raises, no promotions, and every few years you get to go looking for another job. The government (the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Science, as I think
Why am I thinking... (Score:2)
Why am I thinking of Elijah Bailey and the Robot trilogy (especially Naked Sun) right now?
Re:Why am I thinking... (Score:2)
But if the Japanese have all the robots, that means they'll go all weird and we'll inherit the galaxy and build an empire that'll last for 10,000 years, right?
Re:Why am I thinking... (Score:2)
One would hope so.
And, actually, although I agree they get mentioned every time someone mentions robots, I think they're especially appropriate when replacing servents.
(Forgive any bad spelling; I haven't slept yet. :)
Been there. Done that. Roujin Z (1991) (Score:1, Informative)
First thing I thought of when I saw the story headline. I'm surprised nobody else cited this preniscient work....
My thoughts exactly (Score:2)
A country without children (Score:3, Insightful)
This is so sad. They fail to have children, and then refuse to accept foreigners who need the jobs for a living. Then they want to make for children and robots? So recently entered modernity, and already decadent... the rest of the First World is decadent too, but at least has had some half a millenium of modernity.
I think it was a rabbi who said that a country without children is orphan. And I'd add that a rich country who refuse poor needy workers is without heart.
Re:A country without children (Score:5, Informative)
I'm suspecting the situation there is similar as here in Finland, that the baby boom generation that was born after ww2 is getting old enough to retire, which means that a lot of jobs is going to be freed and the number of elderly people is going to increase quite fast(coupled with increased life expectancy).
It's not that there isn't any children. It's that the population isn't expanding rapidly as it was after ww2. basically what it means that because of the baby boom 50 years ago there's going to be a boom of people retiring in the coming years.
besides, a personal helper is very expensive if the problem is that a person needs just some mobility enchantment(basically the realistic alternative for normal folk being sent to a retirement home and lie drugged out on a bed there till you die - does that sound very good?).
and old people feel better if they can get on by themselfs, in their own homes(granted that they still get to meet other people and generally have some activity in their lives.).
not that they're very protective either, I'd guess you'd need to know the language pretty well to be able to carry out house helper tasks(and be subject to local minimum wage & etc laws. unlike in some certain countries into which foreign manual labour workforce can be brought in very cheaply and then dumped back to where they came from..). getting work visas into japan is far from impossible, but hey, it's slashdot! dramatised shit for nerds!
Re:A country without children (Score:2)
Re:A country without children (Score:2)
Check your numbers. For the population to be at least stable, there must be 2.2 children per woman, in order to make for early deaths, infertility and so on. The OECD (rich Europe) countries are typically now between 1.2 and 1.7 children per woman.
That is the point. There are millions of poor people that would be happy enough to be personal serv
Re:A country without children (Score:2)
Basic economics: if you make a machine, is that because it has become cheaper to project, build and operate it than to pay enough qualified workers.
Don't put words in my mouth.
Only if they don't want to do lesser jobs. Japan is still importing workers, despite a ten-year stagnation. That should give you a measure of pop
Re:The meaning of decadence (Score:2)
You yourself cited the Rape of Nanking. 'Nough said.
As for not having children, I can't understand how that wouldn't be decadence. Perhaps you think whomever did the Rape of Nanking shouldn't proliferate in the first place?
Robotic Trousers! (Score:2, Funny)
meta morpheus (Score:2, Interesting)
Now what if the machine doesn't stop? That could be cause of anxiety for people not used to technology.
I have mixed feelings about this, cleaning and feeding is often the only moment were elderly share time with another human presence.
Would this device not bring more loneliness and more depression, in a time where family solidarity and help seems to gradua
Cost of Labor vs. Cost of Manufactured Goods (Score:5, Interesting)
And if the U.S. passes jobs protection laws like those in Europe, I bet that the trend toward replacing people will accelerate. Low interest rates also help this trend by making it cheap (per month) to own an expensive piece of capital equipment. Add to that the fact that robots won't steal from you, take sick days, or quit when they are tired of caring for crotchety old coots, and this trend is inevitable.
This has been a movie. (Score:2, Funny)
Old Glory Insurance [snl] (Score:2, Funny)
Old Lady #2: They didn't have enough money for the funeral.
Old Lady #3: It's so hard nowadays, with all the gangs and rap music..
Old Lady #1: What about the robots?
Old Lady #4: Oh, they're everywhere!
Old Lady #1: I don't even know why the scientists make them.
Old Lady #2: Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots.
Old Lady #1: An insurance policy with a robot
heh.... (Score:1)
=)
e.
Pants? (Score:1)
"It's the wrong trousers, Gromit!"
We all know how that turned out.
NO!!! Stop them before it's too late!!! (Score:2)
Not more robotic legs... (Score:2)
Enter all "robotic pants" jokes here... (Score:2)
Once again, porn is driving technology (Score:1)
Porn drove the videotape industry to the point where every household has had a VCR unit.
Here the desire to 'interact' in a bubble bath setting, as seen in Emanuelle 2, is now driving the technology to develop high-tech robots, and the soon-to-be-released "hot tub" T101 will be the next hot new item...
I don't see the big deal (Score:1)
I guess I'm alone.. (Score:1)
Of course, we all know that this is eventually where it will lead, even though we both want to embrace it, and are scared of it at the same time: Human like robots. The more familia
Just wait... (Score:3, Interesting)
whee! bubbles! (Score:2)
maybe this could be more generally useful. perhaps spas that now offer facials etc. could also offer auto-bubblebath.
Rojin Z anyone? (Score:1)
I loved this part (Score:2)
I wonder if that ever occured to James Brooke that in 2050 medicine will be able to care about 65-year olds a little bit better than today. You can be a complete anti-future green luddite, but you still have to admit that the progress is happening. Even if none of the
When the power goes out... (Score:1)
I know there is a joke here somewhere, heh.
Robots? Baths? Japan? (Score:2)
Robot?! (Score:1)
Japan is so cool... (Score:1)
In Japan (Score:2)
Re:Oh no! (Score:2)
Re:in a country that is not inclined to grant work (Score:1)