Caregiving: Send In the AI Robots
Does anyone remember the Jetsons?
It premiered in 1962, the year I was born. I was more of a Flintstones fan, but unlike the Flintstones, which centered around life during the Stone Age, the Jetsons focused on family life in the distant year 2062, replete with apartments in the sky, flying cars and a sassy robotic maid named "Rosie." Many of the technologies the Jetsons predicted in the cartoon are today a reality.
Robots, for example, are being used in various ways across different industries and applications, and one of them is to use AI robots for companionship and assistance in senior care facilities and eventually to help with daily tasks and make them available to keep seniors living independently in their homes.
Mango and Kiwi are AI robots with a social component created in a lab in Japan, and on loan recently to researchers at the University of British Columbia and tried out on a few residents from a local senior facility in West Vancouver.
Mango and Kiwi resemble a miniature version of the Teletubbies. But no matter their strange yet cute and appealing appearance, the study aims to see whether these highly performing robots can enhance senior living in long-term care facilities and help stave loneliness, depression, and specific conditions.
Is this where our future is heading: outsourcing the onus to robots?
Lillian Hung, Canada Research Chair in Senior Care overseeing the AI robot pilot project, explained that
"...social robots are intriguing because they are made to interact with people, which could help ease seniors' loneliness. Global statistics show that loneliness levels in Canada are rising, and something needs to be done. The loneliness and social isolation that many older people suffer from can be detrimental to their mental and emotional health. In past studies, seniors who use companion robots report feeling less lonely since they are able to converse with them and even get affection from them. "
In my view, careful planning and investing more in skilled professional staff, resources, and initiatives that facilitate intergenerational connections is a better solution than building sophisticated machines.
Japan prides itself in caring for its seniors by matching isolated seniors with younger visitors/volunteers from organizations and schools. Such programs provide benefits for the seniors and offer the younger generations an opportunity to learn from and connect with them.
Hung has said, "As humans, we are social beings. We all have that fundamental need to love and be loved, and I think that is what the robot is about — to help build social connections."
Can robots substitute personalized stimulating engagement, emotional support and genuine human interaction? What happens when Mango or Kiwi have a tumble off a senior's lap and malfunction? Will they be on extended AI sick leave while a new part remains on backorder?
In the article on Mango and Kiwi, Hung again clarifies that further exploration of these robots is needed to understand their full impact.
"With technology advancing and North America's population rapidly aging, she said she hopes the research can begin to touch on major questions — including the implications of entrusting emotional and social support roles to machines."
Undoubtedly, technology is moving at lightning speed, and AI technology serves multiple and invaluable purposes, some with the noble intention to improve the quality of life in certain situations.
I pray by the time my husband and I reach the age when we might need additional help and move into a senior home that Gizmo our AI Roomba vacuum that comes in daily to clean our rooms, won't also be responsible for feeding us Yankee beans and tucking us into bed!
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About the Author:
Wendy Reichental, B.A.,Dip. in Human Relations and Family Life Education, McGill University. Certified in Foot Reflexology, RCRT® Registered Canadian Reflexology Therapist.
Wendy enjoys capturing life’s passages in short essays and opinion pieces. Her writings have appeared in The Montreal Gazette, Ottawa’s Globe and Mail, and various online magazines. Wendy's unique take on those first days of the Pandemic lockdown is now part of the anthology Chronicling the Days by Marianne Ackerman (Editor) and Linda M. Morra (Editor). Guernica Editions, Spring 2021
