Waiting for caregiver robots

Population ageing means important innovations in the field of personal care. For example, assistance to older people will no longer be provided only by “human” nurses and caregivers but also by humanoid robots, specifically created to look after seniors: remember meticulously the medicines, help them if unable to move and keep company to them with those kindness and good manners that are included in their programming system.

The 2 million pounds project is financed by Europe and Japan, where the first Pepper Robot models, produced by Softbank Robotics, are already working in thousands of houses.

“It is not a question of replacing human support but enhancing and complementing it”, says Irena Papadopoulos from Middlesex University. “As people live longer, health systems are put under increasing pressure”, she adds: “Intelligent robots could relieve pressures in hospitals and care homes as well as improving care assistance at home and helping the older people to have an independent living”.