An article in the January 7 issue of the Washington Post says a “small army” of robots designed to assist with elder care on display at a recent Tokyo exhibit are being touted as the answer to Japan’s looming demographic crisis. “One such gizmo, on display at the show, can spoon-feed the elderly. Others are being designed to hoist them onto a toilet and phone a nurse when they won’t take their pills,” says “Demographic Crisis, Robotic Cure?”
Japan already has “the world’s largest proportion of residents over 65 and smallest proportion of children under 15,” the article points out, and the marriage and birth rate among young women is low. And, while workers from other countries could fill open slots, political opposition to immigration remains strong.
“There are critics who describe the robot cure for an aging society as little more than high-tech quackery,” the article notes. “They say that robots are a politically expedient palliative that allows politicians and corporate leaders to avoid wrenchingly difficult social issues, such as Japan’s deep-seated aversion to immigration, its chronic shortage of affordable day care and Japanese women’s increasing rejection of motherhood.”
Where you stand on the issue depends on your answer to the rhetorical question asked by a Toyota division manager. “Are you going to let strangers into your home?” he said. “Or do you have robots?”
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