Japan is rolling out robots in nursing homes, offices and schools as its population ages and workforce shrinks. What can it teach other countries facing the same problems?

Source: BBC Future

Date: February 6th, 2020

Link: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200205-what-the-world-can-learn-from-japans-robots

Discussion

1. ” 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. The smiling resident holds Telenoid like a baby and says, “Let’s sing a song again”. The staff say that this particular patient is usually very quiet, but not with the robot. “It’s fun, seeing them react like that,” says Okabe, who’s worked at the nursing home for five years. “They react differently to the robots than they do to us.”
   In what other ways could a robot like this be put to good use?
2. ” One area that needs workers is housekeeping services. With more pensioners and fewer workers, demand for in-house caregivers and cleaners is on the rise. That’s why Mira Robotics has also created a butler robot that can do simple tasks like wash dishes, fold clothes and vacuum, which are actually quite complex tasks for a robot. In other countries, like Hong Kong, the solution is to have more immigrants, but it’s not a perfect solution. Japan is quite domestic-oriented, and we don’t accept many immigrants, so robots are more suitable.”
   What do you think about this argument that robots are “more suitable” than immigrants?