Japan is the world’s ‘oldest’ country — people aged 65 and above account for more than a quarter of the archipelago’s demographic. The number is likely to shoot up to 40% by 2065. To just maintain the size of its current population, Japan would have to let in more than half a million immigrants a year, but the country is one of the most immigration-resistant nations. Less than 2% of the population is foreign-born and Japan accepted a grand total of 20 asylum seekers in 2017. The shrinking and greying population, combined with the resistance to immigration, means that the number of nursing caregiver in Japan is woefully inadequate. A shortfall of 3,70,000 carers is predicted by 2025. But the government is still seeking to keep the brakes on nurses and orderlies from abroad, with robots.
The last decade has seen a profusion of ‘carebots,’ with humanoids — cute or high-tech ones — stealing the headlines. There is Robear, a bear-like nursing robot touted to be gentle, yet strong enough to lift an elderly person. A baby seal-shaped therapeutic robot called Paro has also been on the news. It’s intended to have a calming effect on distressed patients, similar to the emotional response evoked by a pet.
But Hirohisa Hirukawa, director of robot innovation research at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, says that research money is best spent on cheaper, low-tech robots that ease the burden on nursing staff rather than supplanting them, and boost the autonomy of people still living at home. His centre has been at the forefront of a five year-long, government-funded project to develop robotic nursing devices and establish a safety protocol for them as well.
The project, which was financed to the tune of ¥2.5 billion ($23.4 million) a year between 2013 and 2017, had 98 manufacturers participating in it and led to the development of 15 commercial products that are being tested in about 5,000 nursing homes across the country.
These include simple devices to help frail seniors get out of beds and into a wheelchair, assist them in stepping in and out of bathtubs, as well as helping with walking up and down slopes. Smart sensors that alert staff at nursing homes when a patient is too close to the edge of the bed, or trying to rise to visit the toilet are another focus.
Robots like these may not be eye-catching, but Mr. Hirukawa believes that they represent the best return on investment, allowing the elderly to maintain more autonomous lives for longer, and freeing caregivers from dangerous heavy-lifting.
Cultural resistance
According to the government’s robot strategy, it is hoped that four in five care recipients accept some level of robot-support by 2020, but this seems overly ambitious. Only about 8% of nursing centres currently employ lifting robots. Moreover, Mr. Hirukawa identifies a widespread cultural resistance to using machines as the biggest challenge, despite Japan’s higher-than-average comfort level with robots. He admits that robots are not more efficient than human caregivers. It can take the latter 10 seconds to lift a patient from the bed to a wheelchair, whereas the same operation undertaken by a machine requires several minutes.
It would appear that the Japanese face two choices, both of which require a change in mindset: more openness to immigration or more openness to robot assistants. It’s a fair guess that the robots will triumph.
(Pallavi Aiyar is an author and journalist based in Tokyo)
