In this article (see my quick translation here) we are told about a little robot in Japan named PALRO (see picture, from the PALRO website) that's being used to lead group recreational activities and exercises for the elderly at a particular nursing home. The article itself doesn't directly discuss anything hard-hitting, but as I read it I had to grapple with some of my own concerns about robots as a replacement for human interactions, the same kind of worries that came to mind when I read Asimov's "Robbie."
In summary, the article describes how PALRO's introduction has been enjoyable for the elderly patrons of this "nursing home" (actually called a "day service," it's a kind of outpatient senior center or home-visiting nursing service) as well as helpful for the staff. The benefits to the staff were ones I hadn't expected; I thought that PALRO's presence might leave the staff only trivial things to do, but in reality PALRO gave them the chance to focus on the more time-intensive but also more-important work of one-on-one rehabilitation, which is really also a plus for the patrons.
As I recently commented on the "How do you really feel about AI?" post on the blog, I have some reservations about using robots as a replacement for human interaction, as I don't think it's healthy. (Even interaction with other people through the computer is a questionable replacement for face-to-face interaction.) But this particular article made me reconsider that, because my experience with the elderly in America is that they don't get the kind of interaction that they need from other people. (I'm not sure if this is the case in Japan, however.) So, while it may not be ideal that they hae interactions with robots instead of people, it is better than some of the things that happen in nursing homes here, especially if the robot allows the staff to give more personalized attention to those that need it.
It's hard to connect this to much of our class discussion, because we didn't address human-robot interactions much except when we discussed the imperfections of chatbots, but I think it's a worthy topic. It pops up in a lot of sci-fi, not just I, Robot, so people have been thinking about it for some time. I'm curious to know my classmate's thoughts on the matter--either on this particular use of robots or on robots as "friends" in general.
(This does bear some similarities to Pepper, but as far as I know PALRO is a little less sophisticated (?) and is meant to engage people in chatting and activities, not to recognize and react to emotions. Maybe this affects your thoughts on the subject.)
It was interesting your article mentioned singing. When one of my grandmothers was going through Alzheimer's (or something similar, where she gradually lost her memory/mind), for a very long time she would still really enjoy singing. She lived at home with my parents and me... so not in a nursing home... and sometimes I would play the piano and she would sing along with me... but our lives kept moving, and we didn't have time/patience to interact with her ALL of the time. I wonder whether she would have enjoyed a robot friend that would sing with her... or not. She seemed like more of a "people person" than a "robot person"... but who knows. She did like to sing.
ReplyDeleteI think in the future, they will have a variation of Pepper for the elderly in the nursing home. The old people are in need of both physical and emotional care and nursing human employees may not be able to satisfy the elderly (not to mention all the abuse that are happening right now). A robot that can adapt to the people's emotion is a great addition to the nursing home
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I think singing was a superb feature to add. I think technology that can keep the elderly engaged mentally is a plus. I can imagine family members visiting and making the robot play music they can share in, and maybe share photos and stuff from the past?
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I think singing was a superb feature to add. I think technology that can keep the elderly engaged mentally is a plus. I can imagine family members visiting and making the robot play music they can share in, and maybe share photos and stuff from the past?
ReplyDeleteI think that the robots would be more of an addition than a replacement. I agree that if the robots were going to be the only caregivers than that would be a problem but it seemed in the article that they are acting as support. In that role I think they could be extremely helpful. Maybe having robots that keep track of what is happening and residents health would help prevent abuse from happening.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Abby. I think there is a thin line between using robots to help when someone cannot be there all the time, but I think there still needs to be human connection mixed in as well. Do you think this could also work in places such as hospitals and child care services? Not in place of humans, but to help the people working there. There have been so many accidents if a child gets out of sight because there are not enough people working at a facility. What do you guys think?
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