Human or Robot—
Can You Accept Robotic Caretakers in Your Later Years?
Purpose
We are going to introduce “Robotic Nurses” in senior care to our target audience, and we will discuss whether it is feasible to put it to use in the aging society and the era of medical manpower shortage. Our main purpose is to reassure people who cannot accept robotic nurses due to some misunderstandings of AI robots. Based on the survey we conducted, the misunderstandings include emotional exchange between robots and humans, robots’ emergency handling capability and robots’ appearances. We hope to encourage people to think positively about robotic nurses by discussing why robotic nurses are strongly needed in the future.
Introduction
“Ah!” An old woman fell down when she tried to get out of her bed. She lived alone and nobody could hear her crying for help and give her a hand to stand up. The old woman’s children worked in another city and thus couldn’t take care of her by her side. Living in a modern society where everyone is busy burning the candle at both ends, it is a tricky but common task for the youngsters to strike a balance between work and family. The elderly may not receive complete care if their children are occupied by the overwhelming work, and are too busy to look after them. On the other hand, the elderly may be sent to nursing homes with insufficient caretakers to spend their later years. Those nursing homes are usually filled with excessive old people due to shortage of manpower. As for those elderly who are not sent to nursing homes, they live alone and try to deal with their own daily needs on their own. However, their efforts may be in vain because of their feeble bodies.
Experts predict that nurses are presently needed now and may be more urgently needed than ever in the near future because of the aging population problem. Thus, using artificial intelligence robots may be a solution when people are facing the shortage of manpower to take care of people in need. Although artificial intelligence robots are able to deal with patients’ condition more immediately and accurately, whether the utilization of artificial intelligence robots can perfectly replace the job of human nurses is still uncertain because people are accustomed to human nurses. Imagine that robotic nurses become part of your life in the future, can you accept them? As the high-tech industry keeps innovating and improving, we believe AI robots can accomplish more complicated tasks like senior care.
Projects of robotic nurses on senior care
There are different projects of robotic nurses on senior care around the world:
1. Robear-a caretaker that can accomplish the tasks traditionally done by human nurses
Robear has strong arms and “nimble joints” that can hold people in arms to different places.
(Source: The strong robot with the gentle touch, from https://www.riken.jp/en/news_pubs/research_news/pr/2015/20150223_2/index.html)
“Robear'' is an experimental project of robotic nurse that tries to take care of the elderly’s daily needs in Japan (NEW ATLAS, 2015). It is a robot with the appearance of a cute bear and weighs 140 kilograms (NEW ATLAS, 2015). According to the website of RIKEN, a government research institution doing science and collaborating with the company planning to manufacture Robear in Japan, it has a soft and gentle skin touch instead of hard metal cover, which will make the elderly feel more comfortable when it helps them with their daily needs. Although it owns a firm and big base, which keeps itself from overturning, its legs can expand and contract flexibly when passing through narrow passages.
Robear shares many of the same functions as a human nurse (NEW ATLAS, 2015). For example, it has strong arms and legs to accomplish the tasks done by human nurses, such as “lifting the elderly in the nursing home out of their bed or putting them on their beds, holding them in arms to different places, supporting them to stand, and turning over those who lie in bed for a long time” (NEW ATLAS, 2015). Moreover, sensors are attached to Robear’s body and detect how much force they should impose on the elderly according to their postures and angles. To correctly adjust the angle of their arms to operate in the right way, Robear even makes good use of its “nimble joints” when helping the elderly to move (NEW ATLAS, 2015). Besides, Robear can easily detect the location of the elderly with the distance sensor in its head.
Although the Robear project ended without being a commodity in the market, the concept of Robear is expected to help humans to create robotic nurses with function like agilely carrying out nursing work that is done by human nurses before, which will undoubtedly lighten human nurses’ burden of taking care of many people at the same time in the near future.
2. iPal- a companion robot that cares for the elderly’s emotions
The elderly can have video phone calls with their children through the screen of iPal’s chest.
(Source: AvatarMind iPAL® Robot Family, from https://www.ipalrobot.com/)
“iPal” serves as a companion robot that cares for the elderly’s emotions and reacts to emergencies in China(Ecns.cn, Senior care robots look after China's elderly, 2018). According to the website of iPal platform, iPal are 103 centimeters in height and 12.5 kilograms in weight. With the texture of “non-toxic ABSmaterial,” iPal ensures safe exposure for the elderly (Nanjing AvatarMind Robot Technology, 2017).
iPal identifies the elderly’s location and reacts to their emotions through the “infrared sensors” that detect short range objects and “ultrasound sensors” that locate longer range objects (iPal platform). According to health news on healthline, iPal will also share their happiness when the elderly show they are happy. However, when they show they are depressed, iPal will entertain them by singing or dancing. iPal also detects the elderly’s appearance and reacts to their voices and touch with its sensors that are on its skin. A 2018 news article on Ecns.cn “Senior care robots look after China's elderly” even mentioned that iPal can interact with them and entertain them by having simple conversations with them. Because iPal is connected with Wi-fi and bluetooth, it allows the elderly’s family to trace their condition from a distance. Therefore, the elderly can have video phone calls with their children, which will display on the screen of iPal’s chest. As for the elderly’s daily activities, iPal can trace their schedule set by their family and “remind them to take medicine” or “send a signal to the elderly’s family when the elderly encounter emergencies such as tumble” (Ecns.cn, Senior care robots look after China's elderly, 2018).
In conclusion, iPal helps the elderly to relieve their loneliness to some degree since it acts like a human nurse with emotions. Although iPal may not be able to completely replace humans, it can make the elderly’s life more interesting and convenient.
3. Dinsow Mini-a small AI robot that will always stays by your side
Aside from the AI robots mentioned above, which are bigger in size, there are also smaller ones that aid the senior care in hospitals, like an AI robotic nurse called “Dinsow Mini”. (Dinsow Mini) According to CT Asia Robotics, the company that invented this robotic nurse, although it is only 60 centimeters high, just as its name “mini” indicated, the small body doesn’t limit its features; it does not lack any other functions that other AI robotic caregivers own. In addition, thanks to Dinsow Mini’s small volume, it is small enough to be placed by the side of bedridden elders and patients and is consequently more convenient for them to operate. What’s more, a cartoon-like face is displayed on the robotic nurse’s screen, which allows it to blink and smile to users. This helps give elderly people a feeling that they are interacting with more than an indifferent machine, which never responds.
Moreover, based on the company CT Asia Robotics, Dinsow Mini is installed with a 3D camera which can help monitor elderly people, and their family members who have difficulties accompanying them 7/24 still have the access to track their health through smartphones. It is known to be the pioneering force in elderly health caring field, for its functions include talking to elders, reminding aged people to take medicine as well as keep medical records afterwards, and informing healthcare workers immediately when elders haven't moved for an hour. Simply standing on the night table beside its user, this AI robotic nurse can detect body movements and vital signs, and then it transmits the collected information via sensors to doctors, completing a “telemedicine” task. This solves the problems for people who are confined to bed because visiting doctors and having a health checkup are not easy things for them.
What makes Dinsow Mini stand out from other robots is the karaoke function. It entertains lonely seniors that seldom smile, like an elderly Japanese user named Yoshii Yoshihara, by singing some old songs with them, which allows aged people to feel they are interacting with an old friend. With all the functions mentioned above, Dinsow Mini has become a popular AI robot used in both Japan and Thailand after its rollout in 2015( Andrew, 2017 )
In general, there is no doubt that Dinsow Mini is not only a bot invented to take care of elders, but also a friend of theirs. Serving as a helpful caregiver in nursing homes, this AI robotic nurse is ready to be utilized more widely in the future.
4. Stevie-the best assistance in nursing homes
When it comes to the most well-known AI robotic nurse, “Stevie” might be the one that you have heard before since it was featured in the iconic magazine TIME’s exclusive list of the 100 best inventions of 2019. Based on the article, Stevie is 4 foot and 7 inch big. As the first socially assertive AI robot in Ireland, it is designed to aid people, especially aged ones.
From reminding aged people to turn out lights and take the medicine on time to making an emergency call for people, Stevie proves itself a full-fledged caretaker. Stevie interacts with elderly people who live on their own by detecting what they are saying with the installed sensors and then reply to it spontaneously. The so-called socially assistive AI robot, Stevie, is capable of “recognizing and responding with canned answers to about 100 common questions—‘How are you’, ‘where are you from’” (Corinne, 2019) Furthermore, users barely have to worry that this AI robotic caregiver cannot deal with unfamiliar emergencies. If Stevie detects the situation is out of his control, it will contact professional human carers and let them take over the whole case. By wearing a virtual reality helmet, humans can see through Stevie’s screen in order to manipulate the robot’s arms and gestures.
Not only can Stevie be utilized at home but it also can help carers in nursing homes. For instance, in Ireland, since Stevie is created to interchange with humans, nurses won’t have to stick to one particular senior only but they can do other things while the robot replaces their position to accompany and watch over the elders. According to the feedback on interacting with Stevie, both geriatric users and their caretakers find it pleasant to have this friendly robot around them. (Elaine, 2020)
All in all, Stevie is the type of robot that can build an intimate relationship with humans and also helps a lot in the elder-care industry. The existence of Stevie is not replacing human workers but to help reduce caretakers’ workload. With the assistance of Stevie, both workers and seniors in nursing homes are satisfied.
People’s concerns about robotic nurses and the corresponding examples of solution
Although there are so many robotic caretakers now that can achieve complicated work that is traditionally done by humans in the market, some people around us still doubt whether robotic nurses can be feasible for senior care. Thus, we did a questionnaire survey about robotic usage in senior care and tried to figure out people’s reasons for refusing robotic nurses in their later years. There were 352 people aged 18 to 65 years old taking part in our questionnaire, and nearly 30% of them refused to have AI robotic nurses in later years. The results showed the two main reasons: “Robots lack emotions” and “Robots are unable to handle emergencies”. In addition to the survey result, we also found that there was a further concern “Robots look exactly like humans” that people around the world refuse robots.
1. Robots lack emotions
Speaking of robotic nurses, most participants in our survey cannot imagine that robotic nurses are able to take care of themselves thoroughly, and the biggest concern is that unlike human nurses with emotions, robotic nurses are cold in both their body and heart. Thus, some people may hold back from relying on robotic nurses.
According to the survey result, among the 102 people who refuse robotic nurses, 62 people couldn’t accept robotic nurses because they thought robots lack emotion, including the answers such as “No interaction,” “No conversation,” “Cannot feel the intimate degree of each other’s communication,” “No human touch,” “Robots are cold,” “No spirituality and humanity,” “Cannot take care of the elderly’s feelings and emotions,” and so on. They refused to have AI robotic nurses in their later years because they cannot feel the exact relationship such as family love between them and the robots. Due to the unsure relationship, they couldn’t believe in robots. For these people, they think a real person can be more inspirational than robots since they can listen to secrets in their mind and give them spiritual support or useful advice depending on different situations or the topics of their conversations. And because the questionnaire focused on “later years”, the participants also considered whether robots can take care of their emotions when they face loneliness in their later years. In other words, the participants feel safe only if they were taken care of by their “real” family members or they are accompanied by a person with “true and immediate” reactions and emotions instead of a robot which is programmed with a set emotional procedure by humans beforehand and is unable to give specific feedback. That is, being accompanied by a human or by a robot are quite different because emotional exchange decides if the companionship is able to reach its goal of comforting and assisting the elderly.
In addition to our participants, the general public feel that they would have difficulties in acquiring true feelings of being accompanied if they are to be looked after by a robot, for it is not a real human being. A robot neither expresses how much they care about its owner nor give a tender hug when humans are depressed. Not to mention it is unable to exchange thoughts with an AI robotic caregiver. Although these non-human nurses are assigned by human beings to accomplish many tasks that help humans, they lack emotions after all. To some people, robots are set to reply to some basic questions, but this kind of interaction is too stiff and cold. For those who hold the negative attitude toward being taken care of by AI robots, they think what a person needs in later years is someone to accompany them with a warm heart, which can only be done by a real human being.
Although some participants felt it inappropriate to be taken care of by robots without emotions, there are actually some cases which can eliminate their concerns. The issue of robots’ lack of emotions has been noticed, and experts have been trying to improve it. Basic robotic nurses with emotions such as iPal try to have emotional exchange with the elderly. iPal detects humans’ emotions and tries to undertake their emotions together, making them feel that they will be accompanied even if they fall into the low ebb. Another ongoing project of emotional robots is conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. According to their paper “Toward Teaching a Robot "Infant" Using Emotive Communication Acts”, they try to train a robot Kismet to learn the emotions like irritation, fear, sorrow, and gladness. This robot learns different emotions with various social environments similar to the real world that are designed by the researchers. Through its interaction with the caretakers played by humans, the human caretakers make it know “how its actions will influence caretakers” by teaching and demonstrating what to do in real-life incidents. This project provides practice of expressing emotions within conversations between robots and humans in simulated social interactions that may occur in reality.
2. Robots are unable to handle emergencies
Another reason that our participants are afraid of AI robotic nurses is that robots cannot deal with certain accidents that occur in reality. They have misunderstood that when a heart attack strikes abruptly on the senior, non-human robots will just stand there and look on because they are not as resourceful as human beings.
The participants’ concern is understandable since it is undeniable that the programs are set in the robotic nurses initially and is impossible for computer programmers to envisage every emergency. However, does this mean all AI robotic caretakers can do is silently watch elderly people beset with dangers or crises and do nothing? The answer is “Absolutely no”!
Although the responses of our questionnaires showed that most people believe AI robots are inflexible, it is just a misconception. Based on the results, among the 102 people that mistrust robotic nurses, 53 participants conveyed their doubts like “I think robots cannot take care of me in all aspects because when accidents happen on me, human nurses seem to recognize more quickly ” “Robots are too inflexible and thus are unable to handle outbreaks ” “Maybe they will make wrong decision in emergencies” “They can’t react to all kinds of situation” Finally, most people shared a similar idea like “Robots aren’t capable of making appropriate choices during emergencies.” The results show people still don’t completely trust AI nurses because robots are not independent enough to think on their own.
Whereas, as far as the group that created AI robotic nurse Stevie is concerned, the emergency problems which regarded as a nightmare to most people are not an obstacle at all. Due to their design, experienced professionals can always be notified of emergencies if it is needed. When unpredictable incidents happen to old people and Stevie itself cannot find any solution in its entered programs, it will contact human caretakers immediately. By doing so, humans are able to remotely control Stevie’s arms and wheels after thoroughly grasping the situation. Even though the whole progress is not accomplished solely by a robot and has manpower involved, it is not a big deal. As replacing all human work is not the main reason for creating robotic nurses; they are invented to solve the aging population problem as well as assist and cooperate with humans in the near future, not working in solitary.
3. Robots look exactly like human
The above reasons show people's concerns about robotic usage, and there is still another problem left: the elderly may feel odd to face a machine with human-like appearance. That is, it is unacceptable for the elderly that a robot may look like a human while it is actually not a real person. Some people dislike robots that look like humans because it will challenge their ability to differentiate between human and non-human. When there is a vague differentiation between human and non-human because robots merely as machines become more and more similar to humans, people will feel that they lose their uniqueness of being a “human”.
According to Evan Ackerman (2016), the knotty part of human-like robots is that humanlike robots will show the characteristics and abilities of humans though they are just a machine. Besides, it will be difficult for the elderly to be accustomed to these humanlike robots and interact with them in human ways. Evan Ackerman also mentioned that a paper in the International Journal of Social Robotics had discussed the distinction between human and human-like robots in the era with the utilization of robots. The paper stated that humans resist human-like robots because they feel their “human uniqueness” is violated. Thus, implementing robots with human roles like caretakers in real life still has a long way to go.
So far, an AI humanoid robot called “Sophia” has been mentioned a lot when discussing human-like bots. At the first sight of seeing Sophia’s face, people may be shocked about how similar she looks like a real human being. Sophia’s skin is made from the material, “Frubber”, which is a kind of a flexible rubber that allows her to simulate human expressions with less encumbrance. With the help of “Frubber” substance, Sophia can demonstrate up to 50 distinct countenances vividly. (Shuin, 2018) The fact that Sophia bears a very close resemblance to real humans has the possibility to terrify people who originally accept robotic nurses, for they are not ready to keep a humanoid robot beside them.
In fact, not all robotic nurses look like simulated human beings, and some of them even have adorable appearances. What may surprise you is that there is an AI caregiver named “Paro”, which looks like a furry and fluffy seal. According to an interview in 2015 with the designer of Paro, Dr. Takanori Shibata, he inferred “I investigated a lot of research on human-animal bonds and animal therapy.” However, he then listed a bunch of problems that real animals may trigger when applying them in therapy, including allergies, infections, training costs, and are not permitted to go to hospitals and elderly facilities. “Therefore, I thought if animal-type robots are accepted by humans and have therapeutic effects like animals, they should be more attractive, convenient and cheaper for people and facilities that cannot own real animals.” (Anna, 2015)
AI robot PARO looks like a fluffy and furry seal doll.
(Source:Thrillist, https://www.google.com.tw/amp/s/www.thrillist.com/amphtml/entertainment/nation/par o-the-seal-creator-interview-master-of-none)
When people start to interact with PARO, they will observe that it is more than a cute doll. It is installed with five sensors, including touch, sound, light, temperature and attitude, through which PARO can sense and respond to the condition of the person and the environment. It accompanies lonely elders and “has been shown to have a psychological effect on patients, improving their relaxation and motivation” as well as “improves the socialization of patients with each other and with caregivers” (PARO Robots USA, 2014)
As a result, robotic nurses can have other appearances than human faces, and there are possibilities that we will grow fond of these types of useful yet lovely AI robots.
Conclusion
Can you accept robotic caretakers looking after you in your later years? The answer might be negative before reading this paper, and your reasons for taking this issue with a grain of salt might be similar to the people who were surveyed, which are mentioned in the former paragraphs. By showing four types of AI robotic nurses, it is clear that possibilities of applying such robots in the senior caring industry is soaring. Doubts including robot’s emotions, emergency handling ability and appearances have also been discussed and clarified in the essay. It is time that we give AI robots a chance. After all, these bots are a chance of saving the aged population in our future. Due to the lack of manpower in senior caring fields, using robotic nurses is necessary in the upcoming days. However, some robotic nurses like Dinsow Mini are already feasible at present and they are just waiting for the time that more people can embrace them. Despite the fact that there are a few more concerns mentioned above that should be tackled, as long as these problems are solved, we have to admit that it is a good start to cooperate with AI robotic caregivers by then, for they are designed to help us humans to deal with the inevitable aging population.
Authors: Skye and Michelle
We are NCCU students majoring in English. In our linguistic course, we were introduced to a chatbot named “Eliza” which will interact with speakers and respond to them according to the set-up keywords in their questions. Besides, interactive AI like Siri becomes more and more common in our daily life. This arouses our interest in researching the topic of interactive AI. More specifically, we would like to know how they can interact with human beings effectively and satisfy humans’ needs in reality and whether it will be accepted in the future.
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