Old age against the machine: Experts offer some robo-pessimism over prospect of more bots in LTC
McKnight’s Senior Living March 25, 2024
Despite stories that senior livng and care robots are dominating on the other side of the Pacific, the promise of such technology thus far has been severely overstated, according to a new report in The Atlantic.
The feature, which included interviews with long-term care and robotics experts both for and against the proliferation of robots in such settings, highlighted several criticisms of the technology. Robot skeptics portrayed the technology as cumbersome and overhyped.
Most significantly, some assistive robots can create extra work for caregivers and raise new safety issues among residents, the report stated.
The article also threw some cold water on existing research that robots improved older adults’ well-being and socialization, including in countries such as Japan, where...