Robotics is still hot, especially caring robots for the elderly but they are already raising some questions.

Nothing unexpected in the way of questions. Some related to ethics and some related to loosing touch with humanity. You know, would you want a robot taking care of your sweet grandmother. I don’t know, you’ll have to go and ask her. It’s her call and not mine.

As for myself it’s a no-brainer. I’m part recluse and part hermit, so the ability to pull the plug on an annoying droid is quite inviting as opposed to dealing with a pesky human. It’s also inviting as a possible solution in countries that are faced with the rising cost of care for their elder population.

Japanese developers have been hot on caring robots for some time and with good reason. By 2055 they anticipate that 44% of the Japanese population will be elderly. They must have missed our baby boom by a generation or so.

Yes, these things can get expensive but that shouldn’t be a problem for long. Anything Japan can invent China can knock off.

Here’s a small taste of what things are looking like:

ROMEO caregiver robot	ROMEO Developed by Aldebaran Robotics of France. Romeo is a caregiver robot that was designed to carry out gofor tasks for elderly people. Similar to Mickey Mouse, Romeo has four fingers that can grasp things like cups, bottles and cans of beer, and other often needed objects. Romeo also has articulated arms for reaching and placing as well as articulated motorized lower limbs for coming and going and taking the trash out. Interactions are through natural speech and gestures. If you can’t afford a human caregiver than Romeo is not for you. At a heart stopping $330,000.00 it may need to do a bit more than tend bar or take the garbage out.
RIBA	RIBA Robot for Interactive Body Assistance, developed by RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries of Japan. RIBA is a lift and carry nurses assistant. Actually it looks like the nurse is assisting RIBA. Anyway, this rodent faced robot stands 140 centimeters tall and weighs 180 kilograms. RIBA can lift a person from bed to wheelchair and and back again with the aid of a human caregiver. Tactile sensors allow caregivers to control RIBA by touch, such as turning it around by putting a hand on its arm or changing the elbow angle by pushing the arm. Pretty cool but basically a high tech patient lifting and transfer device, but cuter.
Bionic Handling Assistant	Bionic Handling Assistant Developed by Festo and Fraunhofer IPA of Germany. At last, a non-humanoid looking robot. The Handling Assistant was actually inspired by the flexible and multi-purposed elephant trunk, no kidding. Designed for potential use in industry, caregiving, and home use, the main innovation lies in the system’s unique human-machine cooperation. What does that mean? It’s designed to work with a human without doing any harm to the human. It’s a take and place or grab and put robot that won a German design award.
My Spoon	My Spoon Developed by Secom of Japan. The My Spoon is a robotic feeding device with an articulated arm for scooping chow and placing it where a hungry user can get at it. The device is usable with almost all types of everyday foods. No special food packets required. It can be tailored for specific types of disabilities with interchangeable controllers. Hmm, I’m thinking this is deja vu from the 1980s when as I recall there were several similar devices on the market. They worked fairly well except for some scoop and spill issues they had when approaching the food container and when lining up with some hungry mouths. I guess we are going to find out, again. This time it will cost $4,800.00 instead of $1,200.00.
Tmsuk 4	Tmsuk 4 Developed by Tmsuk of Japan. TMSUK-4 was developed as a humanoid robot controlled by a cellular phone. It allows people to control TMSUK-4 from anywhere in the world. Tmsuk 4 underwent real shopping tests under the actual situation where the robot user stayed at home and sent the robot off to a department store located 2km from home. The robot was controlled by the user in real time from home. It browsed around, conversed with sales staff and generally had what seemed like a nice shopping trip. I am however unclear as to the method of payment for purchases. Did the user lend Tmsuk 4 a credit card or fork over a bundle of cash?
CareBot by Gecko Systems	The CareBot™ is an Internet appliance that is accessible for remote video/audio monitoring and telepresence. Their CareBot™ home care robot is capable of assisting in senior care in a variety of real-life situations, such as on-time reminders of medication and enabling a sense of safety and security due to being “watched over” by family members.