Barbara Brookes
How many of us know people with an implant of some kind? Otago Professor of Neurosurgery, Dirk De Ridder, gave a fascinating address recently on the history of his field, noting that these days implants provide a way forward for a number of problems. Cochlear implants are one example, but there are many other bits of metal and plastic which are used to assist bodies to function, to do away with pain and for cosmetic enhancement. So the cyborg is amongst us—those with metal hips, plastic breasts, and implanted pacemakers sending out electrical pulses.
The Swedish television drama Real Humans (remade by Channel Four in the United Kingdom as Humans) takes the electrical implant idea to a new level. Humanoid robots called Hubots are used for repetitive work and for care of the elderly. It is the latter that struck me. What could be more convenient for those who don’t have the time to care for their elderly than to hire a human-like robot to provide essential care and also companionship—of a kind? This idea is no longer only in the realm of science fiction. In a trial in Italy, a senior can tap his grocery list on a tablet in his apartment and a robot will got out and get the food from the grocery store.[1] Robots can ensure the elderly take their medication, take out their garbage, and assist with their mobility.
In Singapore the government, concerned about the sedentary state of the elderly, has sponsored the RoboCoach, a robot trainer that leads workout routines for seniors.[2] Although we can’t see it in this image, apparently the robot has ‘a rosy red face, blue eyes, two teeth and mimics human movement’.
Japan is apparently working to develop nursing care robots that might engage in the following functions[3]:
The Japanese company Toshiba had developed the ChihiraAico, a robot with seemingly human characteristics, including the ability to appear to mourn.[4] Toshiba plans to use the robot with elderly people with dementia ‘and she [sic] can be connected to a counsellor or a doctor’.[5] Meanwhile Honda have developed Asimo, the robot named for ‘Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility’.
The European Commission has given 4 million Euro to ‘Mario’, a group developing a robot companion for people with dementia. Unlike mere humans, an Irish nursing professor noted, ‘You can ask the robot the same thing 10 times, and it will never get annoyed’.[6] Robots could help contain the cost of the health care industry and apparently ‘help assuage loneliness and isolation’.[7]
Why does the latter give me pause? Real Humans explores some of the dilemmas. There is a scene when a young girl (perhaps aged 7) tells her mother she prefers that the household Hubot (robotic servant) read her bedtime story because her mother is always in a hurry and tired. I remembered myself as a tired busy mother, falling asleep with my children at the end of a story: the pleasure of the story and the warmth of the little bodies. I think if we turn it around and think of having robots care for children we feel a lot less sanguine than we seem to feel about care of the (costly) elderly. Even though children might ask the same question over and over, no one suggests that it is best that a robot answers it—we expect them to learn from adults how much of another’s time they might reasonably expect.
I had just written that, when I read in the Guardian Weekly about the Amazon Echo, a voice-activated ‘smart home assistant’, which answers questions rudely shouted at it by a four year old. So I am wrong. Apparently some parents do want their children’s questions answered by a machine. But, Oliver Burkeman writes, “How’s a four-year-old supposed to learn that other household members aren’t simply there to do her bidding, when one (electronic) household member was designed to do exactly that?’[8] As he suggests, ‘empathy is hard’ and if we avoid it by use of machines, it will only get harder.
So can machines ‘help assuage loneliness and isolation’? Those of us sitting in front of computers as I am now, might say ‘yes’ instantly – when we can Skype our loved ones abroad, watch shows and listen to any music we want to. But let’s think of dying. Near death, humans are often immobile and dependent. The human touch provides comfort. That’s what I want when I go.
[1] Europe Bets on Robots to Help Care for Seniors
[2] RoboCoach Robot Trainer Personalizing Elderly Workouts
[3] Japan to Create More User-Friendly Elderly Care Robots
[4] ChihiraAico: The Robot of the Future by Toshiba
[5] Meet ChihiraAico, Toshiba’s scarily realistic ‘Robot Hostess’ Android unveiled at CES 2015
[6] Europe Bets on Robots to Help Care for Seniors
[7] Europe Bets on Robots to Help Care for Seniors
[8] Guardian Weekly, 22.07.16, p.45.
Professor Barbara Brookes is co-editor of Corpus.
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