A robot for grandma

At Judson Senior Living in Cleveland, Ohio, a resident chatted about religion and politics for more than an hour with a pink robot called Navi. Cindy Struk, vice president of the community, said many people wouldn’t have wanted to discuss such hot-button topics, but the robot didn’t mind. While human caregivers can’t always devote an entire hour to talking to an elderly resident, the 3-foot-tall robot listened patiently.

Navi is a companion robot that can monitor seniors, but the goal at hand was to hear from seniors how robots could assist them. As part of a yearlong project with Case Western Reserve University, several residents at Judson interacted with Navi. It’s one of several experiments exploring the potential of elder care robots. In March, Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services announced it would cover costs for a companion robot called ElliQ for eligible Medicaid recipients.

Researchers hope robotic caregivers will help elderly Americans live independently longer. And as the number of older Americans becomes a larger portion of the population, robots may supplement the widening care gap. But the caregiving revolution could come with a troubling downside: As the technology for elder care becomes more capable, human interaction may become even more of a scarce commodity.

Facing one of the most dire birth dearths in the world, Japan has experimented with elder care robots for more than two decades. The United States has similar population woes. Beginning in 2030, deaths will outpace births, according to the Congressional Budget Office. By then, roughly 20% of the population will be 65 or older. Banking company Barclays estimates nursing staff in the U.S. will need to grow 40% by 2050 to keep pace with growing needs.

Many assisted living facilities and nursing homes are overtaxed as it is. “Most of these places are at the risk of either closure or the quality of care has gone down, so they’re looking for something that they can help their staff members to fill in the gaps,” said Mahammad Mahoor, a professor of computer science at the University of Denver. Mahoor believes his longtime project, a “wellness robot” called Ryan, could pick up some of the slack at elder care facilities.

Ryan moves on wheels, and its face has cartoonish features to avoid looking like a zombie. The robot provides companionship, performs cognitive health assessments, and can even lead yoga sessions thanks to a touchscreen on its chest. With the help of artificial intelligence, the robot can identify facial expressions and respond to emotion. According to Mahoor, about 90% of nursing home and assisted living residents that interact with Ryan respond positively to its presence.

Philip Cola, who spearheaded the project with Navi at Judson Senior Living, said many of the residents enjoyed chatting with Navi, but they claimed they didn’t need a robot’s help just yet. Still, they agreed that robots could help them avoid falling in the future. That presents a conundrum, Cola said, since robots need to look for warning signs of falling before it happens. “There needs to be a way to figure out when and how to introduce [robots] before they need them,” Cola said. “As we age, cognitively or physically, wouldn’t it be nice to have somebody always watching out for me?”

Cola said Judson’s employees weren’t immediately receptive to Navi the robot’s presence. They worried robots were coming for their jobs, but that mindset quickly shifted. “[The employees] see the robot as their companion, helping them with their work because they don’t have as much time as they’d like to spend with the folks in those communities,” Cola said. “It’s really an extension of the employees.”

Robots may also help keep seniors live independently for longer. According to a recent poll from Pew Research Center, the majority of senior citizens would like to age in place. “Support your aging loved one’s independence while staying connected even from afar,” reads the website for companion bot ElliQ.

Right now, commercially available caregiving robots can only perform the tasks they’ve been programmed for. Robots like Ryan, Navi, and ElliQ function as elder care companions, kind of like embodied versions of Apple’s Siri. Others perform certain physical tasks. Designed by MIT researchers, a complex of robotic handlebars called E-BAR is designed to follow the elderly and prevent falls.

Mohammad Mahoor estimates the technology for adaptable robots with humanlike bodies will be ready within the next decade. “The next models in AI will be able to generate behaviors and actions for robots,” said Mahoor. This could allow caregiving robots to respond to a host of unpredictable scenarios such as helping a person out of the shower.

But no matter how capable the technology becomes, Mahoor argues, robots will always “supplement” rather than replace human caregiving.

Cindy Struk thinks the future of elder care looks a lot less bleak because of robots. “Robots don’t get tired. They’re not going to mind working a 12- or 15-hour shift,” Struk said. “I look forward to how they could help us.” But she cautions: “There’s always going to be a need for physical touch.”

Aimee Colley, director of the Pruett Gerontology Center at Abilene Christian University, is also excited about the possibilities. “My only concern is that we do not use robots to replace human connection,” she said. “You may get very comfortable knowing mom is being taken care of, and think, I don’t need to call and check in on her today.”