Robotic Nation Evidence

Wakamaru Bot at Your Service

From the article:

Pretty soon, a robot named Wakamaru may become a fixture in the homes of elderly Japanese who have no one else to look after them.

The robot, which recently wheeled around to greet guests at the Embedded Systems Conference, is still in development. But it has the potential to replace a human caretaker in Japan, where robotic technology is embraced and the graying of the population has left many young people wondering who will care for their parents.

Specs:

• 3 feet tall
• Cell phone on board, and can call 911 if something is seriously awry.
• On board camera that can let people see what the robot sees remotely.
• Speech understanding software allows it to follow simple commands.
• Price: $8,300

"In-home health care" has been described by many as one of the big, new job categories. It is supposed to take off in the U.S. as the population ages, and this new job category is supposed to absorb many of the people displaced from other industries by robots.

Obviously this won't be the case if much of the home health care work can be handled by robots too. Technology like Wakamaru would allow one person sitting at a control screen to monitor hundreds of patients simultaneously in their homes. And Wakamaru is going to get better and better and better over time. 20 years from now, Wakamaru will be able to start IVs, administer drugs, etc.

See Robotic Nation for details.