Robotics could help an ageing UK population cope with
the demands of
caring for the elderly, Kevin Doughty, deputy director of the
Centre for Usable Home Technology at the University of York,
told a
recent meeting of the BCS Northern Group.
"Currently, we are relying on staff from overseas to cope with
the increasing number of people in care homes in the UK. This is a
situation we will not be able to depend on for long," Doughty
said.
He said that sustainability could lie in
telecare.
Telecare is the combination of communications and sensing
technologies that allows a user to manually or automatically send a
signal to a remote service centre, which can then respond.
Related devices range from those covering essential functions,
such as compensating for sensory impairment, to devices providing
secondary needs such as entertainment and advice.
Doughty said that the UK could
look to Japan to see the potential. He pointed to robots
developed in Japan that can
dispense medicines, walk dogs and carry people.
But he said the technology need not be this advanced to make a
difference. Assistive technology could control environments, detect
dangerous situations, provide automatic alerts and enable
intervention to protect vulnerable people.
Telecare systems could also help people interact with others
from their home, said Doughty. An example would be a
telepresence system
where users could visit virtual shops, communicate with friends or
go to church.
It could also lead to a care approach that requires fewer care
workers per patient.
Doughty speculated that another benefit would be that fewer
hospital beds would be taken up and residential homes would only be
used only for those who really needed them.
Report from
the BCS website >>
Video: Boston Dynamics' big dog >>
Video: development
of a robot that carries people >>
Robotics products
in Japan >>
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