Will the Robots Take Care of Grandma

• In Event: 4266 - Section on Aging and the Life Course Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 10. Technology and the Future of Aging

Abstract

Will the Robots Take Care of Grandma?
Abstract
Robots currently do not provide physical care for the elderly, not even in Japan. So the short answer is “no,” robots per se will not replace scarce home-health aides or visiting nurses anytime soon.

Instead, technolog(ies) are likely to facilitate aging in place. This is going to shift where work is located rather than decrease the amount of work. The home care devices will include:
1. voice activated systems
2. smart homes (internet of things)
3. transportation technologies (driver assist as well as self-driving cars)
4. personal mobility technologies (personal airbags, exoskeletons)
5. wearables
6. in-home monitors and sensors
7. medical communication systems
8. medical advances
While many of these technologies are being adopted by institutional care providers, the effect of these is likely to increase aging in place because most elders prefer living independently as long as possible. Ironically, new technologies may increase work, as home-based care is arguably more labor intensive than is institutional care.

Another key trend is that increases in frail or dependent life expectancy is increasing along with increases in HEALTH life expectancy. So the demand for care work for the elderly is almost certainly going to increase for the foreseeable future as both healthy and disabled life expectancy increase.

Efforts to increase the supply of home-health aides and professionals are likely to involve gig—economy strategies and paying family members to be caregivers. Stark inequalities by income, gender, race and ethnicity – for both caregivers and recipients – are likely to persist.

Author

• Jerry A. Jacobs, University of Pennsylvania