Are robots the future of aged care?
A Gen Z inventor and entrepreneur says we should be using non-human companions and carers. Do you agree?
Companion already on sale
We googled “companion robots” and found you can buy one for less than $300.
It called “Eilik” and is said to be “a desktop companion robot with emotional intelligence”.
Aged care is not Elik’s speciality, but online retailer Amazon says he/her has a lot to offer. Under the heading “About this item”, it says:
Brighten your working day: Eilik has a great number of inner activities based on four basic emotional states: normal, happy, angry, and sad.
A companion robot with endless fun: Try petting Eilik’s head, belly, and back. His personality is evolving in response to your interactions with him.
One more Eilik, way more fun: They recognize each other in this wild world, play, and build friendships (or fight) with each other.
Time assistant and a playfellow: Eilik has many built-in features and interactive games.
Note: NSA has not purchased or tested this product, and this is not an endorsement.
The first time I laid eyes on a “helpful” robot was when I nearly fell over one in a Tokyo hotel.
Initially, lying doggo in the coffee corner of the breakfast room, it sprang to life with a bleep, nearly forcing me to spill my morning coffee over it.
It didn’t do much; just blinked its "eyes” and carried dirty dishes to the kitchen, then returned and rolled itself into the coffee corner waiting to collect more washing up.
“A cute gimmick,” I thought but hardly earthshaking. That was my Kodak moment, underestimating a revolution that now extends all the way to aged care.
Enter humanoid robot companion “Abi”, who “genuinely connects with (aged care) residents, creating the contentment and happiness that only personalised companionship can”. Or so Abi’s Melbourne-born Generation Z creator would have us believe.
There’s something disturbing, and maybe dystopian, about news that a 25-year-old is pioneering the way I’ll be cared for in my twilight years, delivered by a machine that wants to be called Abi, winks and speaks gently.
It’s a personalised companion robot “designed to engage and bring joy”! I’d rather have a puppy, a real one of course. But maybe as Gen Zs take control, that won’t be my choice.
Grace Brown is the brains behind Abi, a $100 million company called Andromeda, and possibly the future of aged care.
In a sign that young global investors recognise the financial opportunity in the gathering wave of Baby Boomers entering their age of care, Ms Brown, a mechanical engineering graduate, has recently secured millions of dollars in investment to build her company.
She hopes to realise her dream of populating care environments with Abi robots that “adapt to each resident’s personality, ability, and language – building meaningful connections that spark joy while enhancing care team capacity”.
Brown’s company is working with Australian aged care providers on next generation Abi, nuancing it to Boomers’ care requirements – or at least what Brown and the providers think are our requirements.
Providing aged care is expensive and for-profit providers say they are struggling to implement government reforms.
With wages the biggest expense, mechanising the workforce with “joy”-enhancing Abis could produce the profit the sector so desperately needs.
Cameron McPherson, CEO of the Medical and Aged Care Group, is an Abi fan, lending his endorsement on Brown’s website.
He writes: “Abi’s personality builds connection and we’re seeing residents’ moods and engagement levels lift. On the days she’s in our homes, staff are bouncing with excitement – we even have some of our staff who created and wear Abi t-shirts.”
Ms Brown says demand for her Abi has blown out the global waiting list to 12 months.
“In two to three years, I’d like to be very well established in the US, be across multiple continents … and have around 10,000 deployments of Abi,” she told the Australian Financial Review.
“We’re at the frontier of emotion, character AI, and social systems design, building a new kind of relationship that feels warm, helpful, and profoundly human because the world needs more of that.”
Indeed. But will Abi jump up on to my lap, lick my face and fetch its lead to go for walkies?
