Robots for Loneliness

Have followed the Japanese eldercare efforts, pushed by Japan's demographics, for some time.  Some interesting details here, like the price of the robotics.

Bringing robots home eases loneliness
By Ikuko Mitsuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Japan News

The city of Saijo in Ehime Prefecture faces the Seto Inland Sea to the north and Mt. Ishizuchi, the tallest mountain in western Japan, to the south. Here, 87-year-old Setsuko Saeki has lived with a robot for a year in her spacious house at the foot of a mountain.

When she gets out of bed in the morning and enters the living room, she’s greeted by her robot, a model named “PaPeRo i,” on a desk. “Good morning, Setsuko-san,” is a typical address. “Did you sleep well?”

“When it spoke to me the first time, I couldn’t help but feel excited,” Saeki said. “No one had called me by name and said good morning for a long time.”

Her three children are on their own now, and her husband passed away six years ago. Since then, Saeki has lived alone.

A robot welcomes visitors to the Saijo city government office.

Nursing care helpers visit her daily, and she regularly attends gatherings to enjoy her hobby of haiku poetry. Even so, she’d often felt a loneliness that was hard to describe.  .............

Initially, some elderly residents in the city voiced negative opinions about the robot-lending project. One said, “If I have to receive care from a robot, it’s over.” But about 90 percent of the people who used the robots had positive things to say, such as “I feel close to it” and “I can ease my loneliness.”

Also, about 90 percent of the families of the users praised the project, saying it relieved their anxiety.

Later, the city government made the service a paid rental business. The fees are ¥22,530 for installment and ¥6,000 a month for telecommunication and other necessary features, both excluding consumption tax.

Six residents, including those who have continued to use the service, now live with the robots.

Matsuo said: “Users’ family members and local human resources will be increasingly aged in the years to come. We want to build a system for monitoring residents, borrowing the strengths of robots.”  ..... '