Danish prefer robot carers
Do you prefer the comfort of a human’s touch or would you rather be cared for by a robot without emotion or warmth? The results of a new study has found many Danish seniors find it more “dignified” to be bathed by a machine than a human carer.
Do you prefer the comfort of a human’s touch or would you rather be cared for by a robot without emotion or warmth? The results of a new study has found many Danish seniors find it more “dignified” to be bathed by a machine than a human carer.
The study shows residents in Denmark aged care facilities would prefer to have a robot help them with their personal care and are claimed to be more “positive” about technologies that assist the elderly to live more independently.
Although the results surprised Roskilde University researcher, Bent Greve, he says it illustrates how “more people want to be able to cope on their own if they can”.
About seven out of 10 of the study’s participants agree assistive technology such as robots allows them to have more control over their lives, with 55% believing being helped by a machine is the most preferable choice.
A new Japanese-made bathing robot, now on trial at a nursing home in Denmark, aims to give some elderly people the ability to function and live without the assistance of caregivers.
“Firstly, it can help us to assist the elderly resident to live independently for as long as possible. And secondly, with the current economic crisis and future labour shortages, we will have to do things differently in the years to come,” one of the lead researchers says.
However, researchers also claim robots should only be used for tasks that do not involve personal contact, and elderly people should not be forced to accept “new and foreign” technology if they feel uneasy about it.
While devices such as robotic vacuum cleaners and robot companions for Alzheimer’s sufferers are commonly found in aged care facilities overseas, researchers have warned this latest study could be “misleading” as the results were derived from an online poll which may have attracted responses from more “tech-savvy seniors”.
Would you rather be cared for by a human or a robot? Share your preferences in the comment box below.
