INTHEBLACK December 2021 - Magazine - Page 59
Far left: Robotic arms
help a research assistant
move a doll during
an experimental set-up
at Carl von Ossietzky
University of Oldenburg
in Germany.
Centre: Tokyo University
of Science students
demonstrate a new
nursing care robot during
a Robot Week event in
Tokyo.
For companion robots to achieve widespread success,
they need to communicate with empathy, humour and
self-disclosure. Their physical behaviours need to be
appropriate as well, including smiling, leaning forward
and maintaining eye contact.
Regardless of how well the above requirements
can be achieved, experts agree that the key challenge
for the sector to overcome is the misconception that
technology will replace human connections. This is
why co-design approaches will be crucial.
THE FUTURE WORKPLACE
A report into innovations in the workplace by
McKinsey Global Institute has found that AI has
the potential to raise global productivity by up to
1.4 per cent a year.
Tools such as voice recognition software, onscreen
keyboard programs and touchscreens are already
helping workers with hand or finger limitations, while
personal organisers and reminder systems prop up
ageing memories.
This is a promising start, but only a start, says
Cayden Lim, digital marketing manager at
Ageing Asia.
“We believe advances in assistive technology
catering for the workplace can do more – for example,
a mechanical harness for the legs to support an older
person in walking around the office.”
IoT could also help older employees guide younger
ones virtually and, if necessary, step in and take control
of a situation from a distance.
Top right: Bot Care robots
on display at the Samsung
booth at CES International
in Las Vegas.
CLICK HERE
TO BORROW
Economics of the
Fourth Industrial
Revolution from
the CPA Library
As the growth of cloud computing technologies
continues to remove barriers to flexible and remote
working arrangements, freelancing, crowdsourcing
and other peer-to-peer platforms have the potential
to allow over-65s to offer their services or products
to an international market.
However, Mason says Data61’s research into the gig
economy has shown that these technologies are being
predominantly used by young people supplementing
their income, not older workers seeking to extend
their working years.
THE RIGHT POSITIONING
The United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
warns of the reluctance to use platforms that are
exclusively designed for the elderly, or those that
appear to use complex digital technology.
Positioning products as simple-to-use solutions
or platforms to empower seniors, and marketing
to caregivers and the children of ageing parents
may help.
Companies that want to leverage the connective
capability of videoconferencing, home monitoring and
telehealth services also need to consider new privacy
and security risks, warns Simon Dunstall, digital
research manager behind the Lifelong Participation
through Digital Technology report recently published
by CSIRO’s Data61.
“We have found, to some degree, that the
independence that keeps people at home, instead of
in care, is also a factor in not wanting to be monitored
by smart devices or technology,” he says.
Other experts point to the need for robust data
and cybersecurity measures, as well as to an overreliance on videoconferencing, home monitoring and
telehealth actually resulting in older people spending
increasing amounts of time alone.
Ahead of technological advances and business
opportunities, what needs to be developed first and
foremost, says Lim, is the acceptance of older people
in the digital space, where their voices can be readily
heard and where businesses can readily reach out to
them directly.
intheblack.com December 2021 59