Into the loving arms of robots

People in Japan are living longer and staying healthier longer. And an increasing number of aged pensioners are living alone.
Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research said that on January 12 households headed by persons aged 65 or older will account for 44.2 per cent of all households in the country in 2040, jumping from 36 per cent in 2015. Single-person households are already the largest group.
Japan is on track to soon become the world’s first “ultra-aged” country, defined by 28 per cent of a population being over 65. The number of people aged 65 or older accounted for 26.7 per cent of Japan’s population in 2015. The number of births in Japan fell in 2017 to its lowest since records began in 1899, with about 941,000 new babies, according to Japan’s health ministry.
Demand for care services for elderly people has seen a boom while a shrinking working population means that fewer able-bodied adults are available to look after them.
Private healthcare is expensive but there is a shortage of state-provided facilities for the elderly. Those who cannot find or afford help do not want to burden family members, who may not live nearby and may themselves be struggling.
As a result, they choose to live alone. And they often die alone. Days, if not weeks, go by until someone discovers their bodies. 
Such cases of kodokushi, or “lonely death”, are expected to rise in number.
The Japanese government says the country will be short of 380,000 health nurses by 2025, due to a shrinking labour force as well as greater demand for elder-care services.
The way a government distributes its annual budget highlights its immediate priorities, its goals and objectives. Take the Japanese finance ministry’s 2017 government expenditure report, for example. 
The Japanese government spent one-third of its national budget on social security, pension payments and other forms of government care for the elderly, spotlighting the public policy implications of the rapidly ageing population.
That leaves social security and healthcare: The two kinds of spending that involve the biggest net transfer from young people to old.
Researchers say that to maintain the current population, Japan would have to let in more than half a million immigrants a year. But Japan is also one of the most immigration-resistant nations. 
The administration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has insisted it has “no intention” of loosening the country’s strict immigration policy. Less than 2 per cent of Japan’s population are foreign-born. 
The country accepted just three asylum seekers in the first half of 2017 and 28 in 2016.
Resisting immigrants, Japan has turned to automation, which is long used in its industrial settings where robots have taken over the assembly lines in auto manufacturing plants.
Abe has called for a more rapid development of advanced robotics. He believes that robotics “could help the country overcome the handicap of a fast-ageing populace and a declining workforce at large-scale factories to every corner” of Japanese economy and society.
The Japanese government has already offered substantial subsidies to assist companies that are researching and developing robots, which may solve the scarcity of nurses for the elderly.
From robotic walkers to robot companions, Japanese companies aim to create cost-effective robots that will assist the elderly with a range of issues, whether physical or even emotional and psychological.
Care robots for the elderly are believed to be a huge market that could help spur economic growth.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry expects the robotic service industry to boom to nearly US$4 billion (Bt132 billion) annually by 2035 – 25 times its current level.
The Japanese government is looking to support the development of robots with limited functions for very specific nursing care tasks, designed to assist elderly people in daily activities and thereby reduce the burden on nursing homes.
Government subsidies cover some two-thirds of the research and design costs for the development of various healthcare robots.
The Japanese government has outlined the tasks that need robotic assistance. 
The development plan includes four major kinds of robots. First is a motorised robot suit that can assist in lifting or moving non-ambulant elderly people so that caretakers do not need to exert as much physical strength. Also included in the plan is the development of an ambulatory robot that can assist the elderly to walk by themselves, even on inclined surfaces. 
Another logical part of the plan is to develop a portable, self-cleaning robotic toilet that can be placed strategically to make using the toilet easier for the elderly. 
Lastly, the government is pushing for a monitoring robot that will track the whereabouts of dementia patients, who can be prone to getting lost.
Around 5,000 nursing homes across the country are testing robots. They also receive subsidies from the Japanese government.
A study found that using robots encouraged over a third of residents to become more active and autonomous. Good news from scientists is that 
systems of sensors and virtual assistants that will allow ageing people to remain in their homes for far longer are likely to appear in the coming decades.
Robot companions may soon help relieve loneliness and nudge forgetful elders to eat on a regular schedule. 
At a time of rising elderly populations and dwindling public resources, technology helps us toward a future where some of societies’ most vulnerable are passed into the arms of machines. 
This is no longer the stuff of science fiction. And yet there is still no robot that can provide emotional support for the elderly, listen to their needs, wash and care for them, and otherwise make their twilight years happy.
Given Japan’s enormous 233 per cent GDP debt level, some people recommend that Japan spend less on well-off elderly. 
But cutting social security and healthcare spending is politically and ethically difficult.
An ageing population is not just a Japanese problem. 
What has happened in Japan over the past more than 20 years provides a case study for others, including China.