In 2009 Japan reported a record-high number of seniors over the age of 65. This demographic accounted for 22.7% of the total population, making it the nation with the highest percentage of elderly inhabitants in the world. The statistics for this segment of the population had grown from 14.1% in 1994 and estimates predicted the number to reach 31.8% by 2030; a rate of growth that is also among the highest in the world.
The alarming rate of demographic aging evidenced the future need for elderly support services in Japan, but also alluded to the decrease in the population of potential caregivers. With this in mind and considering that nine-of-ten Japanese residents are equipped with high-speed mobile connections, telecomm companies around the country raced to become the first to enter this emerging market of remote caregiving.
A recent report by NPR profiled one of the first products being introduced into this market, a technologically enhanced wristwatch developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. The wristwatch features a built-in camera, microphone and accelerometer that can record and analyze hand movements to discern what the wearer is doing throughout the day. In product demonstrations, the test subject’s movements were captured by the device and represented as data on a graph, with each activity appearing as a different pattern of plotted points. The demonstration results were delivered to a nearby computer, but researchers say it could just as easily be sent to remote and mobile devices.
Other reports from the Times of India have also indicated that robot technologies are on the horizon for elderly care in Japan. The article detailed a proposal by Japan’s space agency to have a human-like android on the International Space Station by 2013. A mission that the report claims has a small role in an even larger project that will bring this class of robots to the remote caregiving market. The robots could take over routine monitoring and caring requirements for the elderly, but some think they can also have a less obvious benefit. Researchers believe that just as some seniors are willing to accept help, others are completely unwilling for reasons of pride or perhaps embarrassment. They believe caregiving androids can alleviate this resistance by simply not being human, thus permitting the elderly to receive the needed care but continue to live independently.
As demographic aging continues to proliferate in countries around the world, similar technological enhancements for caregiving are being considered. Countries such as Canada are beginning to pilot programs for remote technologies in senior at-home care and companies in the U.S., such as Intel and General Electric are also jumping on the bandwagon. It is still unclear how Japanese companies will commercialize these technological advancements, but it should be noted that most other countries are developing technologies to augment human caregiving services, not replace them.
