Japan wants elder care robots instead of foreign workers

by

According to Transparency Market Research, the medical robotic systems market will reach $13.6bn in 2018 (from $5.5bn in 2011), with the lion’s share going to surgical robots while the rest is used for other forms of health robotics such as prosthetics, robot nurses and micro-robots that deliver pills to specific parts of the body.

Japan is expecting robotics to be about a $90 billion industry in 20 years and be about the size of the television electronics market.

Japan would expect to need 1 million mostly foreign elderly care workers by 2025. Japan does not like foreign workers, so they are very motivated to get robots instead.

Yomiuri Shimbun. The Japanese government plans to extend financial assistance to help firms develop low-cost nursing care robots with a price tag of about 100,000 yen ($1,020).

Four kinds of nursing care robots are included in the plan:

* A motorized robot suit that can assist in lifting or moving elderly and otherwise impaired patients so that caretakers do not need to exert as much physical strength.
* An ambulatory robot that can help the elderly and others walk by themselves, even on inclines.
* A portable, self-cleaning robot toilet that can be placed in living rooms or bedrooms to make using the toilet easier for the e lderly and others.
* A monitoring robot that can track the movements and whereabouts of dementia patients.

Starting this fiscal year, the government is providing subsidies covering one-half to two-thirds of research and development costs to firms working on nursing care robots. Such subsidies are set to total 2.4 billion yen this fiscal year alone.

Some companies have developed humanoid nursing care robots that can lift and hold patients. However, these cost as much as 20 million yen each and are not widely used.

The government expects nursing care robots around the 100,000 yen price range to become commercialized by fiscal 2016 as a result of focused subsidies and mass production.

The government would include use of such robots in nursing care insurance coverage so they can be rented from companies for 10 percent of the purchase price, the sources said.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, Japan needed an estimated 2 million nursing care workers in 2010, but the actual number of workers was 1.33 million in 2010. The ministry predicts a need for 4 million such workers in 2025.

The government hopes to alleviate the chronic shortage of nursing care workers with the promotion of low-cost nursing care robots, the sources said.

Robots are seen as the solution to social disruption in Asia.

SOURCES – bangordailynews, economist

Japan wants elder care robots instead of foreign workers

by

According to Transparency Market Research, the medical robotic systems market will reach $13.6bn in 2018 (from $5.5bn in 2011), with the lion’s share going to surgical robots while the rest is used for other forms of health robotics such as prosthetics, robot nurses and micro-robots that deliver pills to specific parts of the body.

Japan is expecting robotics to be about a $90 billion industry in 20 years and be about the size of the television electronics market.

Japan would expect to need 1 million mostly foreign elderly care workers by 2025. Japan does not like foreign workers, so they are very motivated to get robots instead.

Yomiuri Shimbun. The Japanese government plans to extend financial assistance to help firms develop low-cost nursing care robots with a price tag of about 100,000 yen ($1,020).

Four kinds of nursing care robots are included in the plan:

* A motorized robot suit that can assist in lifting or moving elderly and otherwise impaired patients so that caretakers do not need to exert as much physical strength.
* An ambulatory robot that can help the elderly and others walk by themselves, even on inclines.
* A portable, self-cleaning robot toilet that can be placed in living rooms or bedrooms to make using the toilet easier for the e lderly and others.
* A monitoring robot that can track the movements and whereabouts of dementia patients.

Starting this fiscal year, the government is providing subsidies covering one-half to two-thirds of research and development costs to firms working on nursing care robots. Such subsidies are set to total 2.4 billion yen this fiscal year alone.

Some companies have developed humanoid nursing care robots that can lift and hold patients. However, these cost as much as 20 million yen each and are not widely used.

The government expects nursing care robots around the 100,000 yen price range to become commercialized by fiscal 2016 as a result of focused subsidies and mass production.

The government would include use of such robots in nursing care insurance coverage so they can be rented from companies for 10 percent of the purchase price, the sources said.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, Japan needed an estimated 2 million nursing care workers in 2010, but the actual number of workers was 1.33 million in 2010. The ministry predicts a need for 4 million such workers in 2025.

The government hopes to alleviate the chronic shortage of nursing care workers with the promotion of low-cost nursing care robots, the sources said.

Robots are seen as the solution to social disruption in Asia.

SOURCES – bangordailynews, economist