Social robots in care settings just seem sort of empty to me

I read an article about robots that keep elderly people company. They can hold basic chats and play games, but it all feels very mechanical. What are we actually trying to solve with these machines?

3 comments

3 Comments

henrywest1mo ago

Totally get that, lol. Feels like we're trying to fix a staff shortage problem by pretending a machine is a person.

jamie_thompson1mo ago

Yeah and it's the same thing with those customer service chatbots everywhere now. Companies act like it's about helping us, but really they just cut the human staff and make us talk to a robot that can't actually fix anything. It's all this cheap pretend care because real help costs too much.

skyler431mo ago

I read about a robot named Pepper in a nursing home in Tokyo... it's not really about pretending it's a person. For some folks there, just having something to talk to, even a machine, can break up a long day. We're not solving the staff problem, but maybe we're giving a bit of comfort when no one else is around. It feels mechanical to us, but for someone lonely, it might be better than silence... that's what I see, anyway.