Japan's Robo-Healthcare

                Japan is old. In fact, it is currently the oldest country in the world. 27.7% of Japan's population is over the age of 65, and that number is increasing. It is estimated that by the year 2050 - 40% of the population will be over the age of 65. Comparatively, the U.S. has a population of 15.6% over the age of 65. This has left Japan facing major problems, not least of which is: who is going to take care of all of our old people? Japan's answer? Robots.
                Within the next seven years it is projected that Japan will have a shortfall of 380,000 caregivers. In response, Japan's Ministry of Economy has requested ¥1.1 billion to support companies which produce these caregiver robots. The article below is a detailing of how the news reports that the elderly are very happy with their robot assistants, but calls into question the validity of these reports, posing the question: will our elderly really accept assistance from robots? The article concludes by calling for surveys of the population to find out if the elderly will accept robots.
                 I found this article troubling. I had heard of this problem and solution before in Japan, but (probably due to my age) I had never considered that people would have a problem with robot assistance. After reading this, I found myself reminiscing about all the times I've had to help my grandparents with the most simplistic technological tasks such as entering a wifi password or programing their DVR. However, it seems as though Japan has put most (if not all) of their eggs in to the Robo-basket, so tough luck for grandma and grandpa.



https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2018/10/14/voices/elderly-disabled-people-japan-want-robots-look/#.W9FQjPZRdPY
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/japan-population/
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217