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Old 07-24-2012, 11:55 AM
 
Location: Mt. Lebanon
2,001 posts, read 2,513,131 times
Reputation: 2351

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OK sound like a very good idea to me. So far cmu's robotics team developped robots to play soocer and drive cars. I'll pass this idea to a couple of friends who actually work in that department.

Japan is is like 20 years ahead of us when it comes to gadgets and electronics. One of my friends wife is japanese and every time my friend goes to japan his greatest plesure is to go to electronic stores to see "the future" No offense. this is what he told me and i totally believe it
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Old 07-24-2012, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
1,723 posts, read 2,226,055 times
Reputation: 1145
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
I guess my question would be whether these are actually more cost-effective than humans doing the same tasks, or whether the elderly would actually prefer them.

Edit: But I should note that if there was going to be an industry like this in the U.S., this would be the logical place for it.
Cost effectiveness seems like the key question to me, at least as mass deployment is concerned. If they were cheap and effective then it'd be a winner (if the elederly were willing to go along with it). The in-home care industry is a fairly big business - many different providers angling for state/federal funds to provide the services to the disabled, so the people to convince would be the right politicans...most people who receive those services don't pay themselves, so most don't care about the cost.

Maybe I'm thinking too macro, though, and robotic assistants could provide help with more niche, specialized tasks? Medication dispensers with an iconic Pittsburgh voice telling them to take their medicine? Some sort of companion robotic walker or something that can sense and somehow prevent imminent falls would have a high value, not only because of the obvious painful trauma experienced by someone who crashes to floor, but also because such falls turn into very expensive medical events, which means that insurance providers could possibly be persuaded to cover such devices for certain high risk subscribers and thereby solving a funding problem. A trick would be ensuring user compliance.
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Old 07-24-2012, 01:28 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,018,179 times
Reputation: 2911
I agree that specialized automation of various sorts would likely have applications even if generalized robotic caretakers did not catch on.
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Old 07-24-2012, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,086,150 times
Reputation: 42988
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brookline_sylvia View Post
Medication dispensers with an iconic Pittsburgh voice telling them to take their medicine?
LOL maybe you could order one to say things like:

"Don't be ascared, take ya pills, don't be a jagoff!"

"Hey, yinz took the wrong ones. Dere's many differ'nt pills ya know."

I like it--I'd take my medicine if a robot talked like that!
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Old 07-24-2012, 07:35 PM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,186 posts, read 22,747,384 times
Reputation: 17398
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
My Big Idea For Pittsburgh: Robots for the Elderly!
The elderly population in the Pittsburgh area is shrinking rapidly. This would make more sense in one of the "Sun Belt" cities, where the elderly population is growing rapidly.
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Old 07-24-2012, 07:49 PM
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Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 38,111,983 times
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I'm guessing none of you saw the film "I Robot," which depicts a world where the government issues helper robots to every household. Since you haven't seen it, suffice it to say, it doesn't end well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0f3J...tailpage#t=83s
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Old 07-26-2012, 05:34 AM
 
Location: Virginia
18,717 posts, read 31,086,150 times
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Wow, reading this made my day. Thanks! CMU robotics program is an impressive program. I'm surprised that the things they do don't make the news more often--sounds like there's some cool things going on there. I, for one, would much rather hear the nightly news covering things like this than pointless stories about who had a car crash.

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Old 07-26-2012, 09:11 AM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,977,619 times
Reputation: 17378
It won't catch on in the US. Many elderly are by themselves and if anything they have a need to be around people. In Japan the elderly are not left alone and family many times live with them, so having a robot there would be okay. I don't think many elderly people would want a robot to replace a person. They need to socialize.
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