Robots as pets for old people
Outsourcing of attention to technology
It is a misery. The further we advance in the information society and the higher the material and medical standards in a society, the more old people there are in proportion to the total population of a country. Moreover, they are getting older and older. But this also means that there are fewer and fewer young people to provide financial, medical and social care for the elderly, while the services provided to the elderly are becoming more expensive. Who can afford it, buys the appropriate services, who has little money and no descendants, mub in old age in scarcity live and comes at best, if he does not make it alone any longer, in a retirement home.
Anyone who takes to heart a study published recently, which found that women who either had no children or had few children late in life live the longest, will probably be confronted with the possibly no longer so gentle world of the elderly as an old and ailing single person.
But what is the technology for, which is always a substitute?? At the university of salford, brian bury is developing a possible solution to the aging problem that serves people and technological development as well as the market (see also "robo-pet keeps watch on old folk’s health", sunday times from 27.12.98). Rosie is the prototype of a robot, which can be used as a companionable autonomous robot with emotional responsivity (carer) is the ideal solution for our times. The rosies of the future will accompany the lonely elderly, monitor their condition and serve them as a kind of electronic pet. People of all ages need attention, which is why animals are a possible substitute. But real animals are also a little demanding. Her attention costs not only money, but also time and patience. And then, as a compensation for their attention, they also demand a certain adaptation of people to their needs. This is a bit much for us modern loners, who only want to buy attention for their money, which does not demand anything in return.
The robotic pets for the elderly are supposed to wag their tails like a dog when they bury you, they might meow or bark, they might play with a ball, and they might pick something up and carry it. Maybe they could be taught to talk, and once you have such a nice pet, it would probably be good to cover the metal and plastic parts with an artificial fur. That is nicer to look at and to caress. However, rosie’s successors should not show anger or stubbornness in addition to friendly or caring emotions.
Beyond the selected pet properties, rosie keeps herself as a kind of watchdog. Body data of the future patients, such as temperature, blood prere or pulse, are recorded and transmitted wirelessly to the robot, which then, if something looks dicey, calls the "master" get stressed out or don’t exercise enough, notify the doctor. Rosie finds her way around the apartment by means of a stored map. Of course, it was also possible to attach a video camera to the robot, so that one could visually check from a distance whether everything was in order.
With the emotional rosies, no one will have to spend the rest of their life alone. And of course it is probably more pleasant to be accompanied by a robotic pet than to live in an intelligent apartment and be monitored. But precisely because attention is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive in attention economy, more and more technical offers are being developed to take it away from humans and offer it for sale as a product that either replaces one’s own attention services, such as virtual agents, or, like rosie, replaces the attention of others.
