The Transformer Bed was one of Panasonic’s first robotic caregivers. It could transform into a wheelchair but was never brought to market.
(Photo: Martin Koelling)
Tokyo Robots are considered a possible contribution to solving the care crisis. In demographically aging Japan, a pioneer of the senior society, companies are researching how they can take care of more seniors by automating hospitals and retirement homes while the workforce is shrinking. But the technological breakthrough could come from somewhere else.
In the latest retirement home of the operator Hitowa Care Services in Tokyo, it is not robots that provide relief on the wards. Instead, the company uses the Lifelens platform from the Panasonic technology group. It’s a system in which the rooms practically take care of the occupants themselves.
Two cameras hang from the ceiling in each of the 70 rooms. For reasons of data security, the video data is evaluated directly on site using artificial intelligence. In addition, there are sensors under the mattress. They report whether someone is in bed and record the heartbeat.
The data is transmitted to care management. If there is unusual data, such as a patient who is about to leave the room, this is signaled to the staff. The nurses can then use the camera to check that everything is in order and help if necessary.
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The night shift only has to be staffed with two instead of three people. That saves money, but the hospital has to pay 1,400 euros per room for the technical equipment and an additional monthly fee of eleven to 13 euros.
Why the care crisis is particularly pressing on Japan
This is cheap compared to the robot helper. Two Panasonic machines called Hospi, which could also perform nightly rounds, cost up to 400,000 euros, including the technology for opening station or elevator doors. Unlike with Lifelens, there is no round-the-clock support either.
>> Read here: Robots secure the future of the Japanese economy
As simple as the idea appears, the development was complex. Six years of work have gone into the system, explains Yoshiteru Hakamada, head of the nursing home chain. “In the next ten to fifteen years, the beginning of a nursing crisis is imminent in Japan,” explains the head nurse. “We therefore wanted to react early.” A problem that threatens many industrialized nations.
In Japan, the pressure to change is particularly high. Japan is not a country of immigration, the population has been shrinking due to aging since 2010, now by more than 600,000 inhabitants annually. The proportion of people over 65 will increase from the current 29 percent to more than 35 percent in 2040. Labor is a bottleneck that needs to be solved with affordable technology.
Robots are simply too expensive for that. Panasonic knows that very well. The technology group has already mothballed many innovations because the business models behind them didn’t work. There was the Transformer bed, which could transform into an electric wheelchair, giving bedridden patients independent mobility. Or a robot that constantly washed your hair and massaged your scalp.
The next step is the early detection of diseases
Only vending machines, robots for rehabilitation and hospi have made the leap into everyday nursing care. However, the rolling transporter is only used sparingly. Less than two dozen robots have been sold since it went on sale in 2013 due to the cost. Panasonic now wants to change that by teaching its product to pull food carts.
In the weekly column we take turns writing about innovation and economic trends in Asia.
(Photo: Klawe Rzeczy)
For Tomomi Maruyama, head of Hitowa’s innovation team, it currently makes more sense to “digitalize people’s eyes” with sensors and cameras – and then the brain. Not part of the to-do list: replace arms and legs. “I believe that we are now entering a phase in which we are digitizing the function of the brain, also through the use of artificial intelligence.”
The AI should also be used at Panasonic for early detection. In the experiment, the interaction between the nursing home operator and the tech group has already demonstrated that they can use the existing data to detect pneumonia four days earlier than before.
Masaru Yamaoka, Managing Director of Panasonic’s Business Development Office, is already dreaming of export success: “With this business model for care, we are not only targeting the Japanese market, but also the global market.”
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