Paper short abstract:

Against the backdrop of growing concern over the "care gap" in elderly care, robots are rising as a promising technology in South Korea. However, robots can fill a very specific kind of care gap that is only effective when the human care work is understood as a series of technical tasks.

Paper long abstract:

Declining birth rates are a global problem but it is more problematic in South Korea. In 2019, South Korea's total fertility rate reached 0.92 births per woman, which continues to be the lowest among the OECD countries. Facing the super-aged society that will come in the near future, different attempts are being made to solve social problems with technological measures, robots being one of them. Against the backdrop of growing concern over the "care gap" in elderly care, which allegedly results from workforce shortage, robotic care is rising as a likely scenario for the future. With the COVID-19 pandemic, robots have gained momentum as a provider of contact-free care.

Based on the ethnographic fieldwork of Hyodol, a South Korean personal toy-robot for the elderly living alone, this paper examines how the aspirational rhetoric of "closing the care gap" contributes to the development, distribution, and use of the robots for elderly care in public healthcare services. By offering various healthcare and entertainment services, Hyodol is expected to serve as a companion for the elderly who are supposedly lonely and depressed. Since its first release in 2017, around 5,000 units have been distributed to individual homes of the elderly nationwide, mostly with public funding. Arguing against the beliefs and rhetoric accompanying technochauvinism (Broussard 2018), we point out that robots can fill a very specific kind of care gap that is only effective when the human care work is understood as a series of technical tasks.

Paper short abstract:

As the country of 'early adopters', South Korea also actively embraces rehabilitation robots. By investigating how their use is envisaged by stakeholders, this paper examines the interplay of socioeconomic concerns, scientific theory and technological rationality in the era of digital revolution.

Paper long abstract:

The discourse of population ageing drives growth in the field of care and rehabilitation robotics (Neven and Leeson 2015), as the society is envisaged to be beset by the growing number of elderly people, causing critical staff shortages. Notwithstanding this somewhat ageist perspective, it is true that the sector is also driven by technological insights, such as by increasing positive evidence regarding the application of robotic devices in the rehabilitation of patients with neural injuries (e.g., Chang and Kim 2013). These studies highlight that the robots, due to their calibrated routines and sophisticated sensors, add benefits to the patients, particularly during the sub-acute stage. At the heart of this assessment lies the notion of neural plasticity, whereby the death of one brain area is understood to be compensated by alternative pathways whose generation can be afferentially triggered, i.e., through repeated exercise in the affected limbs (Bogue 2018). Ethnographic research on rehab robots has been focused on their role in preventing cognitive deterioration (Blond 2019) or as assistive technology (Bezmes and Yadimci 2015). This research examines their therapeutic dimension and investigates the notion of neuro-plasticity central to the robot-based regime, by conducting fieldwork in hospitals, disability centers, and robotics labs in South Korea where the robots are applied. In doing so, the authors seek to identify the diverse ways the notion is framed, understood, and developed by multiple actors, such as patients, doctors, and engineers, and to contextualize them in the broad contours of technological rationality fashioned by contemporary digital revolution.

Paper short abstract:

This paper reports the findings from a tri-country questionnaire study that was carried out to examine potential home-care robot users’ perceptions toward development and implementation of such robots in Japan, Ireland, and Finland. The paper’s focus will be placed on older people’s views in Japan.

Paper long abstract:

What expectations and fears do older people have with regard home-care robots? The aim of this research was to understand older people’s perceptions in Japan toward home-care robots. The questionnaire explored older people’s views, and the data analysis was carried out to evaluate whether any differences exist between 1) those aged 65-74 years old and those aged 75 years and above, and 2) those who are currently providing care and those who are not.

In total, 176 responses were received. Of those, 64.2% were from women, 54.5% were from those aged 75 years and over, 48.9% were from those providing care at present and 25.0% from those living alone.

The analysis suggests that

1) When comparing the group aged 65-74 with that aged 75 and over, more in the former group are “familiar with robots” and are "willing to use home-care robots". Also, more people in the younger cohort agreed that “the decision regarding the use of home-care robots should be made based on the convenience of the family”.

2) Those who are currently providing care place more value on “law and regulations" and “how the product is socially recognised”. Among the desired functions, carers would have expectations for ‘companionship’, ‘monitoring of physical condition’, and ‘relaying messages to family and support personnel’.

These findings are illuminating with regard to home-care robots, as older people are not a uniform group, and their needs should be reflected in development, research and deployment.

This work was supported by the Pfizer Health Research Foundation.