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Robots rise to meet the challenge of caring for old people

Robotics technology is improving, but its routine use in the home, hospital and care settings could be a long way off.
  1. Neil Savage

    1. Neil Savage is a freelance science writer in Lowell, Massachusetts.

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A robot stands in front of elderly people sitting in chairs and laughing

Stevie the robot entertains residents and carries out a range of different tasks while at a retirement home. Credit: Greg Kahn Photography

As a teenager in the early 2000s, Conor McGinn worked part-time in the nursing home where his grandmother lived. The employees did all they could to make her and other residents comfortable, but McGinn says her quality of life was never as good as it was before. “The staff were lovely, but looking after people is the most resource-intensive thing you can do, and trying to be happy, good-natured and enthusiastic while you’re under that kind of fierce pressure is just incredibly challenging,” he adds.

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Nature 601, S8-S10 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00072-z

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Ageing, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

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