South Korea, Japan and Germany are countries most known for their ageing population. The economic implications of more and more people getting older are such that it will change the global economic landscape dramatically.
One of the most important issue is how countries are going to organize the healthcare their people need. In this episode of Hit Enter Samir Saberi talks with Johan Hoorn, the research director of the VU University research group SELEMCA, about the need of robotics in healthcare.
Hoorn argues that an ageing population is not a problem only rich countries are confronted with. “On every youngster we will have two elderly people. On a global scale”, he says. This means that even if societies put a lot of effort in educating more people in care tasks, they will be short of hands.
This is where the research of Hoorn’s research group SELEMCA and it’s spin-off Social Robotics Pop–up Lab come into play. The discussion in the interview revolves around the intricacies of the application of robotics in healthcare and elderly care, artificial intelligence and how even a rudimentary level of robot technology can make a difference for elderly people.
The fascinating story of the out in the wild experiment with caredroid Alice that is put on film in the documentary Alice Cares. And why everybody should get involved in advancing robotics in healthcare.
This episode of Hit Enter was brought to you by StartupJuncture in association with KPMG Innovative Startups. It was produced by Hit & Run Media Productions and hosted by WeWork Amsterdam.