Will we soon be employing Robots and not people?
Tess Biles, 1st June 2017, Business
Following on from our popular article featured in the May newsletter, Robots being employed by the NHS?!, it would appear, that not only will there be job opportunities for robots within our hospitals, but also within our care services and offices.
NTU Singapore
And it's already begun in Singapore! With the Institute of Media Innovation (IMI) at Nanyang Technological University, employing the friendly and helpful Nadine as their receptionist.
Nadine is an "intelligent" robot. 'She can recognise people...human emotions and make associations using her knowledge database - her "thoughts", so to speak. Gabrielle Mulligan for the BBC
At first glance you probably wouldn't think twice, but when Nadine speaks and moves it is clear Nadine is a robot. Yes that's right, a robot receptionist!
You can take a look at Nadine in action in this short video:
Nadine the Robot
Robot carers for the elderly
With an ageing population, and a growing strain on the NHS healthcare system, perhaps having robotic healthcare providers wouldn't be such a bad thing? It would alleviate some of the pressure put on family members to care for elderly relatives, and be a source of companionship for an elderly person who would otherwise be on their own all day.
Hot Topic
It seems that this idea is prevalent not only in the science world for those conducting the research on robotic care, but also in the media. In the past 10 years we have seen films such as Robot and Frank, Big Hero 6 and WALL-E, released which all touch upon the idea of robots becoming the care givers to humans.
Not only films, but TV Series have begun to address this idea as well. Shows such as HUMANS (2015), where we see robot assistants in households caring and completing tasks for an individual or a family. Personally, I would be very happy for a robot to attend to my ironing and washing up!
But are we ready for robots?
As companies begin working on robotic health care units, I can't help but ask myself, am I really ready to welcome a robot into my home? Would I feel comfortable knowing a fellow colleague was a robot? Would I feel safe? I would love to know your thoughts on this, so please email us at media@ceta.co.uk.
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