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A long time coming, both developments mark the beginning of a new age in health care, one in which individuals have sophisticated, computer-based, interactive tools to manage their own health decisions and behavior.
Personalized, computer-based health services are on the way. Recently a new website, called Keas, launched with the backing of Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault. Keas' online service will enable a person to enter his or her own individual health data, and get recommendations back on self-care matters such as diet and diabetes control. And, in the future, it's possible that Americans will begin to experiment with robotic care aides for the elderly.
Robots for Aging Care
(And with those tools, there will likely be a shift in the doctor-patient relationship, as well.)
Keas markets its new service and individualized health plans saying that they offer people informati
While Keas, with high interactivity and personalization, might seem the opposite of a robotic caregiver, in fact the ideas two are powerfully related.
Of course, personal monitoring devices in our personal lives, and computer-based health information tailored to individual circumstances won't be an unmitigated good.
Plus, this robot could use a high-quality software system to shape standard health messages to one's circumstances, whether that's diabetes or heart disease. It could pop up with personalized menu suggestions or food shopping lists.
Putting cartoon-like images aside [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], imagine a robotic "nurse" in the home of one's frail elderly mom or dad, who happens to live, say, in Florida or Arizona [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], two thousand miles away. Suppose this robot can be programmed to take a pulse, relaying that information to a health provider. On a daily basis, it conducts a "conversation" (registering significant changes in speech patterns, like a new slur), and can record and send the tape in real time to a far-away family member.
The upside is that by using robots frail elderly people can remain in their own homes and remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.
Read on
New Ideas in Long Term Care for Elderly, Seniors
Boomers? Need "Em, Feed "Em When They're 84
Robotics for Health Care and Eldercare
Keas Offers Personalized Online Health "Plans" for Self-Care
Downsides of Robotic Caregivers: Social Isolation and Invasion of Privacy
Full disclosure: robotic care aides, as a product, don't exist quite yet. But eldercare robots are in use in Japan, where high tech companies are working on service robots for a range of applications. And in the US, innovative robotic applications are under development at MIT and other technology incubators.
Consumer Issues and Personalized Computer-Based Health Information
Another downside is invasion of privacy and erosion of personal boundaries. Given the success in marketing in-home surveillance systems for children ("nanny-cams"), there's growing interest in marketing "granny-cams" so adult children can "watch" their elderly aging relatives. Clearly, not all senior citizens want to be observed in this way.
One downside, warns leading British robotic expert Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is that over-reliance on robots could leave frail elderly people "in the exclusive care of machines without sufficient human contact." There are no international ethical guidelines for robotic applications.
Add to that the ability to hand out the correct pills at the correct time, remind mom or dad to make a call (so they stay socially engaged) or switch to a TV channel with an exercise program suited to their age and level.