Please read our previous post, as it provides a backdrop to the following:
In our last post, we looked at how company executives and government technocrats can capitalize on the fact that Japan's population is aging faster than it's growing.
In this post, we'll examine how Toyota is capitalizing on this.
Toyota, a Japanese company, has had tremendous success in producing hybrid motor cars and in innovating production technologies...technologies used in the production of parts and everything automated.
They have transferred and leveraged this experience into the making of robotic parts e.g. batteries, motors and power electronics.
(By the way Toyota, before going into car-making, originally manufactured robots...especially robots with human intelligence... a process called autonomation).
These parts are used in what Toyota terms "Toyota Partner Robots" - robots made to provide help around the home and to work in the factory.
Nurse Robots are just one type of Partner Robots that Toyota is hoping to sell this year.
They are "betting" that the nurse robot will be a success in Japan and have been testing them at Toyota Memorial Hospital (run by Toyota), since 2004.
Nurse Robots are a great revenue saver for Japan and a huge money-maker for Toyota, as according to article,"Toyota sees robotic nurses in your lonely final years":
1) Japan could save 2.1 trillion yen (US $21 billion) in annual health care costs by using robots to monitor the elderly
2) Toyota could make billions by selling their nurse robots to other developed countries, whose populations are also aging faster than they are growing.
One flaw that I see in the Japanese reasoning in providing nurse robots for the elderly, however, is that these robots will act as substitutes for assistive technologies (technologies used by the disabled so that they can live more independent lives) that have helped the disabled and elderly communities of other countries like the USA and Australia.
Assistive technologies are constantly being improved and refined to give these communities independence.
I think that the Japanese really should have invested in tailoring these technologies for use by the elderly in Japan, rather than investing in nurse robots, from scratch...robots that will take another 10-15 more years in development in order for Japan to realize it's return in investment.
So there is a great opportunity in Japan, for assistive technology companies, as the market is there, it's just that there are a few producers of these technologies in Japan and unfortunately, little government support in this area.
Since families, nursing homes and hospitals need help with lifting, caring for and transporting their elderly, now...this presents an excellent opportunity for assistive technology producers to fill the gap, now, and to try to convince the Japanese government that this represents an immediate option, whilst investing in nurse robots for the future.
Additionally, these technologies will make the work of hospital and home care workers much easier, thus freeing these workers to concentrate on other important functions and also decreasing health problems caused by lifting patients, thus increasing these workers' longevity on the job.
The longer health workers, especially nurses, can remain on the job, is the less of them that Japan would need to import.
Hence, assistive technologies represent a win-win situation for Japan,, as they solve an immediate problem (how to care for an increasingly aged population) whilst keeping more money in their coffers...money that would otherwise be spent to recruit and train foreign nurses for Japan.
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In our next post we'll look at how Japan's aged are treated in families and where your company can fit into the Japanese family.
Gillian
Sources Include
1) Speech/Presentation, "Differences in Assistive Technology and Access between Japan and the USA", by Kazumi Kanemuram, Abilities Global Institute, accessed June 29, 2010
2) Article, " Toyota sees robotic nurses in your lonely final years", by Daniel Bartz, Wired.com's Gadget Lab, January 19,2010
3) Press Release, "Toyota Announces Overview of "Toyota Partner Robot"", Toyota.co.jp, March 11, 2004,
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