Robotics, AI innovations put elderly care on fast track

Strong policy support

In recent years, a series of policy measures have been introduced at both central and local levels, providing strong support for technological research and development.

In September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly initiated the intelligent elderly care service robot pairing research and scenario application pilot work, announcing a list of pilot projects.

Their implementation will accelerate the transformation and application of technological achievements in elderly care robots and promote collaborative innovation across the industry chain.

In September 2024, Beijing unveiled a policy involving several measures to strengthen the service guarantee for the elderly age 80 and above, explicitly proposing to advance the development and application of smart elderly care scenarios.

The measures focus on supporting the development of the elderly care robot industry, steadily promoting smart care service management systems and care service terminals, and actively advancing the construction of smart nursing homes.

The policy aims to benefit 698,000 elderly people age 80 and above, as well as 157,000 seniors under 80 suffering from disabilities or dementia, creating a favorable environment for the promotion and application of elderly care robots in the Chinese capital.

Despite significant progress made by China's elderly care robot industry, it still faces many challenges that impede its high-quality development.

"While researching elderly care technology, we need to focus on technological innovations that adhere to scientific principles, introducing new technologies to solve previously unsolvable or poorly solved problems," said Li Jian, a researcher at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. "On the other hand, the innovations need to be practical and grounded in actual applications to accurately address the pain points and common issues affecting elderly care."

Tao Chunjing, a professor at Beihang University, recommended building highly standardized and unified smart elderly care scenarios to promote their development and control costs.

"Robotics has been developing for a long time and, currently, we are in a transition phase — from technical demonstration to scenario tackling. All rehabilitation and companion robots and services can be seamlessly integrated through a mature, comprehensive system involving management, education and supervision," Tao said.

"Elderly care institutions can tap into this solution to avoid high hidden costs and complex management burdens, making promotion much easier," she added.

Li Zhucui, a researcher at the sociology research office of the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that using smart elderly care options could ease some of the challenges related to China's aging population.

"Smart elderly care devices can beat geographical limitations, extending high-quality medical care, health monitoring and other services to remote rural areas," she said. "The technological advantage can significantly narrow the gap between urban and rural elderly care services, allowing seniors in marginalized areas to conveniently enjoy high-quality services."

However, Li pointed out that smart elderly care devices have certain limitations and technical shortcomings. "For example, in meeting the spiritual comfort needs of the elderly, intelligent devices can achieve human-machine language interaction but cannot replace interpersonal emotional connections," she said.

"For special groups, such as those with dementia or severe disabilities, the ease of operation and functional adaptability of intelligent devices need further improvement to better meet their needs," Li added.

Li Wenfang and Xie Ruiqi in Guangzhou contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn