R2-D2, the know-it-all robot that serves humans in the Star Wars films, is hardly the answer. The next generation of robots need to support human needs such as care, thoughtfulness and companionship. The robot Bestic is showing the way forward.
The development of Bestic is truly user-driven; the initiator, Sten Hemmingsson (right), suffers from limited mobility due to polio. Ann-Louise Norén, development manager, expects the robot to be out on the market soon.
Photo: Alice Öberg
Adam Hagman has been project manager of health robotics at "Robot Valley" (see fact box in the right column) in Västerås since 2007. ”The goal is the freedom of individuals and a more humanitarian approach to caring for people,” he says.
He explains that healthcare robots or mechanized help resources with built-in intelligence can be used in treatments that require high-level precision, or in rehabilitation or assistance.
This also involves modern robots that are able to compensate in the event of disabilities, as the Robot Valley project Bestic does. It involves robots for people who, due to functional disabilities, are unable to feed themselves. Bestic handles the feeding, and the user does not need to be fed by anyone else at the table. Everyone eats using their own machine, regardless of whether their arms, hands or fingers function.
Ann-Louise Norén, development manager at Bestic AB in Enebyberg north of Stockholm, says: ”We expect to be out on the market and start sales of Bestic in the winter of 2008–2009.”
Meeting the future
Bestic was developed by Sten Hemmingsson, who was afflicted with polio in his youth and, through that, had problems with movement abilities.
In Europe, Japan and the United States, there are a couple of million people with diagnoses that create a need for Bestic. This involves people with MS, ALS, Parkinson’s and other diseases that limit movement abilities. In Sweden alone, there are almost 70,000 people with these conditions. Norén’s modest estimate is that a couple of thousand of these want to use Bestic. She believes that a couple of hundred users can be added every year.
Hagman assesses the market for robots within health and medical care to be enormous.
Bestic's job is to lift food from the plate to the mouth, making people with limited hand or arm function less reliant on assistance. Photo: Alice Öberg
”All forces must work together to create more humanitarian medical and general care,” he says. “By merging technical and physiological competence, Robot Valley wants to develop new, innovative, Swedish export products that make people’s everyday lives simpler. First and foremost it’s about meeting the future.”
More and more elderly
Let’s go back in time about a hundred years. Prior to the 20th century, the world was clear about what would happen during the coming century; the comprehensive industrialization and major inventions during the 19th century had laid the foundation for comprehensive technological and welfare improvements for society.
The 20th century was when technology was utilized by individuals who benefited from it. Technology developments in combination with social and political changes created a welfare society. This was applicable in all areas: transport, administration, housing, home electronics, medical care, etc.
In 2008, Sweden is — as it has been for many decades — a modern welfare society with well-educated, knowledgeable and healthy citizens. Today, Swedes are healthier and live much longer. Life expectancy for a Swedish man is 79 years, and for a Swedish woman, 83 years. In Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, women live, on average, just as long as women in Sweden, while men in these countries have a life expectancy of between 75 and 77 years.
In fall 2007, the EU Commission adopted a strategy document for Europe’s health development over the next five years. One of the goals is increased life expectancy. All forecasts are now indicating longer lifetimes.
Within 30 years, it is estimated that 40 percent of Sweden’s population will be retirees over the age of 65. The same forecast applies for other countries in Europe. In a few decades, people 100 years old will be nothing particularly unique. Today’s young people can look forward to a long and healthy life. So far, so good.
New challenges
But the increasing life expectancy also involves new challenges. Will our society be able to support and assist an increasingly aging population? Are our cities designed for so many elderly people? Can Sweden take care of more and more increasingly old people with complications, disabilities and problems associated with old age? How shall the future’s housing, medical care and general care be organized?
Another important and perhaps vital question: How shall more young people become interested in working in the care sector?
Is robotics the answer to a well-functioning healthcare system in a society where more and more people get older? Robot Valley's Adam Hagman believes so. Photo: www.robotdalen.se
These questions deal with attitudes, our culture, traditions and views toward fellow human beings. The answers are about consideration and care, but also about being able and willing to utilize new technologies to facilitate efforts within healthcare, general care and the home. We can honestly say that welfare developments are entering a new phase.
”It involves thinking about introducing robotics,” says Bestic's Norén, and Robot Valley's Hagman agrees.
Meeting on human terms
In Japan, the number of elderly people is increasing faster than in Europe.
”This has forced the Japanese to use new technology to meet these needs. For that reason, it hasn't been that dramatic to replace humans with robots within different sectors,” says Hagman.
The Japanese have a rather pragmatic attitude toward robots or robot-like tools. In Europe, we have had a more skeptical attitude. We think that it will be difficult to replace people with robots.
Norén believes that we are on our way to rethinking this concept.
”I have not run into anyone who doesn’t want help from Bestic,” she says.
"Reduced care resources mean that human meetings are at risk,” says Hagman. "With greater openness toward technical solutions, treatments can become better and time saved that can be devoted to more personal care. In that way, care will be more satisfactory for everyone."
Positive reception
Norén describes Bestic as an important project to show how robotics can be used in a dignified way and strengthen private individuals.
”In Japan, they love Bestic,” she says. “But the reception has also been very positive in Europe. Everyone is seeking solutions, and those diseases that are increasing the need for Bestic come with old age.”
”In Sweden, we’re good at technological development, and especially good at incorporating good ideas into practical products,” Hagman says. “In addition, we have a great ability for human considerations, which becomes yet another competitive advantage when we develop robots and tools for an international market.”
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Related links
Related events
- “A good life” — A meeting place to give elderly and disabled a good life, Stockholm International Fairs, Älvsjö, September 9—11, 2008
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