IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2017 - 66

into how future generations might accept or reject the
idea of living with a robot.
Many seniors have outlived their spouses and now
cope with absent children, but find friendship from their
peers and daily homecare workers. To them, the human
caregiver serves as a constant in their lives after a lifetime of love and loss.
There is a steady increase in the amount of development being done in the area of assistive robots and
only incremental research into what humans actually
think of the idea. There is support for a robot to take
on the hard jobs such as lifting groceries if you're a
senior, or hoisting a senior if you're a caregiver. However, there is also fear of the robot itself, its capabilities,
and how relatively easily it can take away a person's
job [17]-[38].
Assistive robots either by design or chance are gradually becoming normalized. They are more visible in
daily life in industrialized countries, whether it's in a
pediatric ward helping children, or in a shopping mall
directing customers. As the aging population comprises
a larger portion of the population, the pressure to adopt
care solutions quickly may result in convenient decisions to solve complex issues, at the risk of depriving
the elderly population of necessary social engagement.

Author Information
Kimberley Trynacity was and M.A. student at Royal Roads
University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and is now
an Independent Researcher. Email: Trynacity@shaw.ca.

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