Meet Care-O-Bot and CASERO,
two German robot brothers that can provide needed services in long-term care
facilities. Care-O-Bot is a robot assistant, while CASERO is an automated
guided vehicle system. Previously, I shared information with you about Nursebot Pearl, a robot that services patients in private homes. She has a caregiving
voice and an emotional face with interchangeable parts.
Through robots, technology strives to meet the needs of our growing
population of older adults who are living longer with healthcare concerns. Of course, expensive robots will never
replace compassionate and efficient healthcare workers. But they can provide
services that allow healthcare workers to have more time with residents and
enhance quality of their lives. Depending on the degree of
dementia, robot trials indicate that people with dementia can accept
robots and be amused by them.
What about our two robot brothers and some of the services they
perform? Care-O-Bot, the younger of the two, can enter a room, introduce himself,
pass out drinks, and even keep track of who drank and how much. With colored
cameras used like eyes, this robot can recognize and respond to individual
faces, play games, and lead residents in singing. CASERO, a more developed
robot, uses its multiple cameras to monitor hallways and transports objects by
guiding itself, sending for an elevator, and riding it to another floor. Change
is slow, and, while everybody may not love service robots, many people do. You
can read more about both robots in this article about service robots.
This video titled Service Robots in Nursing Homes: Care-O-Bot 3 and CASERO shows the robots in operation at
Parkheim Berg, a nursing home in Germany:
Frances Shani Parker,
Author
Becoming
Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback at many booksellers and in
e-book form at
Amazon and Barnes and Noble booksellers.
Thanks for the share! As you can see there are many different types of LTC solutions in the healthcare industry these days. What is important however, is determining the needs of your business and your employees so you can pick the best solution that fits your company.
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