"Hey, Could You Speak a Little More Slowly?"... Why a Chinese Nursing Home Unplugged Its Robot

Frequent Errors, Prohibitive Prices
Robots' Limitations Clear in Real-World Care Settings

As the development of humanoid and smart-care robots gathers pace in China, some have been introduced in nursing homes and private homes. However, an analysis has found that many hurdles remain before they can be widely commercialized.

China's Guangming Daily reported on October 14 that "cutting-edge care robots are sometimes rejected in actual care settings or reveal their limitations."

AI-generated image.

Frequent Robot Errors... "People Feel More Reassuring"

Mr. Liu, who lives in a nursing home in Xi'an, goes to the dining hall himself after exercising to pick up food and bring it back. A robot used to deliver meals to his room, but he finds it more convenient to get them himself. "The robot speaks so quickly that it's hard to understand what it's saying," he said. "It doesn't know its way around, either, and once stopped outside someone else's room. Even when I called it, it didn't answer." The nursing home took measures such as slowing the robot's speech and enlarging the text, but Mr. Liu said, "I still feel more reassured when a person helps me."

The prohibitive price is also cited as a financial burden. Mr. Yang, who lives in Wuhan, has difficulty getting around and struggles to use the bathroom. His child bought him a bowel and bladder care robot costing 38,000 yuan (about 7.6 million won), but Mr. Yang shook his head. "It's too expensive. My son bought it for me, so I have no choice but to use it, but I'm afraid to rely on it because it costs so much," he said.

Concerns have also been raised about declining trust due to technological uncertainty. At one nursing home that installed a radar system to prevent falls, the robot malfunctioned so often that caregivers had to rush around more than ten times a day. Eventually, exhausted staff unplugged it. "Every time the alarm went off, we'd rush over and find the elderly residents sleeping soundly," one caregiver said. "It happened so often that nobody trusted it anymore."

"Still Limited Without Human Intervention"

An analysis has found that Chinese humanoid and smart caregiving robots still have a long way to go before they can be commercialized. Photo for illustrative purposes. Pexels.

Some have also pointed out that, no matter how advanced the technology becomes, it has limitations without human intervention. Mr. Li, who lives in Chongqing, shares his home with a robotic assistant named Feifei. The robot reminds him when to take his medication, tells him about the weather, and chats with him. One day, when Mr. Li fell in the bathroom, Feifei detected an abnormality and sent an alert to his emergency contacts. But Mr. Li's child was away on a business trip, so a social worker who received the alert visited and helped him.

The outlet noted that "human intervention remains essential, no matter how advanced the technology becomes," adding that "the first step is for people to understand and use robots." It stressed that, after this step, trust in the devices and people's purchasing power must also be in place.

Chen Xu, a Wuhan University professor who has spent many years researching digital care for older adults, said, "Rather than expecting older people to adapt to technology, we need to make technology adapt to them." He added, "Improving older people's familiarity with devices, the applicability of the technology, and consistent use are urgent priorities." He said, "If older people give up after using a robot just once, even the smartest robot is nothing more than an exhibit."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.