Japanese robot could be a constant companion for vulnerable adults

A robot from Japan is being heralded as the the latest breakthrough for dementia sufferers. Margaret Jennings talks to a UCD professor who wants its inventors to introduce it here

HIS memory is failing, edging into full-blown dementia, so Frank’s son gives him the gift of a robot butler to help him in his home. But Frank, a retired (sort of) jewel thief, has other ideas for Robot’s role.

The 2012 science fiction movie, called Robot and Frank, offers a poignant yet comic commentary on what might not be such an outrageous futuristic scenario soon in Ireland: using companion robots to help our ever growing population of older people.