Irish Examiner view: Robots are coming to help older people

Surprising new research involving UCD suggests that older people and carers alike would be happy with robotic assistance 

In real life, robotic assistants will not look much like the droids imagined in science fiction. But the surprising thing is how open people are to such robotic assistance. Picture: iStock

“Can’t get the staff” is the modern lament, and one sector where it can be heard at its loudest is within the profession of social care.

Small wonder, then, that optimists are looking towards technology to do some of the heavy lifting in the future. But more surprising is the generally high level of support for the proposition that nan’s best friend and helper, 2035, might be a combination of R2-D2 and C-3PO, the droids who introduced us to artificial intelligence (AI) in Star Wars.