Robots Deployed in Care Homes to Connect Families

Robots and other technical solutions are being deployed in care homes around the world, helping the elderly keep in touch with relatives and easing the pain of isolation during the COVID-19 epidemic, according to a BBC report.

The Internet of Things ecosystem is helping people cope with the epidemic in novel and original ways, whether through smartphones and apps that give authorities more details on how the virus is spreading, or through robotics and other technologies that let people talk with their loved ones.

Just six months ago, it would have inconceivable to use a robot to interface with people in care homes. Barring some emergency, the impersonal interface of a screen is a terrible way to communicate with our loved ones, but that IoT umbrella showed us that communication is vital, no matter the medium.

To be fair, using robots instead of people to communicate information or to provide services is nothing new, but it wasn’t all that popular in the Western world. Countries such as Japan have long integrated robots into hotel services or restaurants.

As people in care homes contract the Coronavirus or are just separated from their families, it looks like more technology is being used to connect people to the outside world or entertain them, according to a BBC report.

“In Belgium, 60 Zorabots have been deployed to care homes around the country to entertain guests who were kept in their rooms most of the day, in isolation,” said BBC’s Jen Copestake. “In the Netherlands, these Zorabots were used in homes before the pandemic, but now the company is providing them for a month, for free.”

In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) is trying out the new Facebook Portal device in care homes and hospitals, and a number of other technologies are available for people who need to stay in touch with relatives.

While all of these IoT devices inevitably carry security risks, they do provide people with the connection they so need, opening up the way to even more innovation in the ever-growing smart device ecosystem.