Would you really trust a robot to care for you in old age?

Hidden away in a lab in north-west London, a trio of black metal robotic hands articulate with an unsettling grace on an engineering workbench. These aren’t the menacing claws of science fiction; instead, they feature four fingers and a thumb, mimicking human anatomy with joints in all the right places, opening and closing slowly. "We’re not trying to build Terminator," jokes Rich Walker, director of Shadow Robot, the firm behind these advanced prosthetics. With his distinctive long hair and beard, Walker embodies a blend of modern tech innovator and classic inventor, clearly passionate as he showcases his company’s work.

"We set out to build the robot that helps you, that makes your life better, your general-purpose servant that can do anything around the home, do all the housework…" But the ambition extends far beyond domestic chores. Shadow Robot, like many others in the burgeoning field of robotics, aims to tackle one of the United Kingdom’s most critical and escalating challenges: the crisis in social care.

The statistics paint a stark picture of the UK’s social care deficit. Last year, a report by the charity Skills for Care revealed a staggering 131,000 vacancies for adult care workers in England. Beyond staffing shortages, approximately two million people aged 65 and over in England are living with unmet care needs, according to Age UK. The demographic projections amplify this pressure: by 2050, one in four people in the UK is expected to be aged 65 or over, placing an unprecedented strain on an already struggling system. This dire situation has prompted the search for innovative solutions, leading to significant government investment in robotics. The previous government, in 2019, earmarked £34m for developing care robots, boldly predicting that "within the next 20 years, autonomous systems like robots will become a normal part of our lives, transforming the way we live, work and travel." This vision, often dubbed "techno-solutionism," sounds like something ripped from a sci-fi novel. But the central question remains: can these sophisticated machines truly provide the compassionate and reliable care our elderly population deserves? And more fundamentally, would you truly entrust your vulnerable relatives, or your future self, to what is, at its core, a complex machine?

Japan offers a compelling glimpse into a future where robots are integrated into daily life, particularly within care settings. A decade ago, the Japanese government, grappling with its own rapidly ageing population and a shortage of care staff, began offering substantial subsidies to robot manufacturers to develop and popularise robotic solutions in care homes. Dr. James Wright, an AI specialist and visiting professor at Queen Mary University of London, spent seven months observing the deployment of these robots in a Japanese care home, meticulously documenting their efficacy and impact.

His study focused on three distinct types of robots. The first, HUG, designed by Fuji Corporation, was a highly sophisticated mobility support device resembling a walking frame. Equipped with ergonomic support pads, HUG was intended to assist carers in safely lifting and transferring residents from beds to wheelchairs or toilets, aiming to reduce physical strain on staff and improve resident safety. The second, Paro, was an interactive robot designed to resemble a baby harp seal. This therapeutic robot was trained to respond to physical interaction, emitting comforting sounds and movements when stroked, specifically targeting dementia patients to provide stimulation and alleviate agitation. The third robot, Pepper, was a friendly-looking humanoid capable of giving instructions and demonstrating exercises by moving its arms, leading group exercise classes in the care home.

Dr. Wright confessed to having initially bought into some of the hype. "I was expecting that the robots would be easily adopted by care workers who were massively overstretched and extremely busy in their work," he recounts. "What I found was, almost the opposite." His observations revealed that, far from easing the workload, the robots often created new demands. The most significant drains on staff time were the routine tasks of cleaning and recharging the robots, and crucially, troubleshooting when they malfunctioned. "After several weeks the care workers decided the robots were more trouble than they were worth and used them less and less, because they were too busy to use them," he explains. Specific issues emerged: HUG frequently needed to be moved out of residents’ paths; Paro, despite its therapeutic intent, caused distress to one resident who developed an overly intense attachment; and Pepper’s exercise routines were impractical, as its short stature made it difficult for residents to follow, and its high-pitched voice was often hard to hear.

The developers behind these robots have since responded to Dr. Wright’s findings. Fuji Corporation has refined HUG’s design for greater compactness and user-friendliness. Takanori Shibata, Paro’s creator, highlights the robot’s two decades of use and points to clinical trials demonstrating its therapeutic effects. Pepper, now under new ownership, has undergone substantial software updates. Despite these advancements, Dr. Wright’s study underscored a critical lesson: the gap between laboratory potential and real-world application. Rich Walker of Shadow Robot, however, remains resolute, arguing that the potential of robots in care should not be dismissed, especially as the next generation promises far greater capabilities.

Indeed, bridging this gap between lab and reality is a primary focus for researchers like Praminda Caleb-Solly, a professor at the University of Nottingham. "We are trying to get these robots out of the labs into the real world," she states. To achieve this, she established the Emergence network, a collaborative platform connecting robot developers with businesses and, crucially, with elderly individuals themselves, to gather direct feedback on desired functionalities. Their input is invaluable: requests range from essential features like voice interaction and a non-threatening appearance to more aesthetic preferences such as a "cute design." Critically, many users emphasized practical needs like adaptability to changing care requirements and the ability for the robot to self-charge and self-clean. As one participant succinctly put it, "We don’t want to look after the robot – we want the robot to look after us."

In the UK, some businesses are already piloting these technologies. Caremark, a home care provider, has been trialling "Genie," a small, voice-activated robot, with clients in Cheltenham. One gentleman with early-onset dementia expressed joy in simply asking Genie to play Glenn Miller songs. Overall, director Michael Folkes describes reactions as "like Marmite," with some embracing Genie wholeheartedly and others less impressed. Yet, Folkes is keen to emphasize that these devices are not designed to replace human carers. "We’re trying to build a future where carers have more time to care," he clarifies, envisioning robots handling routine tasks to free up human staff for more meaningful interactions.

Back in the Shadow Robot Company lab, Rich Walker highlights another formidable engineering challenge: perfecting the robotic hand. "For the robot to be useful, it needs to have the same ability to interact with the world as [a] human does," he explains. "And for that it needs human-like dexterity." The demonstrative robotic hand, crafted from metal and plastic, is indeed remarkably nimble. Equipped with 100 sensors, it possesses both dexterity and strength akin to a human hand. Each finger moves smoothly, quickly, and precisely to touch its thumb, culminating in an "OK" gesture. It can even solve a Rubik’s Cube with one hand. Yet, even this advanced prototype struggles with the most delicate human tasks, such as operating a pair of scissors or handling small, fragile objects. "The way we use a pair of scissors is quite mind-blowing when you think about it," Walker muses. "If you try and analyse what happens, you’re using your sense of touch in subtle and precise ways and receiving feedback, which makes you adjust the way you cut. How do you tell a robot how to do that?"

Walker’s team, in collaboration with 26 other engineering firms, is addressing this challenge as part of the Robot Dexterity Programme, an initiative funded by the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). ARIA supports high-risk, high-reward scientific research with transformative potential. Professor Jenny Read, the project’s leader, reveals that they are looking to biomimicry – specifically, studying how animals move – to inform a complete redesign of robots, not just the hands. "One of the very striking things about animal bodies is their grace and efficiency," she notes. "Evolution has ensured that, in fact. I think gracefulness really is a form of efficiency."

This quest for efficiency and delicate control extends to the very actuators that power robots. Guggi Kofod, a Danish engineer and entrepreneur, is pioneering the development of artificial muscles as an alternative to traditional motors. His Denmark-based firm, Pliantics, is in the early stages of development but has achieved a crucial breakthrough: identifying a durable material that expands and contracts like real muscle when an electric current is applied. Kofod’s motivation is deeply personal. "Several people near me died from dementia very recently," he shares. "I see from the people who are caring for dementia patients, and it is very challenging. So, if we could build systems that help them to not be scared, and that help them live at least a decent level of life… That’s incredibly motivating for me." Pliantics is collaborating with Shadow Robot on the ARIA project, aiming to integrate these artificial muscles into a human-sized robotic hand to achieve a more precise and delicate grip. The ultimate goal is for this hand to detect subtle pressure changes and know precisely when to stop squeezing, replicating the exquisite tactile feedback of human fingertips.

However, the future of robotic care is not without its critics and concerns. Dr. Wright, drawing from his observations in Japan, voices a significant worry: that if widely adopted without careful planning, robots could inadvertently worsen conditions for human carers. "The only way that economically you can make this work is to pay the care workers less and have much larger care homes, which are standardised to make it easy for robots to operate in," he contends. "As a result, there would be more robots taking care of people, with care workers being paid a minimum wage to service the robots, which is the opposite of this vision that robots are going to give time back to care workers to spend quality time with residents, to talk." This dystopian outlook highlights the potential for "techno-solutionism" to prioritize efficiency and cost-cutting over the human element of care.

Other experts, however, maintain a more optimistic perspective. Gopal Ramchurn, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Southampton and CEO of Responsible AI, believes the industry is poised for immense growth. "It’s going to be a huge industry, given the deficit we have in the workforce right now. The demand for carers as our population ages will be huge," he argues. Ramchurn points to advancements like Elon Musk’s Optimus humanoid robot, which performed tasks and mingled at a Tesla event, as clear indicators that advanced robots are on the horizon, whether society is fully prepared or not. "We are trying to anticipate that future, before the big tech companies come in and deploy these things without asking us what we think about them," he emphasizes. Therefore, he asserts, the time is now to develop robust regulations and ethical frameworks to ensure that robots serve humanity’s best interests, rather than the other way around. "We need to be ready for that future." The question of trust, then, becomes less about if robots can care for us, and more about how we ensure they should – with humanity at the forefront of their design and deployment.