Japanese child care is not enough, the robot provokes this burden

Japan's child care company Global Bridge Holdings and Gunma University have teamed up to launch a robot Vevo that works to care for children over the age of three.

Vevo can identify the child who needs it and greet him. During a child's nap, the sensor mounted on the cot is connected to the Vevo's body system to detect body temperature, heartbeat, and breathing. If an abnormality is found, Vevo will send an alert message.

Care robot Vevo.

In Japan, caregivers have been in a state of shortage.

According to the statistics of the Japanese Ministry of Health and Labor Welfare, there are 2,528 more children who need care this year than last year, but the number of care workers is in short supply. In terms of the proportion of applicants and vacancies, the care industry was 2.17, reaching 4.72 in Tokyo, while the national average was 1.13.

There are several reasons for the shortage. For example, the aging process leads to a shortage of labor. The tradition of Japanese women who banned their work after giving birth has led to fewer caregivers. In addition, there are not many people who are willing to do the job.

“Vevo solves the problem of insufficient caregivers,” said Nobuaki Nakazawa, an associate professor at the University of Gunma and Vevo project consultant. “But there are a lot of care jobs, and Vevo only does one part of it.”

Global Bridge Holdings has a total of 27 kindergartens. Currently, Vevo has been piloted in Tokyo, and will be introduced to another group in Gunma County in October this year. The company hopes to complete commercialization in April next year and reach the target of 4 million yen (240,200 yuan) in sales.

In addition to nursing care, Japan has also designed other professions for robots. In August of this year, Softbank launched the robot Pepper, whose main job is to chanting and surpassing the temple. The main reason for launching it is that the fee is cheap: the use of Pepper for the deceased is over 1,300 yuan, and the cost of people operating is as high as 14,000 yuan. But Pepper did not receive an overdue order.