CHROMATOGRAPHY/SPECTROSCOPY Messenger finds surprises on Mercury
NASA's engineers hoped for a trouble-free mission, confirming earlier theories about Mercury. Messenger has done more...
continue...
LIFE SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY Nanotube findings push biomedical potential to a new level
continue...
MATERIALS SCIENCE/NANOTECHNOLOGY E.coli a future energy source?
continue...
Are Biofuels The Right Choice?
Fuels-their increasing use, diminishing supply in some areas, and their byproducts which are being attributed to global warming, have become the determining factors in the future of humans' role on this planet. And petroleum, with its high energy output and its 41% dominant share of the U.S.'s energy portfolio, has become the current center of attention in this country.
continue...
Microscopy/Image Analysis A Biased View of the Nanoworld: Electromechanical Imaging By Scanning Probe Microscopy Piezoresponse force microscopy enables electromechanical imaging at the nanoscale. continue...
Photonics/Optics Riding the Waveguide
A planned approach to photonics design is accelerating network development. continue...
Software Improving Bridge Performance with Finite Element Analysis
Finite element analysis enables better bridge performance from the ground up.
continue...
Turbomolecular vacuum pump eliminates cables and accessory rack
Edwards has released its new iXA series of magnetic bearing turbomolecular vacuum pumps continue...
New microscope combines near-field optical Raman with atomic-force imaging
Molecular-level topographic sample information is now available to users of Parks Systems’ new atomic force microscope continue...
UV spectrophotometer features USB operation and small footprint
The latest ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) multi-mode spectrophotometer from Shimadzu Scientific Instruments is the UV-1800 continue...
Where are those robots?
May 9, 2008
There are roughly 78 million baby boomers in the U.S. and about 8,000 of them turn 60 every day. A small number still have parents, many of whom are in continuing care retirement facilities, which many of the baby boomers themselves will have need of in the future. A number of studies have revealed that, under current situations, there won’t be enough health care workers available in the future to properly take care of the residents in these facilities.
One of the solutions noted was the implementation of robotic systems for many of the routine chores, thereby freeing up the available health care providers to do the more personal and intensive jobs. Other robotic systems have been demonstrated for the in-home care and monitoring of elderly citizens. Health care robotic assistants’ duties include systems for delivery and disposal of materials, infirm patient guidance and tracking, rehabilitation assistants, and overall monitoring and analysis. But while many of these systems have been demonstrated, relatively few have been transitioned into actual products and integrated into health care facilities or available for in-home use.
Likely, the overall costs for the systems including their initial acquisition, maintenance, and monitoring and control networks are still beyond the payback range required by the care facility operators or individuals. Their reliability, especially in power outage situations, also has not been proven. Certainly, the looming volume of potential customers for these products is highly visible and without question, so as to create a marketplace with adequate revenue possibilities and high-volume cost reductions. Regardless, the manufacturers of such systems are not visibly increasing, and the integrations of systems into facilities is meager at best. Indeed, research in robotic health care appears to be increasing in the EU and Japan—who have their own rising levels of senior citizens—faster than it is in the U.S.
Is this going to become a situation where robotic systems needed to take care of our elderly are sourced from suppliers outside the U.S.? These are primarily high-technology products and not commodities, so that the cost advantage for foreign suppliers should not be an issue. It will become primarily a situation of who actually designs and builds these systems and offers them for sale. I sincerely hope that U.S. industry will take advantage of this opportunity to create a new market sector.
