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ABML2011

2011年11月3日-5日 東京（芝浦工業大学）

The Business of Supporting older People with Care Robotics:
A German-Japanese Comparison
介護用ロボットの高齢者支援事業の日独比較
Florian Kohlbacher, German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo
Diego Compagna, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Abstract: The major problems related to the demographic shift are similar in Japan and in Germany. Both countries are taking into
account various strategies to face them. One big challenge lies in the appropriate development of service robots. A comparing view ofthe differences and similarities regarding the development trajectories could be of benefit for both countries, e.g. service roboticcommunities. The aim of our paper is to show and discuss the efforts to develop service robots for the care sector in both countries andto identify criteria of how to improve the developments by comparing the different orientations and methods of developments.

Key Words: Participatory Methods of Development, Care Robotics, Demographic Shift, Service Robots, Care Facilities
Summary
1. Introduction
Aging and shrinking populations can today be seen in almost allindustrial nations, and are understood as one of the mostchallenging global trends (Bloom 2011). Globally, the numberof persons aged 60 or over is expected almost to triple,
increasing from 737 million in 2009 to 2 billion by 2050. In
developed countries as a whole, the number of older persons has
already surpassed the number of children (persons under age15), and by 2050 the number of older persons will be more than
twice the number of children. But this trend also affects
countries of the developing world. In developing countries as awhole, even though just 8% of the population is today aged 60years or over, this share will more than double by 2050,
reaching 20% that year. This structural change will have strong
effects on the society, the economy, and individual people (e.g.
Kohlbacher & Herstatt 2011). One particularly crucial issue inthis context is elderly care and the support of both older patientsand care givers. Technology – and in particular – robotics haveearly on been cited as promising remedies (e.g. Dario et al.
1999).
2. Care Robotics in Germany and Japan
Attractive lead markets can be found in countries in which an
innovation is first widely adopted and accepted, and eventuallyalso diffuses from there to other countries (Beise 2001, 2004).
Among other factors, demand and demand structure areimportant drivers in the development of lead markets.
Mega-trends like demographic change cause new demand orshifts in existing demand, and can, thus, create and influencelead markets and their business potential in the countries inquestion (see also Kohlbacher et al. 2011). Given that Japan isthe country most severely affected by the current demographic
shift, and also one of the most advanced countries in terms of
product development and innovation (e.g. Herstatt et al. 2006),
Japan can be expected to have a high potential as a lead market
for technologies for the aging society. However, surprisingly
and despite the fact that Japanese care robotics have frequently
been featured in the media around the world and cited asimportant innovations by experts, this industry does not seem tohave come up to these expectations (Kohlbacher 2011). Indeed,
many technologies are still under development, or if alreadylaunched into the market, are not performing well or havealready been withdrawn again. There are several reasons for this,including cost, regulation, and safety issues, but there also
seems to be a mismatch between what users really need andwhat is actually developed (Kohlbacher 2011).
Germany is following suite in terms of the demographic shift
and technology development and thus also has a lead market
potential. Due to the demographic shift the development ofService Robots that could be introduced in care-settings also arebecoming more and more important (Compagna et al. 2011;
Geiger 2009). In Germany the development and production ofindustrial robots already reached a worldwide leading position;
the goal of the German efforts is to achieve a similar positioning
the field of service and care robots. The main strategy toachieve this goal is in Germany to improve methods ofuser-centered developments and the same time to keep track on
designing high reliable robots. Although the balance point offurther developments of Social Robots e.g. Service Robots stilllies upon the functionality of these systems, the baseline
assumption for choosing this strategy is that functionality
among the aimed care-scenarios depends mainly on thesuccessful interaction between humans and robots. For thisreason a main research area is designing the interface (Giesecke2003). At the same time, especially for this field, the interaction
between the artefacts and the humans is a big challenge: First,
care work is in Germany a strictly human-related area, every
introduction of machines must be done very carefully, due tomany prejudices (Fischer 2010). Second, the target group is notvery technique affine (Jakobs et al. 2008). These aspects,
combined with expectations that the care sector grow into avery important field for the further development of Service
Robots, are leading to increased efforts to include the user in thedevelopment process (Winance 2010). In the end the successful
development of Service Robots depends significantly on thewell-balanced reconcilements of the technically possible and thesocially desirable.

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3. Conclusion and Outlook
Our goal consist in identify parallel ties as well as differences
between the developments within the field of service – andspecifically care – robotics that could be a benefit for both theJapanese and the German future R&D efforts. In particular, weare also interested in problems and issues that need to be
overcome in both countries to develop successful solutions in
the care robotics field.
One fruitful contribution could be seen in the user orientateddevelopment methods in Germany from which the Japanese
R&D could benefit. At the same time, huge efforts of theJapanese developments of humanoid robots could be of benefit
to the German development efforts which are focusing mostly
on mere functionality without taking the benefits of a morehumanoid appearance of the robots into account. These are just
2 examples, but there exist many more opportunities. Indeed,
we argue that both countries can learn from each other and theirdifferent approaches.
Last but not least, the institutional environment also needs to befavorable in terms of government support, flexible regulations
and insurance coverage etc.
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