George Friedman, the chief executive officer of Statfor, Austin, Texas, a geopolitcal analysis firm, has predicted in "The Next 100 Years" that, sometime around the 2060s or 2070s, robots will displace the many millions of Mexicans the United States will bring in to keep long-term care (LTC) affordable.
The recent Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance (ILTCI) Conference in Las Vegas did not include any sessions on strategies for recruiting Mexican LTC workers, or major geopolitical clashes caused by conflicts between robots and human LTC workers, but it did offer a session on how smart homes and robotics might help people with disabilities stay in their homes longer
Ian Sanders of SimplyHome, Arden, N.C. — a wireless independent living technology firm — talked about how relatively simple, low-cost systems can help people maximize their independence today.
His company sells products such as a medicine cabinet sensor that can detect whether a woman has taken her pills and a stove sensor that can detect whether a man has left a burner on the stove unattended. The company also sells sensors that can help show whether an individual is eating properly or has been in bed longer than usual.
The equipment might cost a few thousand dollars, installation costs might average a few dollars per day over the course of a year, and an individual might need to spend up money on related support services, such as access to an emergency medical monitoring center, Sanders said, according to a written copy of his presentation posted on the ILTCI website.
But the savings for a group of people who get to stay home, rather than moving into a nursing home, can be large, Sanders said.
Pam Gheysar, marketing director at Two Gamma Inc., Denver — a robotics company — talked about use of robots to maximize independence.