F064 Fighting loneliness in older people with robots (Richard Marshall)

Social isolation and loneliness are linked to several health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease, and even death. Can these problems be alleviated with the help of robots?

According to National Institute of Health loneliness can cause a loss of a sense of connection and community changes a person’s perception of the world in a negative way.

For quite a few years robots have been used in Japan to increase the quality of life of the elderly. While it’s true that robots are very integrated in the Japanese culture, it turns out the companionship of robots is getting increasingly normalized in the West as well.

A group of French innovators created Cutii — a robot for the elderly that looks like a screen on a stand that moves around in the environment. It supports speech recognition and vocal synthesis so the users can send written messages using their voice, the robot allows remote control for family caregivers, detects falls. The robot is an IoT device that enables the elderly to meet new people — caregivers in the Cutii community. Caregivers are usually younger volunteers that share their activities (for example cooking, hiking, visiting the gallery, etc.) while being connected to an elder in real-time.

The robot is currently available in France, Switzerland and the US. The average age of Cutii users is between 72 and 74. “In the direct to consumer segment of customers, around half of the buyers are the elderly themselves who have learned about the product. The other half are relatives eager to be in contact with their dear one. Insurance companies are also increasingly aware that the improved quality of life of the elderly decreases negative health effects and costs connected to those effects,” says Richard Marshall, VP of Business Development at Cutii.

The aim of the company is to increase the years of happy living to those that wish to age in their homes. Most people do, due to the emotional attachment they have with their home.

Various services are trying to address the issue of loneliness in older people, from community centres offering activities. However, warns Richard Marshall, we need to do better as a society.“The turnover rates of staff in-home care is 82%. This means you have 1 in 5 chance that in a year the same caregiver will come to see you,” explains Richard Marshall, adding that predictions show there will be 7.8 million job openings by 2026 in the US.

Workforce shortages are enormous in caregiving. Cutii is just one service that enables the elderly to have real-time contact with other people. But much more will need to be done to cater to the growing needs or the ageing society.

Tune in for the full discussion:

Some questions addressed:

How open are we to perceiving robots as companions?
What if a user gets too attached to the activity provider?
Do users and activity providers ever meet in person?
Cutii runs on a subscription model starting from € 90 per month and additional micro-payments per activity sessions. What kind of feedback did you get from the market regarding pricing? Is Cutii widely affordable? Are relatives interested in covering the fee if the elderly person can’t afford it?
Can Cuti only be used in the home?
Can you take us through the competition on the market — what’s out there for decreasing loneliness?
The company emphasized several times it will never be run by Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Why such a strong public position?
What is the Cutii target age group since many people at 65 are still quite vital?