An Exploratory Study of Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Healthcare Services in Aging Society: A Case Study of Japan

Abstract

Currently, Korea is rapidly entering an aging society due to increased life expectancy and a declining birthrate, resulting in increased social costs for supporting the elderly and a weakening of the country's growth engine due to a declining productive population.To solve these problems, it is important to develop a smart healthcare service industry utilizing artificial intelligence and robots, and specific case studies on service models are needed.Therefore, this study exploratively analyzed the cases of AI and robot healthcare services for the elderly in Japan, an ultra-aging society and robot powerhouse, divided into physical and psychological areas.As a result, service models that continuously predict and recognize changes in physical and emotional conditions and abnormal symptoms of the elderly are spreading in nursing homes, and emotion recognition and communication robot service models are actively being advanced to solve loneliness and depression among the elderly.In addition, wearable muscle suits and avatar robot models are being developed to support physical activities for the elderly.As AI and robotics are combined with drones and VR, various service models such as exercise, leisure, and delivery for the elderly are also emerging.Academically, this study conducted a case study to revitalize the AI and robot healthcare industries to solve the aging problem in Korea, and practically, it suggested the direction of service model development in related industries in Korea through a case analysis of Japan.