Grandma, here’s your robot

Is it the loneliest idea you’ve ever heard? Or an ingenious hack that helps human caregivers be more attentive and empathetic? You might have these questions when you meet the robot caregivers who roam the halls at retirement homes, doing basic tasks for residents and keeping them connected. Is elder care something we want a robot to do? Roboticist Conor McGinn from Trinity College Dublin actually moved into a retirement home in Washington, DC, to gain a deeper understanding of what residents might want from a robot. The answer surprised him, and it prompts deeper questions: As humans, what responsibility do we have toward our elders? When we fail them, should robots close the gap? And is that the future we want for ourselves? Get the weekly Should This Exist? newsletter for reading list and discussion questions: See Privacy Policy at and California Privacy Notice at .

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Grandma, here’s your robot is an episode from Should This Exist? by WaitWhat.

This episode is 00:33:33 long.

This episode was published on Oct 21, 2020.

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