AIREC, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a manoeuvre for changing diapers or preventing bedsores with a researcher at Waseda University's laboratory in Tokyo, Japan [Source: Reuters]

Recently in Tokyo an AI-driven robot leaned over a man lying on his back and gently put a hand on his knee and another on a shoulder and rolled him onto his side — a manoeuvre used to change diapers or prevent bedsores in the elderly.

The 150-kg (330 lb) artificial intelligence-driven humanoid robot called AIREC is a prototype future “caregiver” for Japan’s rapidly ageing population and chronic shortage of aged-care workers.

“Given our highly advanced ageing society and declining births, we will be needing robots’ support for medical and elderly care, and in our daily lives,” said Shigeki Sugano, the Waseda University professor leading AIREC’s research with government funding.

Japan is the world’s most advanced ageing society with a falling birth rate, dwindling working-age population and restrictive immigration policies.

Its “baby boomer” generation, a bulging cohort created by a spike in post-war child births from 1947 to 1949, all turned at least 75 by the end of 2024, exacerbating the severe shortage of aged care workers.

The number of babies born in 2024 fell for a ninth straight year, by 5% to a record low 720,988, data from Japan’s health ministry showed on Thursday.

The nursing sector, meanwhile, is struggling to fill jobs.

It had just one applicant for every 4.25 jobs available in December, far worse than the country’s overall jobs-to-applicants ratio of 1.22, according to government data.

As the government looks overseas to help fill the gap, the number of foreign workers in the sector has grown over the years, but stood only at around 57,000 in 2023, or less than 3% of the overall workforce in the field.

“We are barely keeping our heads above water and in 10, 15 years, the situation will be quite bleak,” said Takashi Miyamoto, a director at Zenkoukai, an operator of elderly-care facilities. “Technology is our best chance to avert that.”

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.