The Work of Care in the Age of Feeling Machines

Abstract

This chapter examined how the ageing population in Japan prompted robot manufacturers to consider producing robots for domestic uses, in particular the care for the elderly. Drawing from ethnographical fieldwork, the author of this chapter found robotic engineers changed their understanding of robots in human-machine interaction. Initially robots are in animal form, allowing patients to regain dignity by teasing them. Later, the robots acted like a digital social platform that help forge social ties among the patients. This chapter concluded that robots do not substitute humans but facilitate human interactions through the material body of robots. As such, the robots are not designed for work, but for play; they help the elderly who have forgotten to play to connect with other humans.