Ageing populations in industrialised countries and a growing proportion of working age individuals is placing a burden on care workers. It is important that countries adapt in order to increase the quantity and quality of care and better integrate the aged into society, including fostering
cross-generational interactions. Japan is one of the countries leading the way in this area and Associate Professor Toshihiko Ando, Department of General Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Sendai College, Japan, is a researcher who is developing novel tools for enhancing elderly
care. With a background in computing and electrical engineering and these fields' interactions with humans, Ando is looking at how robotics can be applied to elderly care. The goal is to support long-term care in order to enable elderly people to remain active and the burden on caregivers
is reduced. Ando is also using his work as a mechanism for involving non-care specialists, including students, in the field of long-term care. This includes the use of teaching materials and visits to care facilities. Ando and his students have developed basic robots that can help with general
tasks and they are interested in examining how elderly care patients respond to the presence of robots.
Research for the Inclusion of Home-Based Physical Therapy in Long-Term Care Insurance System of Physical Therapists in Elderly Care Facilities
