Health and Wellbeing Report
Introduction
The education of a young person starting secondary school in 2011 will have to stand them in good stead for the next 60 years. With this in mind, Robots and Avatars has been looking at how young people will work and play with new representational forms of themselves and others in 10 to 15 years time. Through a series of debates and events we have been speculating what that future may be like and asking how the education system can evolve to respond to the changes we will face in our digital futures? These questions stem from body>data>space’s previous work which has explored our evolving virtual and physical identity over the past 20 years.
Between June and November 2010, Robots and Avatars hosted a series of Lunch Debates which brought together diverse and specialised groups of professionals and experts to deepen the research and further the conversations around the themes of Robots and Avatars. The Lunch Debates ask, ‘What sort of world are we educating our young people for?’ and are designed to help extend the understanding of what young people’s needs are for the future world of work, given that many of the jobs they will do have not been invented yet. The debates also envision the skill-sets, aptitudes, resources and methodologies that will be required by today’s young people who will be at work from 2020 onwards.
About the Lunch Debates
The groups were formed from a researched pool of experts from a wide variety of backgrounds, including academics, creative practitioners, industry professionals, public service specialists, artists and designers. There were four debates in the series: Artificial Intelligence, Behaviours and Ethics, Health and Well Being and the Future World of Work. More information including, downloads and videos are available here.
The Health and Wellbeing Lunch Debate was attended by:
Professor Raymond Tallis (Provocateur) – Emeritus Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Manchester
Paul Cheng – Senior Investment Manager at CAF Venturesome
Dick Davies – Co-founder and Executive Producer, Ambient Performance
Gavin Nettelton – Head of e-Learning, Social Care Institute for Excellence
Joop Tanis – Head of Health Launchpad, Young Foundation
Dave Taylor – Programme Lead for Virtual Worlds and Medical Media, Imperial College
Dr. Jenny Tillotson – Senior Research Fellow, Central Saint Martins
Professor Kevin Warwick – Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading
Benedict Arora – Director of Education NESTA (Moderator)
Ghislaine Boddington – Creative Director, body>data>space (Moderator)
Background
The debate began with body>data>space outlining some key areas for the group to consider in the context of an increasingly fluid future which will see young people needing to be more self reliant, entrepreneurial and dynamic – particularly in their working lives. Exploring future collaboration environments, Ghislaine Boddington explained that co-operation, co-production and inter-relations between robots, avatars, telepresence, real-time presence will be come increasingly common in the workplace, asking what the implication will be on practices of health and well being? Human/Robot co-production was also explored in this context, with Japan being highlighted as an example where these sorts of technologies are already being adopted. There are currently 14 companies in Japan making robots to look after elderly people in their homes and the RAPUDA robotic arm which can be attached to wheelchairs, tables and other objects is helping elderly people extend their mobility. Robots are now being used in order to carry out surgery with very high degrees of precision and developments in nanotechnology could see robots being used for internal medical care. In terms of blended virtual and physical space, Boddington shared examples of with the group of tele-present doctors projected on “head screens” through humanoid robots, to deal with patients in hospitals. Another example of the use of robots in health environment are robotic pharmacies, which have been adopted in Scotland improve safety and save money.
Turning towards the emotional and psychological aspects of robots and avatar presence in health and well being environments, Boddington suggested that they could be used as ‘life companions’, to give reminders about taking medicine or even to have conversations with[1]. The u-BOT 5 has been designed to help old people should something happen to them. Its capabilities include picking up small objects, dialling the emergency services and even using a stethoscope to check vitals. It contains a webcam, microphone, LCD touchscreen, WiFi, and could potentially be used to make virtual housecalls. Lastly, using avatars in simulation environments, such as Second Life, can help assess the state of mind of mental health patients and lead to better diagnoses.
Keywords
Social care, longevity and senior care, active-ageing, intergenerational exchange, special needs, robotic surgery, home care robotics, e-health/virtual care, telemedicine, telehealth, online co-production, care networks, physical gaming, disability, mobile care devices, memory, self diagnosis, prevention, cyberchondria, patient-centred approach, organ design, ethics and morality.
Summary
An increase in life expectancy and better health provision means that the population in the UK is ageing. Over the last 25 years the percentage of the population aged 65 and over increased from 15% in 1984 to 16% in 2009, an increase of 1.7 million people[i]. This will significantly affect the future of health and wellbeing. Robots and Avatars has been debating what these changes will mean for young people today and in the future. Looking at avatars that can predict life choices to help you make more informed decisions, doctor appointments that take place on your mobile phone and toothbrushes that send information about your health to your bathroom mirror – this lunch debate asks what young people and schools can be doing now, to prepare for a technologically pervasive future of health and wellbeing. This Lunch Debate also explored new ways that care and medicine are going to be administered – looking at robot doctors, cybernetics, brain implants and returning again and again to the question of whether humans will always need face to face care?
Context
Benedict Arora and Ghislaine Boddington began the debate with an introduction, calling for the group to “identify both interventions and inventions” in the debate. Boddington then went on to outline the context of old age in Europe saying that currently in the EU there are four people working to every one person retired, but by 2050 it is thought that this will change to two people working for every one retired. She raised some of the core concerns of the debate, focusing on how we will have the capacity to care for an increasingly ageing population, how this can be aided by new technologies and what type of jobs young people today will need to be thinking about, asking “what skills are needed now?” She also introduced the concept of “a new old age,” before handing over to Professor Raymond Tallis for his lively provocation.
