Because of ageing, the world needs a robotics revolution. “The question for all of us is: how can we use technology to make the quality of life better as people get older?” Says Gill Pratt, a man who had previously run a competition to find artificially intelligent, semi-autonomous robots for the Pentagon.

Ageing and robots are more closely related than you might think.

Ageing creates demand for automation in two ways. First, to prevent output from falling as more people retire, it is necessary to use machines as a replacement for those who have left the workforce or to enable ageing workers to continue to do physical labor. Second, once people have retired they create markets for new kinds of automation, including robots that help with the medical and other requirements of caring for people who can no longer look after themselves.

Automation is not the only way to deal with skills shortages, but it is one of the most important. At the moment, the robotics market is led by industrial machines. As ageing speeds up, service robots, which enable old people to live alone and help reduce loneliness, will be in great need. They will make it easier to look after people in nursing homes and enable older workers who want to stay employed to keep up with the physical demands of labor. Nowadays, therapeutic(治疗的) robots designed for children and patients with dementia (痴呆) and human-like robots that can carry out conversations on a limited range of topics have already been put into use.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, about 20,000 robots sold in 2018 could be described as helpful to the ageing. That is less than 5% of industrial robots. The number will undoubtedly grow. The question is how quickly. Mr. Pratt is optimistic. Over the past five years, he argues, there have been huge advances in artificial intelligence, enabling machines to surpass humans in certain kinds of information processing. In other words, robots perform more quickly and reliably than humans. New firms are pouring into the business. A third of robot companies are less than six years old and make service robots. The costs of research and development are coming down and investment is rising. Within a decade, Mr. Pratt supposes, robots at home will help people with simple tasks such as cooking.

But for that to happen, robots will have to perform a long list of things they cannot yet do. They cannot navigate reliably around an ordinary home, move their hands skillfully like a human, or conduct open-ended conversations. Although they can provide some physical assistance to the elderly, one robot can do only one thing, so multiple tasks would require your home to be equipped with many robots. All these suggest that, in terms of solving the problem associated with ageing, robots have a long way to go.

In a policy address to lawmakers, Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said the country’s population problem was a case of solving the issue “now or never”, and that it “simply cannot wait any longer because it can affect social functions”.

“In thinking of the sustainability and inclusiveness of our nation’s economy and society, we place child care support as our most important policy,” he said, adding that he wants the government to double its spending on child-related programs, and that a new government agency would be set up in April to focus on the issue.

Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and it recorded fewer than 800,000 births in 2022 for the first time since records began in 1899. The country also has one of the highest life expectancies in the world; in 2020, nearly one in 1,500 people in Japan were age 100 or older, according to government data.

These trends have driven a growing population problem, with a rapidly aging society, a shrinking workforce and not enough young people to fill the gaps in the stagnating (停滞) economy. The country’s high cost of living, limited space and lack of child care support in cities make it difficult to raise children, meaning fewer couples are having kids. Experts point to the pessimism young people in Japan hold towards the future, many frustrated with work pressure and economic stagnation.

How about other parts of East Asia? South Korea recently broke its own record for the world’s lowest birth rate, with data from November 2023 showing a South Korean woman will have an average of 0.79 children in her lifetime — far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. Japan’s birth rate stands at 1.3, while the United States is at 1.6. Meanwhile, China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time, adding pressure to its economic growth.