To address the burgeoning “loneliness epidemic” and the demands of an aging population, some think that we should deploy robotic caregivers. A new ad titled “B.E.N. (Biologically Engineered Nursing),” however, suggests that this is a dreadful idea.
This five-minute ad was produced by the Society of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (SSVP), an international Catholic voluntary organization that provides assistance to those in need. When the short story opens, we see a woman, Claudine, dancing with her robotic caregiver, BEN. From there, we travel back to the previous day, and we come to see how the pair came to their gloomy embrace.
As the ad shows, all is not as it appears to be…
Read more about companion robots and their reported efficacy by clicking here.
Article originally published on October 11 by George Dvorsky on Gizmodo.com