Robotic Elder Care

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nphx It seems like self driving cars might create a new model of live at home but commute to senior center for social/health/meals.... extending in home living.

I am only 68 and fairly open to new ideas, but not the self driving car. I would imagine that quite a few other seniors would refuse to use one.

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badger I bet we could come up with quite a few examples of machine/computers that provide robotic functions today. I can also see meal preparation adapted with the available frozen dinners and microwaves. Just need a conveyor from freezer to microwave on a timer or app. How about voice activated systems for anything electronic including operating plumbing systems. I think much is or can be done already although with individual systems that could be designed for each individuals needs and added to when future needs arise. Cheers!

One specific plumbing thing is the sink where you stick your hands under the faucet and it turns on (seen a lot on freeway rest areas) avoiding contact with anything at all to use wash your hands.

[growing_older]

Quote:

I am only 68 and fairly open to new ideas, but not the self driving car. I would imagine that quite a few other seniors would refuse to use one.

For many people with diminishing capacity to drive cars themselves, the self-driving car will be very popular. My parents drove long past the age when it was safe for them to do so, and while they are finally resigned to not driving they are clearly feeling constrained to always need to ask for rides or taxis. When I was recovering from surgery, I couldn't drive, but still got around with Taxi, Uber and friends. I missed my independence and would have been delighted to have a self-driving car as an option.

[FIREmenow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I am only 68 and fairly open to new ideas, but not the self driving car. I would imagine that quite a few other seniors would refuse to use one.

A lot of folks said they'd never get on one of them newfangled flying machines, either [grin]

[harley]

Or bother with that fad, the internet.

[Hermit]

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Originally Posted by ziggy29 Too bad there will be no more working people left to pay the taxes to support the robotic care. Seriously -- I'm not against automating what can and should be automated, but we have to factor in the social costs of unemployment and underemployment.

From all my worldly experience, there are plenty of folks out there the would be happy to not work if we would just provide them a small income...

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nphx It seems like self driving cars might create a new model of live at home but commute to senior center for social/health/meals.... extending in home living.

So who is going to gas the thing up? I haven't seen a full service gas station in more than a few years.

[Amethyst]

Just because somebody can't drive well any more, doesn't mean they can't manage a doggone gas pump! If they can't, well, there will need to be a companion in that there self-driving car.

Actually I am wondering why old people wouldn't just call taxis when they need them, same as they do now. Self-driving cars are unlikely to be cheap to buy and own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit So who is going to gas the thing up? I haven't seen a full service gas station in more than a few years.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I am only 68 and fairly open to new ideas, but not the self driving car. I would imagine that quite a few other seniors would refuse to use one.

I think if you saw an autopilot fly an airplane that might change your mind. I got a front-seat ride on a twin-engine Beech Baron (a VERY nice airplane, and expensive even by airplane standards) that had an autopilot slaved to a GPS navigational system. The day was very windy with a lot of turbulence that would bounce even that Baron around quite a bit.

This was flying in PA, over a rather mountainous region, and for fun we were clearing some mountaintops by maybe 100 feet. (Yeah, pilots often have a strange sense of what is fun.)

The autopilot made that thing fly like it was on rails, making course and altitude corrections in a fraction of the time that any human could possibly have done. It made a believer out of me. I realize that driving a car is much more difficult than flying an airplane because the environment is much more complex and quickly variable.

I'd be open to having a self-driving car. Especially if that was the only option to getting around.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by growing_older When I was recovering from surgery, I couldn't drive, but still got around with Taxi, Uber and friends. I missed my independence and would have been delighted to have a self-driving car as an option.

You are braver than I am.

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Originally Posted by FIREmenow A lot of folks said they'd never get on one of them newfangled flying machines, either [grin]

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Originally Posted by harley Or bother with that fad, the internet.

My paternal grandparents never owned an automobile, or learned to drive. So hey, I can refuse to ride one of them newfangled robot cars.

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Originally Posted by Walt34 I think if you saw an autopilot fly an airplane that might change your mind.

It might, although I am thinking there are probably a lot fewer airplanes to avoid in the sky, than cars on the street. A few years of reliable statistics might help, too. Actually my concerns are mostly practical, involving staying in one piece instead of ending up all mushed into a big red puddle on the pavement. I have worked too hard and have survived too many physical dangers, to experience such a dumb end to my life.

[Pilot2013]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 I think if you saw an autopilot fly an airplane that might change your mind. I got a front-seat ride on a twin-engine Beech Baron (a VERY nice airplane, and expensive even by airplane standards) that had an autopilot slaved to a GPS navigational system. The day was very windy with a lot of turbulence that would bounce even that Baron around quite a bit. This was flying in PA, over a rather mountainous region, and for fun we were clearing some mountaintops by maybe 100 feet. (Yeah, pilots often have a strange sense of what is fun.) The autopilot made that thing fly like it was on rails, making course and altitude corrections in a fraction of the time that any human could possibly have done. It made a believer out of me. I realize that driving a car is much more difficult than flying an airplane because the environment is much more complex and quickly variable. I'd be open to having a self-driving car. Especially if that was the only option to getting around.

I thought, "What!", but then I saw your avatar....

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit So who is going to gas the thing up? I haven't seen a full service gas station in more than a few years.

Electric self-driving car. Just plug it in out there in the garage. Well, if you are brave enough to even get in the thing!

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit So who is going to gas the thing up? I haven't seen a full service gas station in more than a few years.

Most gas stations provide if you toot the horn in a pattern and are disabled they will fill the gas for you this is required by the ADA

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot2013 I thought, "What!", but then I saw your avatar....

I took the picture ~35 years ago but my former flight instructor (and a good friend) was flying the Taylorcraft. And yes he's just past the top of a loop.

Side story about that photo. I gave him an 8x10 print and he'd hung it on the wall in his house, but visitors kept insisting that the photo was upside down. But if you do that the lighting is "wrong" because the sunlight is coming from the bottom of the airplane. The dead giveaway is the rudder is in shade and the bottom of the wings are in direct sunlight.

[Svensk Anga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Self-driving cars are unlikely to be cheap to buy and own.

One of the factors in favor of self-driving cars is that there is no need to own one. Just call for one when you need it and it delivers itself. Thus you need pay for only that part of the depreciation and maintenance associated with your own use, a tiny fraction of the cost of operating a solely owned car.

I think this technology alone will keep people in their own homes far longer than was previously the case.

[MRG]

After seeing some sensors work on a newer vehicle, I think it will be real. And I'd use it as soon as legal, there's places where people sleep behind the wheel today. I've seen them!


I know today my sister would benefit. She can legally drive but due to glaucoma in one eye she limits where she does.

[powerplay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit So who is going to gas the thing up? I haven't seen a full service gas station in more than a few years.

You will not find a self-serve station in my state because it's against the law to pump your own.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Svensk Anga One of the factors in favor of self-driving cars is that there is no need to own one. Just call for one when you need it and it delivers itself. Thus you need pay for only that part of the depreciation and maintenance associated with your own use, a tiny fraction of the cost of operating a solely owned car. I think this technology alone will keep people in their own homes far longer than was previously the case.

And you wouldn't have to worry about gassing it up! Then again, there are quite a few on this forum who are going to have so much money by the time they reach geezer status that owning such a car would not be a problem.

[FIREmenow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit So who is going to gas the thing up? I haven't seen a full service gas station in more than a few years.

There are wireless parking pad chargers being introduced today for electrics. Autopilot would only have to park in the right place. 😂

Sent from my XT1030 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meierlde Most gas stations provide if you toot the horn in a pattern and are disabled they will fill the gas for you this is required by the ADA

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Originally Posted by powerplay You will not find a self-serve station in my state because it's against the law to pump your own.

I sure am glad the Government is looking out for us mere mortals. I don't know what we would do without them.