Fujita Health University in Toyoake, Aichi Prefecture, is partnering with Toyota Motor Corp. to open a Robotic Smart Home — a base for nursing robots at the Toyoake apartment complex — next spring.
As the nation approaches a "superaging" society when the baby boomer generation turns 75 years old and above, the project aims to develop small robots that can be easily installed in small Japanese houses, with the cooperation of residents.
The Toyoake housing complex opened in 1971 and currently has some 4,500 residents. But 45 years after its completion, the facility's occupants are now predominantly elderly with 26.2 percent aged over 65.