Would You Trust a Robot to Care for Grandma?

Many of those who reach old age don’t enjoy the condition much. Those who tend to them, their caregivers, often wish they could do something else with their time.

A few years ago, I and (mostly) my wife, served as caregivers for my mother-in-law. As a scifi writer, I wondered if technology might help ease the burden for other caregivers someday.

I wrote a short story, “Its Tender Metal Hand,” about a caregiver robot of the near future. That story appears in the new anthology by Cloaked Press, Spring into Scifi, now available.

The Need

With human lifespans lengthening and the large Baby Boom generation reaching old age, the need for caregivers grows daily. Worsening the problem, the current labor shortage reduces the supply of potential workers in the field. The recent deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his caregiver wife, Betsy Arakawa, showcased the importance of the caregiver role.

The Tasks

A caregiver becomes a jack-of-all-trades, though few tasks rate high in difficulty—for humans. A good caregiver should:

  • Remind about, and provide, medication;
  • Navigate the patient around the home and yard;
  • Provide companionship via conversation;
  • Play games;
  • Perform necessary housework;
  • Clean and bathe the patient;
  • Monitor symptoms; and
  • Administer first aid if necessary.

The ideal, more advanced, caregiver might also:

  • Lift, reposition, and physically move the patient;
  • Perform medical tasks such as taking vital readings, and drawing blood;
  • Conduct physical therapy; and
  • Conduct psychological therapy.

The Current State

No single robot exists today that performs all those tasks. Some robots perform one or a few of the functions, but a true, general purpose caregiver robot awaits future development.

Today’s caregiver robots include: Aibo by Sony, ASIMO by Honda, Baxter by Rethink Robotics, Care-O-Bot 4 by Fraunhofer IPA and Mojin Robotics, Dinsow Mini 2 by CT Robotics, ElliQ by Intuition Robotics, Grace by Hanson Robotics, Human Support Robot (HSR) by Toyota, Mabu by Catalia Health, Mirokaï by Enchanted Tools, Moxi by Diligent Robotics, Nadine by NTU Singapore, NAO by Aldebaran Robotics, Paro by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Pepper by Aldebaran Robotics, Pria by Pillo Health and Stanley Black & Decker, Ruyi by NaviGait, and Stevie by Akara Robotics.

The Difficulties

Robots have advanced in capability, but still struggle with tasks humans find easy, and excel at some things people find problematic.

Two examples of the latter category occur to me. As mentioned in my previous blogpost, a robot will listen with patience to repeated re-tellings of the same story, and a sturdy robot could lift a heavy patient without spinal strain.

Also, certain tasks, even if robotically possible, present serious consequences if done wrong. For safety reasons, substantial testing must occur before permitting robots to perform medical tasks or to lift patients.

Perhaps the most elusive task for a caregiver robot, the last one to be achieved, will be to exhibit a truly human connection, a deep, sympathetic friendship bond.

Fictional Treatment

Movies have explored the concept of caregiver robots in various ways. Bicentennial Man and I, Robot touch on the idea. Big Hero 6 and Robot and Frank delve deeper, with caregiver robots integral to their plots.

I’m unfamiliar with two other caregiver robot movies: Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 or its remake, Koogle Kuttappa.

My story, “Its Tender Metal Hand,” features a general-purpose caregiver robot capable of most of the tasks mentioned above. However, it lacks an emotional bond, an understanding of the human condition.

But maybe it can learn.

Perhaps an advanced, capable caregiver robot lies in the future for—

Poseidon’s Scribe

Time to Spring into Scifi

Welcome to Spring! Starting today, you can Spring into Scifi by purchasing the new anthology by Cloaked Press, available here. The book contains one of my short stories.

My Story

My tale, “Its Tender Metal Hand,” concerns an aged man, Maleko Koamalu, whose remaining family can’t care for him.

They pay for a caregiver robot.

Maleko hates the robot, but the robot persists in taking care of his needs. Robots can do many things, but can they help an old man reconcile with his child before it’s too late?

If the story’s touching ending prompts a tear or two, well, sorry not sorry.

Inspiration

I wrote it after my wife and I served as caregivers for my mother-in-law. It occurred to me that a well-designed robot could perform all the required tasks. In a couple of ways, a robot might prove superior to a human caregiver. Robots often excel at the things humans struggle with, and vice versa.

Elderly people sometimes repeat themselves, forgetting that they’ve just said the same thing. This can annoy human caregivers, but a robot will listen patiently, over and over, responding each time as if hearing it afresh.

Also, human caregivers often find it difficult to lift and convey heavy patients between bed and wheelchair, or wheelchair and toilet. A well-built robot could do this with ease.

The Anthology

The book contains thirteen other short stories I look forward to reading. Edited by Andrew Ferrell and published by Cloaked Press, this new science fiction anthology, Spring into Scifi, is available here and here so far, with more distributors picking it up soon. As I may have mentioned, it includes a story written by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

How to Harmonize with Your Editor

When you submit a story, poem, or article to an anthology or magazine, you could be starting a great relationship with an editor. Don’t ruin it by doing something dumb.

A few years ago, I never thought I’d edit an anthology. Now I’ve edited three. I learned a few things while wielding the blue pencil, and I’ll share those lessons with you.

Obey the Submission Guidelines

Guidelines vary from editor to editor, so you’ll have to change the same submission to comport with different formats. Sorry. Fact of life. Since you’re the one trying to pique the editor’s interest (not the other way around), follow the guidelines. Otherwise, you’re telling the editor you don’t follow instructions well. Not a promising start.

Keep Your Cover Letter Brief

In fact, if the editor doesn’t ask for a cover letter, don’t submit one. No editor wants to read your life story, so if a cover letter is required, keep it short. Proofread it before sending. If the cover letter contains typos, why should the editor bother reading your submission?

Be Friendly and Professional

In all correspondence with an editor, strive to be the writer she likes to work with most. Nothing good comes from angry responses sent in a moment of rage. Shed the suffering-creative-artist-who’s-a-cauldron-of-bubbling-emotions costume, and don your let’s-work-this-deal business suit.

Respect the Editor’s Time

Provide prompt replies to your editor’s emails (consistent with being friendly and professional). Don’t be the last writer he’s waiting on. Once, as editor, I suggested some changes to a writer’s manuscript. The writer concurred and said I could go ahead and make the changes. No. That’s not how it works. If you’re the one getting paid, you’re the one doing the work.

Be Willing to Change

One time, a writer submitted a wonderful story, but it contained factual, numerical errors. As editor, I suggested the writer change the numbers to correspond to reality, alterations that would not have affected the story. The author refused, stating the story had already appeared in a prestigious magazine and they’d fact-checked it. If an editor points out a 2+2=5 mistake, or a sun-setting-in-the-morning error in your story, it doesn’t matter where else the story’s been published. Consider all your editor’s suggestions.

Defend Your Arguments with Rationale

Think of you and your editor as a team striving to publish the best possible version of your story, poem, or article. Sometimes, an editor will suggest a change you disagree with. It happens. If you can concur with the change, do so. If not, don’t just refuse to change. Spell out the reason you’d like to leave it unchanged. Most editors will respect solid, logical rationale, and may even agree with you.

Assist with Marketing

After publication, if you’re able, do your part to promote the anthology or magazine in which your piece appears. Post about it on social media, and blog about it on your website. That editor will look kindly on your next submission.

Will your next relationship with an editor work out? Or will you botch things along the way? It could go well, if you follow the advice of—

Poseidon’s Scribe

How Can You Know What Book to Read Next?

You’ve finished reading a book, and it’s time to start another. Which one do you pick? What process do you use to decide?

Image from Pixabay.com

In a way, you’re about to meet someone new, to form a new relationship. As a reader, you’ll be engaging with the thoughts of a writer. At the beginning, you don’t know where that relationship will go. With most books, the connection will make a fleeting impression, then recede into fading memory. For a golden few, though, the relationship will endure a lifetime, refreshed by periodic re-readings.

Carl Sagan’s Calculation

One thing’s for sure—you can’t read ’em all. As Dr. Carl Sagan pointed out in his TV show, Cosmos, you’re only able to read about 3500 books during your lifetime (one book a week for 70 years). That’s the number of books published in eight hours, so no matter how fast you read, you’ll only make it through a tiny sliver of all literature.

Four Quadrants

Not to make this too scientific, but let’s explore one way to categorize this. You could choose a book for fun and enjoyment, just the pleasure of it. Or you could select a book to learn new knowledge, for your betterment.

Next, who’s making the choice? Are you opting for the book yourself, or picking one chosen by others or by pure chance?

Since these quadrants overlap, let’s depict them with a Venn diagram.

Fun/Self

In the diagram’s upper left circle, we can include books: (1) by a favorite author, (2) in a favorite genre, (3) written in, or about, a favorite time period, (4) appearing next in your To Be Read (TBR) list, (5) that inspired your favorite movies, or (6) that suit your mood.

Betterment/Self

The upper right circle includes reading classics, and reading books in non-favorite genres to broaden your scope.

Fun/Others or Chance

Moving to the lower left circle, you can choose a book at random from a favorite genre or author, let chance decide which book in your TBR list to read next, or read one a friend enjoyed.

Betterment/Others or Chance

In the final circle at the lower right, you can read a book assigned by a reading challenge or book club, or a book found while browsing in a library or bookstore, or a book recommended by trusted readers—perhaps friends or family.

Thomas Jefferson’s Method

Here’s another idea, one that doesn’t fit into my quadrant schema. You could read several books concurrently, flipping from one to the other in accordance with your mood and interest. President Thomas Jefferson did this, and built a revolving five-book stand to facilitate the process.

So, Choose Already

Faced with more books than you can read, and with such a variety of ways to choose between them, some facts seem clear to me. What book you read is unimportant. How you select it is up to you. That you read books—ah, there’s the vital part.

In the meantime, I’d love to know how you choose what to read next. Feel free to reveal your decision process as a comment for—

Poseidon’s Scribe

Soon You’ll Hear Extraordinary Visions

Have you heard about the upcoming audiobook version of Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne? In about a month, you’ll be able to listen to the first anthology ever sponsored by the North American Jules Verne Society.

The Book

Like the (still available) print and ebook versions, the audiobook will feature stories by modern authors taking up where Verne left off. Some stories provide an aftermath to a Verne novel. Some tell concurrent adventures involving Verne’s beloved characters. Some combine aspects of several novels.

The audiobook will include stories by Mike Adamson, Joel Allegretti, Gustavo Bondoni, Demetri Capetanopoulos, Brenda Carre, Eric Choi, Christopher M. Geeson, Kelly A. Harmon, David A. Natale, Alison L. Randall, Janice Rider, Michael Schulkins, and Joseph S. Walker.

The stories derive not only from Verne’s better-known novels, but also from the obscure ones many are unfamiliar with. These stories may prompt you to sample Verne’s lesser-known writings.

The Narrator

Tad Davis narrates the audiobook. You’ll enjoy his gentle voice and his skill in expressing a wide variety of accents and nationalities in a subtle way.  He has a master’s degree in theater and has been narrating audiobooks for years. His interest in Jules Verne drove him to narrate an updated translation of Journey to the Center of the Earth (BearManor Media, 2023). Extraordinary Visions is his ninth narration of a Verne-related book.

The Launch

As with the print versions, BearManor Media will publish the audiobook. We expect Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne to be available in the new format around the first of April (no fooling!). You can watch for announcements on the BearManor site, or read upcoming website posts right here, by—

Poseidon’s Scribe