AI robots may hold key to nursing Japan's ageing population

AIREC, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven humanoid robot, demonstrates a manoeuvre for changing diapers or preventing bedsores with a researcher at Waseda University's laboratory in Tokyo, Japan February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - Recently in Tokyo an AI-driven robot leaned over a man lying on his back and gently put a hand on his knee and another on a shoulder and rolled him onto his side -- a manoeuvre used to change diapers or prevent bedsores in the elderly.

The 150-kg (330 lb) artificial intelligence-driven humanoid robot called AIREC is a prototype future "caregiver" for Japan's rapidly ageing population and chronic shortage of aged-care workers.