TV and radio personality Ash Pollard has sparked debate about the role of robots in aged care, after sharing photos of her daughters meeting an AI-powered humanoid robot at their great-grandmother’s new aged care facility.
Pollard, who rose to fame on My Kitchen Rules in 2015, took her daughters Clementine and Claudette to visit their great-grandmother, where they met Abi, a humanoid robot and new “resident” at the facility.
Abi moves around the facility and chats with residents, but the interaction prompted a mixed response online, with some questioning whether robots have a place in aged care.
“I shared these pics on stories over the weekend… so many mixed reviews!!” Pollard wrote on Instagram.
“I took the girls to visit their Great Grandmama at her new living facility, there we met the new resident bot, Abi.
“She goes around chatting to the residents. I thought it was cool but some people were enraged! What do you think?”
One person argued that robots should not be used as a substitute for genuine human interaction.
“No, there is absolutely nothing ‘cool’ about using a robot to entertain elderly people in an aged care facility,” one person commented.
“Just because someone is old, frail or has dementia does not mean they are any less deserving of genuine human interaction, conversation, compassion and connection.
“They deserve people. They deserve conversation. They deserve dignity. They deserve to feel valued.”
But Abi’s creator, Australian mechatronics engineer Grace Brown, said the robot was never intended to replace human relationships.
Brown, 26, is the founder and CEO of Andromeda Robotics, which developed Abi and has placed its personalised robot companions in 30 nursing homes across Australia.
On the company website, they said the robots are designed to help aged care and assisted living teams “bring joy and connection to residents more often”.
Responding to Pollard’s post, Brown acknowledged concerns about technology replacing human contact, but said some older people did not have regular visitors or access to their close relationships.
“I also think it’s easy to forget that meaningful human connection is, unfortunately, a privilege that not everyone has equal access to,” Brown wrote.
“Some people are widowed. Some never had children. Some have family who live far away. Some simply don’t have anyone coming to visit them.
“@abi_humanoid exists for the moments where that void would otherwise remain empty.”
Brown said residents would never be forced to interact with Abi and argued the technology was designed to add to existing relationships rather than replace them.
The discussion comes as robots become increasingly integrated into aged care. While some people argue it has potential to provide entertainment, conversation and companionship, others argue that it does not offer the same value as actual human connection.
In an interview with 7News, Brown said she believed today’s older generation may be among the last to live without companion robots.
“She’s meant to represent a future where technology can actually bring joy and enrich the quality of life that make human life really worthy,” Brown said.
Image: Instagram
