“IT’S just a collection of bloody nuts and bolts.” That was the damning reaction of a 69-year-old resident at a Scottish nursing home – let’s call him William Brown – when asked if he would like a robotic pet as a companion to help relieve his boredom and loneliness. But once he realised that the robot could play games with him, he quickly changed his mind. “I would enjoy playing dominoes or chess with it, definitely,” he later said.
Brown’s initial reaction was typical of people’s responses to the raft of new technologies designed to help old and infirm people lead independent lives. “There is a lot more…
