Japan's 10M Robot Goal Demands Trust-Centered Design

Japan bets on robots to solve its aging crisis

Japan has set an ambitious target: 10 million robots deployed by 2040, with many dedicated to medical and elder care. Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Ryosei Akazawa announced the updated national robotics strategy, which includes investments in AI-powered physical robotics and a new collaborative organization called Noetra. The consortium will be majority-owned by SoftBank, NEC, Sony Group, and Honda, with Fujitsu and Rakuten considering participation.

The initiative addresses a pressing demographic reality. Japan's aging population and limited immigration have created a growing shortage of healthcare workers, making robotic care not just an innovation opportunity but a necessity. Yet the question remains whether the industry can create robots people will actually accept into their lives.

Why it matters

Japan's demographic challenge—an aging society with insufficient caregivers—will soon confront most developed nations. How Japan navigates the human side of robotic care, particularly around trust and dignity, will provide a roadmap for Europe and North America facing similar futures. The outcome depends less on engineering breakthroughs than on whether designers can bridge the gap between technological capability and human acceptance.

Trust, not capability, is the bottleneck

Nicky Smyth, CEO of design studio ustwo, argues that technical prowess alone won't achieve Japan's goals. "There is a trust gap between a nurse who's able to lift someone out of bed, and the permission and consent that might be involved with that same individual when it's a robot," Smyth explained.

The challenge extends beyond the robots' physical abilities to encompass how those capabilities are experienced. "Good design could create better outcomes," Smyth said. "That translates into creating products and services that are useful, meaningful, and beneficial to society and businesses."

Smyth pointed to ustwo's work at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, where robots were co-designed with young patients. The team researched fear and anxiety among both children and parents, then co-created a companion app reflecting the hospital's architectural spaces. "In building trust, you need to create the development with the idea that the people who are being affected by this have a major voice in how it ultimately becomes an experience," Smyth said.

Multi-stakeholder design is essential

Successful robotic elder care requires involving multiple groups in the design process: elderly users, families, care workers, clinicians, and the broader community. Smyth envisions partnerships bringing together government bodies, technology companies, healthcare providers, and intended users. "Trust wouldn't just be the elderly who are using the services, but the trust would have to be there with their family, with their medical team, and with everyone involved in the community," she said.

Data privacy represents another critical trust dimension. "There's a trust question around data and how that data is protected," Smyth noted. "Will we, by the time we're in 2040, have resolved the health data and trust issue so that people feel that private and personal medical choices are protected?"

Preserving dignity in automated care

For patients with conditions like dementia or Parkinson's, dignity becomes paramount. "Dignity feels like it sometimes isn't part of their experience, no matter how wonderfully all these teams focus on it. Yet dignity is a paramount consideration, alongside trust," Smyth said. "How a robot will manage to achieve that same level of care—trust, dignity, humanity—is an important consideration."

As Japan advances its robotic care program, Smyth's central message is clear: technological capability won't solve the elder care crisis without intentional, human-centered design prioritizing trust, dignity, and genuine human connection—even when mediated by machines.

These details were first reported by Design News.