Ena care robot: Enactic's humanoid helper folds laundry for Japan

Ena is meant to take over the side jobs: cleaning rooms, doing laundry and keeping watch at night. Those tasks are said to make up about 30% of work in care facilities. The idea is that human staff can concentrate on bathing, toileting and helping residents move. Launch is planned for 2028. Engineer Yusuke Toki says the team is teaching the robot's AI the shapes of doors and slopes typical of care homes so it moves correctly.

Why is Japan's care sector short of staff?

By fiscal 2040, when about 35% of the population will be 65 or older, Japan's health ministry estimates it will need roughly 2.72 million care workers. That is about 570,000 more than in fiscal 2022. Fewer young people are entering the field, and pay is a sore point. The ministry's 2024 wage survey puts average monthly care pay at about 271,000 yen, around 60,000 yen below the all-industry average of about 340,000 yen.

Money is not the only reason people leave. In a 2024 care-work survey, 16.3% of people whose previous job was in care cited low income as a reason for quitting, and 24.7% cited problems with workplace relationships.

A remote monitoring system already in use

Smaller tools are arriving sooner. Technos Japan, a bed-exit sensor maker in Himeji, Hyogo, built a system called e-Live. A sensor under the mattress detects movement, and staff see on a phone or PC whether a resident is awake, out of bed or absent. Camera video is available too, so staff only visit when needed. At facilities that adopted it, room visits were reportedly halved and falls dropped by 20%.