Search

Retiring with debt? Experts explain downsizing, using super for your mortgage, and pension eligibility

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kathleen-walsh-218536">Kathleen Walsh</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jemma-briscoe-2234812">Jemma Briscoe</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> About <a href="https://cepar.edu.au/sites/default/files/cepar-research-brief-housing-ageing-australia.pdf">36%</a> of homeowners still have a mortgage when they retire, up from 23% a decade ago. This increase in mortgage debt is due to soaring property prices, <a href="https://www.mlc.com.au/content/dam/mlc/documents/pdf/retirement/retirement-reports-housing-report.pdf">changes in retirement ages</a> and easy access to <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/seniors/benefits-payments/home-equity-access-scheme">drawdown equity loans</a> (where you use your home as security to get a loan, which can be used to fund travel, medical costs and other expenses). So, what are the options for homeowners who carry debt into retirement? <h2>Option 1: keeping the home and the debt</h2> If you keep the family home in retirement, you get to own a property and can still receive the <a href="https://www.dva.gov.au/get-support/financial-support/income-support/what-changes-your-payments/your-property-or-accommodation/how-owning-home-can-affect-pensions-and-payments">age pension</a>. For example: Jackie has a home worth A$2 million with a $200,000 mortgage. She also has $800,000 in superannuation. She is 67 but is not eligible for the age pension because her <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/how-super-works/tax-and-super#:%7E:text=If%20you're%20aged%2060%20or%20over%20and%20withdraw%20a,as%20a%20public%20sector%20fund.">assessable assets</a> – her super – is above the $695,500 cut off. If Jackie takes $200,000 from her super and repays the outstanding mortgage debt, she will save on interest and principal repayments for the next ten years. She will also reduce her assessable assets by $200,000. This makes her eligible for a part pension. So while Jackie has less super, she gets to receive a pension and gets all the subsidies associated with being a pensioner. <h2>Option 2: downsizing to clear the debt</h2> Downsizing can extinguish any remaining debt, and can free up money for holidays, restaurants and the good life in retirement. It also enables a move to a more age-friendly home or apartment. And the government does provide a superannuation incentive via the <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super/growing-and-keeping-track-of-your-super/how-to-save-more-in-your-super/downsizer-super-contributions">downsizing contribution</a>. This allows homeowners over 55 who have lived in their home for more than ten years to make a one-off contribution of $300,000 (singles) and $600,000 (couples) to their super, using money from the sale of their home. But when a person reaches pension age, currently 67, any money in super will be included in <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/deeming?context=22526">the government’s assessment</a> of your financial assets and income. It could mean you don’t qualify for a pension or pensioner subsidies. Of the approximately 2.6 million who receive a part or full the age pension, only <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/research-and-statistics/in-detail/super-statistics/downsizer-super-contributions-data">78,000 people</a> have taken up this initiative. That begs the question if this option really does create a true financial downsizing incentive. Think again of Jackie, the woman with the $2 million home and the $200,000 in mortgage debt. Say she decides to sell her home and move to a smaller house close to family and friends. This will incur about $40,000 in selling and marketing fees, and stamp duty of around $62,000 on her new $1.4 million apartment. Downsizing leaves her with $1.1 million in financial assets (after transaction costs), which means that Jackie is not eligible for the pension. While she’ll be able to fund a comfortable lifestyle, this decision to downsize may not be as attractive as keeping the house. The decision to sell and move has cost her an extra $100,000 in transaction costs and her pension. So, people need to think carefully about downsizing. It can allow people to move closer to children, grandchildren, and the services they need – but these must be balanced against the financial implications. <h2>What about renters?</h2> Paying market rent while on a fixed income can be very hard, so renting is a challenge for retirees. According to the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/housing/housing-census/latest-release">2021 census</a>, women aged 55-64 and those over 65 are among the fastest-growing groups experiencing homelessness. The good news is many profit and not-for-profit retirement communities provide rental models and discounted entry contributions to residents with limited means (but there are often waiting lists). Retirement village residents may also be eligible for <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/4/6/4/30">rent assistance</a> depending on their circumstances. Rent assistance is an extra $5,751 per year in social security benefits and provides extra financial support to <a href="https://guides.dss.gov.au/social-security-guide/5/1/7/10">eligible age pension recipients</a>. Retirement communities provide vulnerable older Australians a unique opportunity to move into a community under a leasehold or licence agreement. More than 260,000 senior Australians live in about <a href="https://www.propertycouncil.com.au/media-releases/retirement-living-construction-leads-wary-market">2,500 retirement communities</a> across the country. While a retirement village may not be the first option for many retirees, they can provide affordable accommodation. <h2>Making the best choice</h2> Navigating housing decisions as you approach retirement means balancing financial, emotional, and lifestyle considerations. Homeowners retiring with a mortgage face a choice: keep their home or downsize to alleviate debt. Keeping the home and accessing super to pay the outstanding debt improves cash flow and allows you to keep your biggest asset. Downsizing helps eliminate debt and boosts the super balance, but comes with extra transaction costs (and you may end up with less pension, or none at all). Seeking professional <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/financial-advice/choosing-a-financial-adviser">financial advice</a> is crucial, and ensure they are a registered <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/financial-advice/financial-advisers-register">financial advisor</a>.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/240679/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kathleen-walsh-218536">Kathleen Walsh</a>, Professor of Finance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jemma-briscoe-2234812">Jemma Briscoe</a>, Adjunct lecturer in finance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/retiring-with-debt-experts-explain-downsizing-using-super-for-your-mortgage-and-pension-eligibility-240679">original article</a>. </div>

Retirement Income

Borrowing money isn’t always a bad thing – debt can be a sensible way to build wealth

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bomikazi-zeka-680577">Bomikazi Zeka</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a> Debt, in some form or another, is part of our financial profiles whether we like it or not. And it can be a useful way to build wealth if it is managed carefully and wisely. For example, you may borrow money from the bank to buy an asset – a resource of economic value that generates income from its productive use. Investment property is an example. So investing in an income-producing property can be a good idea. If you are already in the property market, the home equity you’ve accumulated – the share of the property value that’s yours – can help you buy a second property. This time, you may not need a deposit as big as the initial investment. In the event that the rental market is booming and your tenants pay you more than what you repay on the loan, municipal rates and property manager fees, then the wealth-building machine will start to run itself. But debt makes many people uncomfortable. In South Africa, a person earning R20,000 a month commits on average <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/585372/south-africas-middle-class-is-in-serious-trouble-right-now/">63% of their salary to repaying unsecured debt</a> – such as credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts or “buy now, pay later” facilities. As a general guideline, it’s suggested that <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dti.asp">no more than 40%</a> of your income should be used to service debt. Financial anxiety has its roots in some misconceptions. The main one is that all debt is bad. This isn’t true. Prudent borrowing to buy an asset can help build wealth in the medium to long term. So fears about debt need to be weighed against a broader understanding of wealth accumulation. Well-managed debt can play a role in that process. Here are the four biggest misconceptions about debt. Recognising them will help you develop a more nuanced approach to debt. <h2>The misconceptions</h2> All debt is bad debt. Indeed, debt is a problem when you can no longer manage it and it starts to manage you. One of the simplest ways to tell whether debt is working for you or against you is through “leveraging”. This refers to the use of debt to acquire an asset that is worth more than the value of the debt. It’s also known as positive or favourable leveraging. People who take out unsecured loans are leveraging unfavourably when the debt is driven by consumption. Often there’s nothing to show for what you’ve spent. Unsecured loans also tend to charge higher interest rates to compensate for the lack of collateral. Only financially reckless people are in debt. This is the next misconception. Second to unsecured loans, most South African consumer debt portfolios are taken up by <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/617685/these-income-levels-in-south-africa-owe-the-most-debt/">home loans</a>. The most realistic way to gain entry into the housing market is through a mortgage. You’re doing the right thing if your mortgage is paid off within a reasonable time. This will mean that, in the long term, the value of the property will surpass the home loan amount that was taken out to buy the property in the first place. But there are two misconceptions related specifically to mortgages. After you’ve paid the mortgage deposit, you won’t have other fees to pay. This isn’t correct. Banks charge a fee to open and close a home loan account. There can also be a penalty when a home loan is repaid prematurely. So be sure to read the fine print about discharge fees or closing costs. If you stick to the repayment amount for your mortgage, you’ll be able to repay the loan quickly. This isn’t true – even if interest rates fall and your mortgage repayments decline, your home loan is most likely tied to a loan term of 20 to 30 years. Many banks will quote a monthly mortgage repayment amount that seems affordable at face value but is in fact based on a 20-year term period. Banks are businesses and it works in their favour if you take longer to repay your mortgage because that translates into more interest repayments. The longer the duration of the home loan, the more interest you pay, the more profit they make. If it takes over 20 years to repay a bond, it’s often the case that the value of the interest repayments exceeds the initial loan amount. Home loan calculators are a useful tool that can help you assess how much you could afford to repay on a home loan depending on the deposit saved, if interest rates change and how long it will take you to repay the mortgage with topped-up contributions. It is essential to have a goal for when you’d like to finish paying off your mortgage and a plan in place to achieve this goal. If you don’t do this you could become a mortgage prisoner. <h2>Keeping your eye on the prize</h2> As we’re about to conclude the year and enter the festive season, it’s a good time to remember your financial goals and not let your guard down by unconsciously swiping or tapping that credit card. “Janu-worry” is around the corner, and so is the financial anxiety that comes with it. But it need not be the case. Debt can either be the cure or the cause of your financial position. Reconsider spending patterns that prompt you to use your credit card. Too much debt over short periods is an irregular spending pattern that is a warning sign. There’s no harm in buying what you can afford or staying in your financial lane if the alternative forces you to sacrifice your hard-earned income on servicing consumption-driven debt. For better or worse, debt is a part of our financial portfolios. But the road to financial empowerment is not always easy – financial planning can help you keep your eye on the prize.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192630/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bomikazi-zeka-680577">Bomikazi Zeka</a>, Assistant Professor in Finance and Financial Planning, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-canberra-865">University of Canberra</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/borrowing-money-isnt-always-a-bad-thing-debt-can-be-a-sensible-way-to-build-wealth-192630">original article</a>. </div>

Money & Banking

Aussies top global list for biggest gambling losses

A new report has revealed that Australians are the biggest gambling losers in the world, with the average Australian adult gambling away $1635 per year according to the Grattan Institute think tank. That is more than most households pay for power and exceeds the average spend in similar countries like the US and New Zealand. Collectively, Australians lost $24 billion to gambling in 2020-21, with half of that amount lost through poker machines. The rest was lost on sports or race betting, in casinos, and on lotteries and Keno. The report also claims that there are more pokies than post boxes and public toilets across Australia, bringing light to the "lax approach" that has let the industry "run wild". "Gambling products are designed to be addictive, and the consequences can be catastrophic: job loss, bankruptcy, relationship breakdown, family violence, even suicide," the report's authors wrote. People in the Northern Territory and NSW lost the most amount of money, with the two states having the highest concentration of polies in their jurisdiction. The report recommended the federal government ban all gambling advertisements and urged them to cut the number of pokies in each state over time. They also suggested a mandatory pre-commitment system for online gambling and pokies, which would put a limit on daily losses. There are many different ways to get help and information about gambling. Call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858; use <a href="https://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/tools-resources/chat-counselling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">online counselling</a>. Images: SNEHIT PHOTO / Shutterstock.com

Money & Banking

Michael Jackson's staggering debt revealed

Michael Jackson was reportedly drowning in massive debt at the time of his death in 2009. According to newly released court documents, the late King of Pop owed more than $500 million ($747.05 million AUD) to more than 65 creditors just before he passed. Jackson had “more than half a dozen lawsuits pending worldwide” and more than “65 creditors’ claims were filed in the estate spawning additional lawsuits, of which several resulted in litigation,” the documents state. According to the documents, that were filed in a Los Angeles court on June 21st, the executors of Jackson's will were able to “renegotiate and restructure financing arrangements,” including a lucrative deal with Sony over rights he had to music publishing for several artists, at “substantially reduced interest rates” to avoid further losses and rectify the debts. The $750 million ($1.120 billion AUD) agreement allowed Sony to acquire Sony/ATV, which held the rights to almost 3 million famous songs from artists including John Lennon and Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Taylor Swift. Despite settling the major agreement with the record label, the Jackson estate still reportedly owes a significant amount of money as “there remain challenging business, tax and legal issues that the executers and their counsel continue to deal with.” The filing reportedly also notes a pending final decision on a victory in a 2021 court battle with the IRS. Jackson’s three children, Prince, 27, Paris, 26, and Bigi Jackson, 22 — who are the beneficiaries of his estate — have been blocked from receiving money from their trust until the IRS dispute has been settled. A spokesperson for the estate clarified, “The estate has a very cooperative relationship with Michael’s children and whenever they need anything, the estate works with them to ensure that they are very well taken care of, just as Michael would have wanted.” The Los Angeles Times previously reported that Michael accrued so much debt largely in part because of his excessive spending habits, which were aired during his 2003 interview with Martin Bashir that laid bare his extravagant spending. Image credits: Mousse/ABACA/Shutterstock Editorial

Money & Banking

REVIEW: Super-intelligent, dog-detecting robot lawn mower

I was recently invited to an onsite demonstration of a brand new line of lawn mowers that were pitched as being not just a lawn mower, but a furry-friend dodging, grass-grooming marvel of modern technology. According to the specs, the <a href="https://au.worx.com/vision-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WORX LANDROID® Vision</a> is the world’s first advanced AI, "unbox & mow" robot lawn mower. "No wire. No satellite. No beacons. No time between unboxing and mowing." Using a combination of HRD camera, the latest AI smarts and a deeply trained neural network to identify grass to mow and obstacles to avoid, it features the innovative "Cut-to-Edge" function, multi-zone management and adaptive auto-scheduling. Plus an optional LED headlight safe night-mowing (apparently, unlike conventional robots, Vision sees nocturnal animals and stays away from them). But the real test for me was always going to be: how would something like the Vision get along with my dog, Rosie? I was offered the chance to try out one of the mowers for a few weeks, and so I jumped at it. But let's talk about Rosie for a moment. Now, this little ball of fur thinks she's the queen of the backyard. She zooms around like a tiny tornado, and honestly I think she believes the grass is her personal chew toy. So, when I introduced the LANDROID into the mix, I was half expecting chaos and half hoping for a miracle. Lo and behold, this mower is not just a lawn whisperer; it's a puppy ninja. The WORX LANDROID has some sort of superpower in its sensors, allowing it to detect my pup's presence and skilfully manoeuvre around her. It was like watching a graceful dance between technology and canine curiosity. For the duration of the test, Rosie basically appointed herself as the official supervisor of lawn maintenance, proudly watching from a safe distance (and sometimes not so safe) as the LANDROID worked its magic. But let's not forget about the real star of the show: the lawn itself. The LANDROID doesn't just dodge around obstacles; it trims with precision, leaving my yard looking like a freshly coiffed celebrity. It's like having a personal stylist for my grass – one that never sleeps. And the best part? I get to sit back, relax and sip my lemonade while the LANDROID does all the heavy lifting (or should I say, mowing). It's like having a reliable little garden gnome, except this one runs on electricity and has impeccable dodging skills. So if you want a lawn mower that's not only efficient but also entertaining, look no further than the <a href="https://au.worx.com/vision-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WORX LANDROID Vision</a>. It's the perfect blend of technology, pet sensitivity and grass-grooming prowess. Plus, it's the only mower I know that can outmanoeuvre a puppy – and that is definitely something to bark about. Images: Alex Cracknell

Home & Garden

What are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ debts, and which should I pay off first?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/angel-zhong-1204643">Angel Zhong</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> With the cost of living soaring and many struggling to get a pay rise, it’s not surprising people are using debt to navigate life’s financial twists and turns. Owing money can sometimes feel challenging, but not all debts should keep you awake at night. So which debts are good and which are bad? And in what order should you pay them off? As it all depends on your personal circumstances, all I can offer is general information and not financial advice. Ideally, you should seek guidance from an accredited financial adviser. But in the meantime, here are some ideas to consider. <h2>What is a ‘good debt’?</h2> Good debts can be strategic tools and help build a solid foundation for your future. They usually increase your net worth by helping you generate income or buy assets that increase in value. With good debts, you usually get back more than what you pay for. They usually have lower interest rates and longer repayment terms. But personal finance is dynamic, and the line between good and bad debt can be nuanced. If not managed properly, even good debts can cause problems. Some examples of “good debts” might include: Mortgages: A mortgage allows you to buy a house, which is an asset that generally increases in value over time. You may potentially get tax advantages, such as <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/forms-and-instructions/rental-properties-2023/other-tax-considerations">negative gearing</a>, through investment properties. However, it’s crucial not to overstretch yourself and turn a mortgage into a nightmare. As a rule of thumb, try avoid spending <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/mortgage-affordability/">more than 30% of your income</a> per year on your mortgage repayments. Student loans: Education is an investment in yourself. Used well, student loans (such as <a href="https://www.studyassist.gov.au/help-loans/hecs-help">HECS-HELP</a>) can be the ticket to a higher-paying job and better career opportunities. <h2>What is a ‘bad debt’?</h2> “Bad debts” undermine your financial stability and can hinder your financial progress. They usually come with high interest rates and short repayment terms, making them more challenging to pay off. They can lead to a vicious cycle of debt. Examples of bad debts include: Payday loans: A payday loan offers a quick fix for people in a financial tight spot. However, their steep interest rates, high fees and tight repayment terms often end up worsening a person’s financial problems. The interest and fee you may end up paying can get close to the loan amount itself. Credit card debt: Credit cards can be like quicksand for your finances. If you don’t pay off your purchase on time, you’ll be subject to an annual interest rate of around <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/tables/">19.94%</a>. For a A$3,000 credit card debt, for example, that could mean paying nearly $600 annual interest. Carrying credit card debt from month to month can lead to a seemingly never-ending debt cycle. Personal loans: People usually take personal loans from a bank to pay for something special, such as a nice holiday or a car. They often come with higher interest rates, averaging around <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/personal-loans">10%</a>. Spending money that you don’t have can lead to prolonged financial headaches. Buy-now-pay-later services: Buy-now-pay-later services often provide interest-free instalment options for purchases. This can be tempting, but the account fees and late payment fees associated with buy-now-pay-later services can lead to a long-term financial hangover. The convenience and accessibility of buy-now-pay-later services can also make it easy to get further and further into debt. <h2>So in what order should I pay off my debts?</h2> There is no one right answer to this question, but here are three factors to consider. Prioritise high-interest debts: Start by confronting the debts with the highest interest rates. This typically includes credit card debt and personal loans. Paying off high-interest debts first can save you money and reduce your total debt faster. Negotiate interest rates or switch lenders: Don’t be shy. A simple call to your lender requesting a lower rate can make a significant difference. You may also take advantage of sign-on offers and refinancing your loan with a new lender. In the banking business, customers are not usually rewarded for their loyalty. Consider different repayment strategies: Choose a debt repayment strategy that aligns with your preferences. Some people get a psychological boost from paying off smaller debts first (this is often called the “<a href="https://www.wellsfargo.com/goals-credit/smarter-credit/manage-your-debt/snowball-vs-avalanche-paydown/#:%7E:text=The%20%22snowball%20method%2C%22%20simply,all%20accounts%20are%20paid%20off.">snowball method</a>”). Others focus on high-interest debts (often known as the “<a href="https://www.wellsfargo.com/goals-credit/smarter-credit/manage-your-debt/snowball-vs-avalanche-paydown/#:%7E:text=The%20%22snowball%20method%2C%22%20simply,all%20accounts%20are%20paid%20off.">avalanche method</a>”). Find what works for you. The most important thing is to have a plan and stick to it. Review the terms of each debt carefully. Certain loans offer flexibility in repayment schedules, while others may impose penalties for early settlement. Take note of these conditions as you develop your repayment plan. Debt can be a useful tool or a dangerous trap, depending on how you use it. By understanding the difference between good and bad debts, and by having a smart strategy for paying them off, you can take charge of your financial future.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217779/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/angel-zhong-1204643">Angel Zhong</a>, Associate Professor of Finance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-good-and-bad-debts-and-which-should-i-pay-off-first-217779">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

5 signs your friend is struggling with serious debt

Money is always going to be a sensitive topic, and part of the reason for this is the fact that so many people willingly suffer in silence. But if you notice the warning signs, you have to take action. Here are five signs your friend is struggling with serious debt. 1. They keep cancelling plans Whether you’re talking about dinner, drinks or even just the occasional coffee, if your friend keeps cancelling plans (particularly if they didn’t have a reputation for doing so in the past) that could be a sign that they’re struggling with their finances. 2. Unopened bills If you’re visiting your friend’s home and you notice a pile of unopened bills, this is a classic sign of money troubles. Generally these bills are left unopened because the recipient does not want to see what’s inside, or deal with the monetary consequences. 3. Sudden changes in behaviour Does your friend seem more fidgety that usual? Do they become cagey or defensive when money matters are mentioned? Are they bitter when discussing other people’s spending habits? This could indicate stress about their own individual financial situation. 4. Ignoring calls and knocks on the door If you’ve been staying at your friend’s house and noticed a knock on the door or phone that’s been left unanswered on multiple occasions this could be a very bad sign. Often this is out of fear of dealing with a debt collector who could be on the other side. 5. Not adapting to changes in circumstances very well Lifestyle changes generally come with a change in financial circumstances, but if you’ve noticed a sign that your friend is living in the same way that may be a sign that they’re ignoring the demands of their new situation and not putting themselves in a position to succeed. What can I do? Experts recommend taking the following steps if you know a friend who is struggling to deal with debt. That being said, sometimes just providing someone to talk to about it can make all the difference. <ul> <li>Encourage them to talk to their credit provider and discuss payment options.</li> <li>Talk about applying or a hardship variation to help make payments.</li> <li>Direct them to a financial counselling service.</li> <li>Encourage them to take up free legal advice.</li> </ul> Image credits: Getty Images

Money & Banking

Forcing people to repay welfare ‘loans’ traps them in a poverty cycle – where is the policy debate about that?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hanna-wilberg-1466649">Hanna Wilberg</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-auckland-1305">University of Auckland</a> The National Party’s <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/09/26/more-sanctions-for-unemployed-beneficiaries-under-national/">pledge to apply sanctions</a> to unemployed people receiving a welfare payment, if they are “persistently” failing to meet the criteria for receiving the benefit, has attracted plenty of comment and <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/09/26/nationals-benefit-sanctions-plan-cruel-dehumanising-greens/">criticism</a>. Less talked about has been the party’s promise to index benefits to inflation to keep pace with the cost of living. This might at least provide some relief to those struggling to make ends meet on welfare, though is not clear how much difference it would make to the current system of indexing benefits to wages. In any case, this alone it is unlikely to break the cycle of poverty many find themselves in. One of the major drivers of this is the way the welfare system pushes some of the most vulnerable people into debt with loans for things such as school uniforms, power bills and car repairs. The government provides one-off grants to cover benefit shortfalls. But most of these grants are essentially loans. People receiving benefits are required to repay the government through weekly deductions from their normal benefits – which leaves them with even less money to survive on each week. With <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/132980318/auckland-mother-serves-up-cereal-for-dinner-due-to-rising-food-costs">rising costs</a>, the situation is only getting worse for many of the 351,756 New Zealanders <a href="https://figure.nz/chart/TtiUrpceJruy058e-ITw010dHsM6bvA2a">accessing one of the main benefits</a>. <h2>Our whittled down welfare state</h2> Broadly, there are three levels of government benefits in our current system. The main benefits (such as jobseeker, sole parent and supported living payment) <a href="https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/benefit-rates/benefit-rates-april-2023.html">pay a fixed weekly amount</a>. The jobseeker benefit rate is set at NZ$337.74 and sole parents receive $472.79 a week. Those on benefits have access to a second level of benefits – weekly supplementary benefits such as an <a href="https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/accommodation-supplement.html">accommodation supplement</a> and other allowances or tax credits. The third level of support is one-off discretionary payments for specific essential needs. Those on benefits cannot realistically make ends meet without repeated use of these one-off payments, unless they use assistance from elsewhere – such as family, charity or borrowing from loan sharks. This problem has been building for decades. <h2>Benefits have been too low for too long</h2> In the 1970s, the <a href="https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/12967">Royal Commission on Social Security</a> declared the system should provide “a standard of living consistent with human dignity and approaching that enjoyed by the majority”. But Ruth Richardson’s “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/124978983/1991-the-mother-of-all-budgets">mother of all budgets</a>” in 1991 slashed benefits. Rates never recovered and today’s <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/29/benefit-increases-will-still-leave-families-locked-in-poverty/">benefits are not enough to live on</a>. In 2018, the <a href="https://www.weag.govt.nz/">Welfare Expert Advisory Group</a> looked at how much money households need in two lifestyle scenarios: bare essentials and a minimum level of participation in the community, such as playing a sport and taking public transport. The main benefits plus supplementary allowances did not meet the cost of the bare essentials, let alone minimal participation. The Labour government has since <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-delivers-income-increases-over-14-million-new-zealanders">increased benefit rates</a>, meaning they are now slightly above those recommended by the advisory group. But those recommendations were made in 2019 and don’t take into account the <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-inflation-at-6-0-percent">sharp rise in inflation</a> since then. Advocacy group <a href="https://fairerfuture.org.nz/">Fairer Future</a> published an updated assessment in 2022 – nine out of 13 types of households still can’t meet their core costs with the current benefit rates. <h2>How ‘advances’ create debt traps</h2> When they don’t have money for an essential need, people on benefits can receive a “special needs grant”, which doesn’t have to be repaid. But in practice, Work and Income virtually never makes this type of grant for anything except food and some other specific items, such as some health travel costs or emergency dental treatment. For <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/02/27/very-stressful-beneficiary-says-he-cant-afford-msd-debt/">all other essential needs</a> – such as school uniforms, car repairs, replacing essential appliances, overdue rent, power bills and tenancy bonds – a one-off payment called an “advance” is used. Advances are loans and have to be paid back. There are several issues with these types of loans. First, people on benefits are racking up thousands of dollars worth of debts to cover their essential needs. It serves to trap them in financial difficulties for the foreseeable future. As long as they remain on benefits or low incomes, it’s difficult to repay these debts. And the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2018/0032/latest/whole.html">Social Security Act 2018</a> doesn’t allow the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to waive debts. <h2>Contradictory policies</h2> Another problem is that people on benefits have to start repaying their debt straight away, with weekly deductions coming out of their already limited benefit. Each new advance results in a further weekly deduction. Often these add up to $50 a week or more. MSD policy says repayments should not add up to more than $40 a week, but that is often ignored. This happens because the law stipulates that each individual debt should be repaid in no more than two years, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Paying this debt off in two years often requires total deductions to be much higher than $40. The third issue is that one-off payments can be refused regardless of the need. That is because there are two provisions pulling in opposite directions. On the one hand the law says a payment should be made if not making it would cause serious hardship. But on the other hand, the law also says payments should not be made if the person already has too much debt. People receiving benefits and their case managers face the choice between more debt and higher repayments, or failing to meet an essential need. <h2>Ways to start easing the burden</h2> So what is the fix? A great deal could be achieved by just changing the policies and practices followed by Work and Income. Case managers have the discretion to make non-recoverable grants for non-food essential needs. These could and should be used when someone has an essential need, particularly when they already have significant debt. Weekly deductions for debts could also be automatically made very low. When it comes to changing the law, the best solution would be to make weekly benefit rates adequate to live on. The government could also make these benefit debts similar to student loans, with no repayments required until the person is off the benefit and their income is above a certain threshold. However we do it, surely it must be time to do something to fix this poverty trap.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212528/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hanna-wilberg-1466649">Hanna Wilberg</a>, Associate professor - Law, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-auckland-1305">University of Auckland</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/forcing-people-to-repay-welfare-loans-traps-them-in-a-poverty-cycle-where-is-the-policy-debate-about-that-212528">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

Don’t let financial shame be your ruin: open conversations can help ease the burden of personal debt

Nearly <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-nz/19th-ipsos-new-zealand-issues-monitor">two-thirds of New Zealanders</a> are worried about the cost of living, and a quarter are worried about <a href="https://www.canstar.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Consumer-Pulse-Report-NZ-2023-Final-4.pdf">putting food on the table</a>. But the <a href="https://visionwest.org.nz/food-hardship-part-one/">shame</a> that can come with financial stress is preventing some people from seeking help. According to a recent survey, a third of New Zealanders were not completely truthful with their family or partners about the state of their finances, and 12% <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/129477493/financial-infidelity-research-finds-kiwis-hiding-debts-from-their-partners">actively hid their debt</a>. This shame and worry about money can spill over into <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/concerns-buy-now-pay-later-schemes-could-fuel-addiction-as-kiwis-spend-17b-last-year/VOV3VIDIG2MZBGJEGPMLGWDMJI/">addiction</a>, <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/i-had-serious-concussion-bad-credit-and-15000-debt-abuse-survivor">violence</a> and <a href="https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news/financial-strains-significantly-raise-risk-suicide-attempts">suicide</a>. Considering the effect of financial stress on our wellbeing, it is clear we need to overcome the financial stigma that prevents us from getting help. We also <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/money/family-financial-strain">owe it to our kids</a> to break the taboo around money by communicating our worries and educating them on how to manage finances better. <h2>The burden of growing debt</h2> <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300817697/mortgage-pain-homeowners-facing-repayment-hikes-of-up-to-900-a-fortnight">Ballooning mortgage repayments</a> are compounding the financial distress of many New Zealanders. At the beginning of 2023, an estimated 11.9% of home owners were behind on loan payments, with more than <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/485045/data-shows-430-000-new-zealanders-behind-in-credit-repayments-in-january">18,400 mortgagees in arrears</a>. <div data-id="17"> </div> Given the <a href="https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/an/an-21-01-html">majority of household wealth</a> in New Zealand is in property, our financial vulnerability is closely linked to the ebbs and flows of the <a href="https://content.knightfrank.com/research/84/documents/en/global-house-price-index-q2-2021-8422.pdf">second most overinflated property market</a> in the world. There are also cultural reasons for growing financial distress. Many households have taken on significant debt to “<a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/7616361/Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses">keep up with the Joneses</a>” and to pursue the quintessential <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/property/99890/westpac-commissioned-survey-suggests-many-new-zealanders-still-pine-quarter-acre">quarter-acre dream</a>. Social comparison and peer pressure act as powerful levers contributing to problem debt and over-indebtedness. The average household debt in New Zealand is more than <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/households-debt-to-income">170% of gross household income</a>. That is higher than the United Kingdom (133%), Australia (113%) or Ireland (96%). <h2>The rise of problem debt</h2> And we are digging a deeper hole. Over the past year, <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/485045/data-shows-430-000-new-zealanders-behind-in-credit-repayments-in-january">demand for credit cards increased by 21.7%</a>. The use of personal debt such as personal loans and deferred payment schemes <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/demand-for-personal-credit-rises-arrears-also-up-as-cost-of-living-bites/YCEM74CII5FQBPJXO3UOG4Y3GY/">is also climbing</a>. There is a real risk this debt could become problem debt. Problem debt can have severe and wide-reaching consequences, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/over-300-000-new-zealanders-owe-more-than-they-own-is-this-a-problem-173497">housing insecurity</a>, <a href="http://www.socialinclusion.ie/publications/documents/2011_03_07_FinancialExclusionPublication.pdf">financial exclusion</a> (the inability to access debt at affordable interest rates), <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07409710.2012.652016?journalCode=gfof20">poor food choices</a> and a plethora of <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-14-489">health problems</a>. Yet, the hidden <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sipr.12074">psychological</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-008-9286-8">social cost of financial distress</a>remains often unspoken, overlooked and underestimated. Even before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1909/S00616/research-shows-financial-stress-impacts-mental-wellbeing.htm">69% of New Zealanders were worried</a>about money. The share of people worrying about their financial situation was higher for women (74%), and particularly women aged 18-34 (82%). It is no coincidence that the latter are particularly at risk of problem debt through so-called <a href="https://acfr.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/691577/Gilbert-and-Scott-Study-2-Draft-v10Sept2022.pdf">“buy now, pay later” schemes</a>. The stigma of financial distress extends beyond the vulnerable and the marginalised in our society. A growing number of <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/467417/middle-income-families-hoping-for-help-in-budget-as-rising-costs-sting">middle-class New Zealanders </a> are quietly suffering financial distress, isolated by financial stigma and the taboos around discussing money. When pressed, one in two New Zealanders would rather <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2203/S00384/research-shows-wed-rather-talk-about-politics-than-our-finances.htm">talk politics over money</a>. <h2>Time to talk about money</h2> Navigating financial distress and <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2526&context=sulr">stigma</a> can feel overwhelming. Where money is a taboo subject, it may feel safer to withdraw, maintain false appearances, be secretive or shun social support. This tendency to avoid open discussions and suffer in silence can lead to <a href="https://loneliness.org.nz/lonely/at-home/financially-struggling/">feelings of isolation</a> and contribute to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-financial-stress-can-affect-your-mental-health-and-5-things-that-can-help-201557">poor mental health</a>, such as depression, anxiety and emotional distress. Sadly, the trauma of living in financial distress can also <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39442/1/1307565_Wakefield.pdf">break up families</a>. Losing the symbols of hard-gained success and facing the prospect of a reduced lifestyle can be tough. It often triggers feelings of personal failure and self doubt that deter us from taking proactive steps to talk openly and seek help. But what can families do to alleviate some of this distress? <h2>Seek help</h2> First, understand that <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/86767aac-98e0-4dae-8c5a-d3301b030703">you are not alone</a>. Over 300,000 New Zealanders <a href="https://theconversation.com/over-300-000-new-zealanders-owe-more-than-they-own-is-this-a-problem-173497">owe more than they earn</a>. Second, seek help. There are many services that help people work through their financial situation and formulate a plan. In the case of excessive debts, debt consolidation or <a href="https://goodshepherd.org.nz/debtsolve/">debt solution loans</a> may help reduce the overall burden and simplify your financial situation. For those struggling with increasing interest on their mortgages, reaching out to your bank early is critical. During the 2008 recession, banks in New Zealand <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/banks-exchange-letters-crown-support-distressed-mortgage-borrowers">worked with customers</a> to avoid defaulting on mortgages, including reducing servicing costs, capitalising interest and moving households to interest-only loans. It is essential to understand that the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/130677426/are-we-on-the-brink-of-a-wave-of-mortgagee-sales">banks do not want mortgagees to fail</a>, and that options exist. To help future generations avoid debt traps, we need open communication about money – also known as “<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10834-020-09736-2">financial socialisation</a>”. This includes developing values, sharing knowledge and promoting behaviours that help build <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1241099.pdf">financial viability and contribute to financial wellbeing</a>. The lessons about handling money from family and friends are crucial for <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02162/full">improving our children’s financial capability</a>, helping them be <a href="https://www.fsc.org.nz/it-starts-with-action-theme/growing-financially-resilient-kids">more financially resilient</a> and better able to survive the stresses we are experiencing now – and those <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300836616/heres-how-much-household-costs-are-expected-to-increase">yet to come</a>. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-let-financial-shame-be-your-ruin-open-conversations-can-help-ease-the-burden-of-personal-debt-202496" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Retirement Income

What to do when your friend owes you a few

We all want to do our bit to help our friends and family, and we’ve all heard that all too familiar “I’ll pay you back later”. But what do you do when later never seems to come around? According to a new report by finder, 1 in 4 Australians are waiting on a friend to pay them back. The numbers account for roughly 24% of the population, or 4.8 million people. Though the problem is by no means limited to the nation. The most common unpaid debts (all at 6%) fall under the categories of gifts, bill splitting at a restaurant, and event tickets. Sharing ride services (Uber, taxis, etc.), travel expenses, and gambling activities are close behind - making up 5, 4, and 3% of the reasons for lax repayments respectively. "Our research reveals that millions of Aussies have borrowed money from their friends with no intention of paying them back,” Finder’s money expert Sarah Megginson said of their findings. "Not repaying money breaks trust and can put strain on the relationship, but it could also cause financial problems for the friend left shouldering the debt." There is, however, hope for those still clutching their receipts and waiting, with Megginson sharing some top tips to help people get back what they loaned out. "Your first port of call should be to ask your friend to repay the debt,” she said. “It can be a bit uncomfortable bringing up the topic of money but if you don't ask and then you're resentful, that can be more damaging to the friendship long-term.” She then explained how you may have to avoid paying for them in the future, and that re-setting boundaries with some of the people in your life would be of benefit to both parties, as well as having an honest conversation with them about it all. However, if the situation is more serious than a taxi ride or a friendly brunch, further action may be necessary, especially if a large amount of money is involved. "You can send a letter of demand, clearly outlining how much you are owed and asking that it be repaid within a certain time frame,” she suggested of the worst-case scenario, “otherwise legal action will be started. "If you receive no response you can lodge a claim with your state or territory's tribunal for resolving matters like this.” Megginson added that above else it is important to “exercise discretion” when loaning money, even to family and friends. Emergency funds, in particular, should not be touched by anyone but yourself, as every dollar counts in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Images: Getty

Money & Banking

"I had better make sure I don’t have a heart attack!": Allison Langdon stuns pensioners on the verge of bankruptcy

Left with a $25,000 legal bill after taking their retirement village to court over a broken air conditioning unit and losing the case, pensioners Walter and Carola Sadlo were on the verge of bankruptcy. In a heartwarming segment, Allison Langdon told the Sadlo’s that A Current Affair viewers had banded together to bail them out of their financial debt. Walter and Carola’s legal battle began in 2018 when their air conditioning unit broke. The couple had paid an extra $1,375 for air conditioning but maintenance wasn’t covered by the retirement village. Walter said he believed it would be covered, so he tried to fight it in the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). After taking the retirement village to court and losing the case, the couple were issued with a bankruptcy notice just two days before Christmas. “I could not believe that somebody could be so vicious and cruel,” Walter said. The couple had also sacrificed their savings to fight the case; $15,000 that Carola inherited from her mother. With this gone, they feared losing their home. Langdon then stunned the couple by telling them, “our viewers have paid your debt.” "I normally don't get emotional. I had better make sure I don't have a heart attack!" Walter said. Not only was their $25,000 legal bill covered, but viewers chipped in almost enough to cover the $15,000 they had to put toward their bill. "Hopefully, there will be village operators who see this story and will show a bit more heart," Walter said. Image: A Current Affair

Money & Banking

"Sheer terror": Pensioner slapped with five-figure government fine

Pensioner Rosemary Gay opened up about the “sheer terror” she faced upon receiving a letter from the government demanding she pay back the $65,000 Robodebt bill they claimed she had been overpaid. Rosemary’s nightmare began on September 19, 2016, when the letter arrived, an event that Rosemary confesses “turned my life upside down and created an enormous emotional and mental strain on me." The letter detailed that she was required to pay the total of $64,999.17 in overpaid welfare benefits. Centrelink claimed this was because her declared amounts did not reflect what she actually earned during the period of July 9, 2010, to 6 October, 2016. “It turned my life upside down,” Rosemary told the Robodebt Royal Commission on Monday, “I’ve never earned that much money, how could I owe that much money? And the fact I was to come up with it within a matter of three or four weeks, it was sheer terror.” The emotional 76-year-old admitted that she feared she would have to sell her home to cover the debt, and detailed the bleak path she saw before her, “all I could see was that I may be faced with selling my home and losing everything that I had worked for in my 70 years, and I just saw it all going away instantly.” After contacting Centrelink, Rosemary confirmed that what she had reported was the same as what was on the paperwork. She admitted to assuming that would “be the end of it.” Officials at Centrelink eventually told Rosemary that it came down to a “glitch”, and after a review, the total of her debt was reduced to $6,600. Of her Robodebt experience, Rosemary said, “it was a very dark period of time for me and one that is very difficult to re-live. My mental health and physical health, at that stage, were at a very low ebb.” A second review brought a new letter to Rosemary in December 2016, this time stating that her debt had been reduced to $120. Finally in 2020, Rosemary was informed by Centrelink that she would be refunded the $120, with the Coalition government winding up the unlawful scheme - ruled as such by the Federal Court in 2019. It is suspected that more than 381,000 people were affected, and that over $750m was wrongfully recovered from the victims. “I was shocked and angry by this time to think they could initially cause such a traumatic experience to anybody accessing support from a pension,” Rosemary told the Royal Commission, “it will continue to remain with me forever. It’s just something I will never get over and it has had a huge impact on my physical and mental wellbeing … “That they could turn someone’s life upside down and still get it so wrong over and over again.” Image: Getty Images

Money & Banking

Tactile robot with a sense of touch can fold laundry

Why can you buy a robot vacuum cleaner easily, but not one that folds laundry or irons clothes? Because fabric is actually a very difficult thing for robots to manipulate. But scientists have made a breakthrough with a robot designed to have tactile senses. Fabric is soft, and deformable, and requires a few different senses firing to pick up. This is why the fashion industry is so <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/garment-supply-chain-slavery/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">labour-intensive</a>: it’s too hard to automate. “Humans look at something, we reach for it, then we use touch to make sure that we’re in the right position to grab it,” says David Held, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science, and head of the Robots Perceiving and Doing Lab, at Carnegie Mellon University, US. “A lot of the tactile sensing humans do is natural to us. We don’t think that much about it, so we don’t realise how valuable it is.” When we’re picking up a shirt, for instance, we’re feeling the top layer, sensing lower layers of cloth, and grasping the layers below. But even with cameras and simple sensors, robots can usually only feel the top layer. But Held and colleagues have figured out how to get a robot to do more. “Maybe what we need is tactile sensing,” says Held. The Carnegie Mellon researchers, along with Meta AI, have developed a robotic ‘skin’ called <a href="https://ai.facebook.com/blog/reskin-a-versatile-replaceable-low-cost-skin-for-ai-research-on-tactile-perception/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ReSkin</a>. It’s an elastic <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/explainer-what-is-a-polymer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">polymer</a>, filled with tiny magnetic sensors. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p220637-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/laundry-folding-robot/#wpcf7-f6-p220637-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> “By reading the changes in the magnetic fields from depressions or movement of the skin, we can achieve tactile sensing,” says Thomas Weng, a Ph.D. student in Held’s lab, and a collaborator on the project. “We can use this tactile sensing to determine how many layers of cloth we’ve picked up by pinching, with the sensor.” The ReSkin-coated robot finger could successfully pick up both one and two layers of cloth from a pile, working with a range of different textures and colours. “The profile of this sensor is so small, we were able to do this very fine task, inserting it between cloth layers, which we can’t do with other sensors, particularly optical-based sensors,” says Weng. “We were able to put it to use to do tasks that were not achievable before.” The robot is not yet capable of doing your laundry: next on the researchers list is teaching it to smooth crumpled fabric, choosing the correct number of layers to fold, then folding in the right direction. “It really is an exploration of what we can do with this new sensor,” says Weng. “We’re exploring how to get robots to feel with this magnetic skin for things that are soft, and exploring simple strategies to manipulate cloth that we’ll need for robots to eventually be able to do our laundry.” The researchers are presenting a <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/reskin-cloth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">paper</a> on their laundry-folding robot at the 2022 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Kyoto, Japan.  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=220637&title=Tactile+robot+with+a+sense+of+touch+can+fold+laundry" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/laundry-folding-robot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on Cosmos Magazine and was written by Ellen Phiddian. Image: Carnegie Mellon University </div>

Technology

Realistic androids coming closer, as scientists teach a robot to share your laughter

Do you ever laugh at an inappropriate moment? A team of Japanese researchers has taught a robot when to laugh in social situations, which is a major step towards creating an android that will be “like a friend.” “We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy,” says Dr Koji Inoue, an assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Informatics, and lead author on a paper describing the research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2022.933261" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> in Frontiers in Robotics and AI. “Conversation is, of course, multimodal, not just responding correctly. So we decided that one way a robot can empathize with users is to share their laughter, which you cannot do with a text-based chatbot.” The researchers trained an AI with data from 80 speed dating dialogues, from a matchmaking marathon with Kyoto University students. (Imagine meeting a future partner at exercise designed to teach a robot to laugh…) “Our biggest challenge in this work was identifying the actual cases of shared laughter, which isn’t easy, because as you know, most laughter is actually not shared at all,” says Inoue. “We had to carefully categorise exactly which laughs we could use for our analysis and not just assume that any laugh can be responded to.” They then added this system to a hyper-realistic android named <a href="https://robots.ieee.org/robots/erica/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Erica</a>, and tested the robot on 132 volunteers. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p214084-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/robot-laugh/#wpcf7-f6-p214084-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> Participants listened to one of three different types of dialogue with Erica: one where she was using the shared laughter system, one where she didn’t laugh at all, and one where she always laughed whenever she heard someone else do it. They then gave the interaction scores for empathy, naturalness, similarity to humans, and understanding. The researchers found that the shared-laughter system scored higher than either baseline. While they’re pleased with this result, the researchers say that their system is still quite rudimentary: they need to categorise and examine lots of other types of laughter before Erica’s chuckling naturally. “There are many other laughing functions and types which need to be considered, and this is not an easy task. We haven’t even attempted to model unshared laughs even though they are the most common,” says Inoue. Plus, it doesn’t matter how realistic a robot’s laugh is if the rest of its conversation is unnatural. “Robots should actually have a distinct character, and we think that they can show this through their conversational behaviours, such as laughing, eye gaze, gestures and speaking style,” says Inoue. “We do not think this is an easy problem at all, and it may well take more than 10 to 20 years before we can finally have a casual chat with a robot like we would with a friend.”  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=214084&title=Realistic+androids+coming+closer%2C+as+scientists+teach+a+robot+to+share+your+laughter" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robot-laugh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/ellen-phiddian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ellen Phiddian</a>. Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University. Image: Getty Images </div>

Technology

Supermarket delivery by robot better for the climate

Along with their <a href="https://twitter.com/historymatt/status/1525776275939418113" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cult following on social media</a>, autonomous delivery robots travelling on footpaths could be the most climate-friendly way to do your grocery shopping. Around the world, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/will-covid-19-change-our-cities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">COVID-19 has seen a change</a> in the way people shop for groceries. Instead of driving to the supermarket more people are ordering online for pick-up or home delivery, and even in some places, delivery <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robotics/drone-delivery-groceries-canberra/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">by drone</a> or robot. In the United States supermarket home delivery services grew 54% between 2019 and 2020. In Australia, Woolworths and Coles experienced <a href="https://theconversation.com/coles-and-woolworths-are-moving-to-robot-warehouses-and-on-demand-labour-as-home-deliveries-soar-166556" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unprecedented demand.</a> The rapid growth in e-commerce has seen an increased focus on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/sustainability/to-help-the-environment-should-you-shop-in-store-or-online/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘last-mile’ delivery</a>. A study by University of Michigan researchers and the Ford Motor Co modelled the emissions associated with the journey of a 36-item grocery basket from shop to home via a number of alternative transport options. Their study is <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.2c02050" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. “This research lays the groundwork for understanding the impact of e-commerce on greenhouse gas emissions produced by the grocery supply chain,” says the study’s senior author Greg Keoleian<a href="https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/greg-keoleian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">,</a> director of the Centre for Sustainable Systems at University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. The researchers modelled 72 different ways the groceries could travel from the warehouse to the customer. Across all options, the results showed ‘last-mile’ transport emissions to be the major source of <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/food-transport-emissions-cost/">supply chain emissions</a>. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p201307-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/earth/climate/robot-delivery-better-for-the-climate/#wpcf7-f6-p201307-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> They found the conventional option of driving to the supermarket in a petrol or diesel car to be the most polluting, creating six kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2). All other choices had lower emissions, with footpath delivery robots the cleanest for the climate, at one kg CO2. A customer who switched to an electric vehicle could halve their emissions. But they could achieve a similar impact on emissions by reducing their shopping frequency. Without buying a new car, households who halved the frequency of supermarket trips reduced emissions by 44%. Keoleian says the study emphasises the “important role consumers can serve in reducing emissions through the use of trip chaining and by making carefully planned grocery orders.” Trip chaining refers to combining grocery shopping with other errands. All home delivery options had lower emissions than in-store shopping – in part due to the efficiencies gained in store operation and transport – with the potential to cut emissions by 22 – 65%. Footpath robots are being trialled in cities across the United States, Europe and China. These four or six wheeled robots carry items like supermarket shopping or retail items over short distances. Most have a delivery range around three kilometres. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"> <div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered spai-bg-prepared" style="display: flex; max-width: 500px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" class="spai-bg-prepared" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px; height: 612px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="Twitter Tweet" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=CosmosMagazine&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1525776275939418113&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fcosmosmagazine.com%2Fearth%2Fclimate%2Frobot-delivery-better-for-the-climate%2F&sessionId=84ec360f0f0db6f38136f997db6585736d09d60a&siteScreenName=CosmosMagazine&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b7df0f50e1ec1%3A1659558317797&width=500px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-tweet-id="1525776275939418113"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> <a>Starship robots</a> is one example. Since launching in 2014, their robots have completed three million autonomous home deliveries in cities across Estonia, the United Kingdom, Finland and the United States.  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=201307&title=Supermarket+delivery+by+robot+better+for+the+climate" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/robot-delivery-better-for-the-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/petra-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Petra Stock</a>. Petra Stock has a degree in environmental engineering and a Masters in Journalism from University of Melbourne. She has previously worked as a climate and energy analyst. Image: Getty Images </div>

Technology

Patch me up, Scotty! Remote surgery robot destined for ISS

Strap yourself in so you don’t float away, select the required procedure, lie back and relax as your autonomous surgery robot patches you up from whatever space ailment bothers you. Sound far-fetched? Not according to Professor Shane Farritor, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who <a href="https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/husker-developed-surgery-robot-to-be-tested-aboard-international-space/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has just received funding from NASA</a> to prepare his miniature surgical robot for a voyage to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024. MIRA, which stands for “miniaturised in vivo robotic assistant” is comparatively little for a surgery-performing machine – small enough to fit inside a microwave-sized experimental locker within the ISS. The brainchild of Farritor and colleagues at the start-up company Virtual Incision, MIRA has been under development for almost 20 years. The ultimate aim for MIRA is to be able to perform surgery autonomously and remotely, which has far-reaching ramifications for urgent surgery in the field – whether that’s in the depths of space, a remote location or even <a href="http://bionics.seas.ucla.edu/publications/JP_11.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in a war-torn region</a>. Initially MIRA won’t go near anyone’s body. Once on the ISS, it will autonomously perform tasks designed to mimic the movements required for surgery, such as cutting stretched rubber bands and pushing metal rings along a wire. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p200559-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/health/remote-surgery-robot-destined-for-iss/#wpcf7-f6-p200559-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> Being autonomous is important as it won’t need to access bandwidth to communicate back to Earth. MIRA has already successfully completed surgery-like tasks via remote operation including a colon resection. Space is the next frontier. Farritor says, as people go further and deeper into space, they might need surgery. “We’re working toward that goal.” The stint on the ISS will not only mark the most autonomous operation so far, but it will also provide insight into how such devices might function in zero gravity. The dream goal is for MIRA to function entirely on its own, says Farritor. Just imagine: “the astronaut flips a switch, the process starts, and the robot does its work by itself. Two hours later, the astronaut switches it off and it’s done”. As anyone who has seen the scene in the movie, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Martian</a>, can attest, it would certainly make pulling a wayward antenna spike out of yourself from within a deserted Martian habitat station far more comfortable.  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=200559&title=Patch+me+up%2C+Scotty%21+Remote+surgery+robot+destined+for+ISS" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/remote-surgery-robot-destined-for-iss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/clare-kenyon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clare Kenyon</a>. Clare Kenyon is a science writer for Cosmos. She is currently wrangling the death throes of her PhD in astrophysics, has a Masters in astronomy and another in education, and has classroom experience teaching high school science, maths and physics. Clare also has diplomas in music and criminology and a graduate certificate of leadership and learning. Image: Getty Images </div>

Technology

A robot dog with a virtual spinal cord can learn to walk in just one hour

We’ve all seen those adorable clips of newborn giraffes or foals first learning to walk on their shaky legs, stumbling around until they finally master the movements. Researchers wanted to know how animals learn to walk and learn from their stumbling, so they built a four-legged, dog-sized robot to simulate it, according to a new study <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-022-00505-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> in Nature Machine Intelligence. They found that it took their robot and its virtual spinal cord just an hour to get its walking under control. Getting up and going quickly is essential in the animal kingdom to avoid predators, but learning how to co-ordinate leg muscles and tendons takes time. Initially, baby animals rely heavily on hard-wired spinal cord reflexes to co-ordinate muscle and tendon control, while motor control reflexes help them to avoid falling and hurting themselves during their first attempts. More precise muscle control must be practised until the nervous system adapts to the muscles and tendons, and the young are then able to keep up with the adults. “As engineers and roboticists, we sought the answer by building a robot that features reflexes just like an animal and learns from mistakes,” says first author Dr Felix Ruppert, a former doctoral student in the Dynamic Locomotion research group at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), Germany. “If an animal stumbles, is that a mistake? Not if it happens once. But if it stumbles frequently, it gives us a measure of how well the robot walks.” <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="Learning Plastic Matching of Robot Dynamics in Closed-loop Central Pattern Generators" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPL6nvs_GEc?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> Building a virtual spinal cord to learn how to walk The researchers designed a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/machine-learning-tool-brain-injury/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">learning algorithm</a> to function as the robot’s spinal cord and work as what’s known as a Central Pattern Generator (CPG). In humans and animals, the CPGs are networks of neurons in the spinal cord that, without any input from the brain, produce periodic muscle contractions. These are important for rhythmic tasks like breathing, blinking, digestion and walking. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p198628-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/robot-machine-learning-to-walk/#wpcf7-f6-p198628-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> The CPG was simulated on a small and lightweight computer that controlled the motion of the robot’s legs and it was positioned on the robot where the head would be on a dog. The robot – which the researchers named Morti – was designed with sensors on its feet to measure information about its movement. Morti learnt to walk while having no prior explicit “knowledge” of its leg design, motors, or springs by continuously comparing the expected data (modelled from the virtual spinal cord) against the sensor data as it attempted to walk. “Our robot is practically ‘born’ knowing nothing about its leg anatomy or how they work,” Ruppert explains. “The CPG resembles a built-in automatic walking intelligence that nature provides and that we have transferred to the robot. The computer produces signals that control the legs’ motors and the robot initially walks and stumbles. “Data flows back from the sensors to the virtual spinal cord where sensor and CPG data are compared. If the sensor data does not match the expected data, the learning algorithm changes the walking behaviour until the robot walks well and without stumbling.” Sensor data from the robot’s feet are continuously compared with the expected touch-down data predicted by the robot’s CPG. If the robot stumbles, the learning algorithm changes how far the legs swing back and forth, how fast the legs swing, and how long a leg is on the ground. “Changing the CPG output while keeping reflexes active and monitoring the robot stumbling is a core part of the learning process,” Ruppert says. Within one hour, Morti can go from stumbling around like a newborn animal to walking, optimising its movement patterns faster than an animal and increasing its energy efficiency by 40%. “We can’t easily research the spinal cord of a living animal. But we can model one in the robot,” says co-author Dr Alexander Badri-Spröwitz, head of the Dynamic Locomotion research group. “We know that these CPGs exist in many animals. We know that reflexes are embedded; but how can we combine both so that animals learn movements with reflexes and CPGs? “This is fundamental research at the intersection between robotics and biology. The robotic model gives us answers to questions that biology alone can’t answer.”  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=198628&title=A+robot+dog+with+a+virtual+spinal+cord+can+learn+to+walk+in+just+one+hour" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robot-machine-learning-to-walk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/imma-perfetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Imma Perfetto</a>. Imma Perfetto is a science writer at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Science Communication from the University of Adelaide. Dynamic Locomotion Group (YouTube) </div>

Technology

Qantas staff to be given $5,000 bonus

Qantas has announced a nice $5,000 bonus to 19,000 of its employees as the carrier continues to recover after Covid. The Australian carrier’s net debt had risen to an eye-watering $6.4 billion due to next to no flights during the two years of closed borders. The net debt now sits well below pre-covid levels at $4 billion as more customers are opting to travel with Qantas. Qantas is now set to give 19,000 of its employees a one-off recovery boost of $5,000. In addition to the bonus, Qantas group will look at increasing permanent wages by two per cent, which were also frozen during lockdown and closed borders. It is expected that the entire ordeal will cost Qantas a whopping $87 million in the 2022 Financial Year. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said recovery of the carrier began in December when the company decided to bring its workers back before borders opened. “It’s been a tough few years for everyone in aviation but we promised to share the benefits of the recovery once it arrived,” he said. “For our people, the recovery really started last December when we made the decision to bring everyone back to work ahead of schedule and well before all borders opened. “In February, we announced a bonus scheme that gives employees at least 1000 shares in the national carrier if key conditions are met, which are on track. “We’re announcing a one-off payment that goes some of the way to acknowledging the sacrifices our people have made, including long periods of no work and no annual wage increases. It also recognises the great work they are doing as we restart the airline, which has been challenging for everyone. “This comes at a time when travel demand is rebounding but our people are facing a unique set of cost of living pressures, which frankly they’d be in a better position to handle if aviation hadn’t been so badly hit over the past two years. That’s now changing. “We can’t afford to permanently increase salaries beyond the two per cent threshold we’ve set, but we can afford to make this one-off payment on top of the Qantas share rights we’ve already given. “Getting our permanent cost base right is how we’re able to reinvest, which ultimately means more opportunity for our people. “The structure of our business means many of our people see their salary increase significantly as their careers progress. That progression often relies on the business growing, so the recent investments we’ve announced in new aircraft and new ventures will see employees share in the benefit as the national carrier enters a new phase.” Image: Qantas

Money & Banking

New “sweaty” living skin for robots might make your skin crawl

A team of Japanese scientists have crafted the first living skin for robots that not only resembles our skin in texture, but it also repels water and has self-healing functions just like ours. To craft the skin, the team submerged a robotic finger into a cylinder filled with collagen and human dermal fibroblasts - the two main components that make up our skin’s connective tissues. The way that this mixture shrank and conformed to the finger that gave it such a realistic appearance - making for a large leap forward in terms of creating human-like appearances for robots. “The finger looks slightly ‘sweaty’ straight out of the culture medium,” <a href="https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/this-robots-sweaty-living-skin-that-can-heal-might-make-your-skin-crawl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> Shoji Takeuchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo and the study’s first author. “Since the finger is driven by an electric motor, it is also interesting to hear the clicking sounds of the motor in harmony with a finger that looks just like a real one.” <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/06/robot-finger1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> The team submerged the robotic finger into a mixture of collagen and human dermal fibroblasts to create the new skin. Image: Shoji Takeuchi Realism is a top priority for humanoid robots tasked with interacting with people in healthcare and the service industry, since looking human can improve communication efficiency and even make us like the robot more. Current methods of creating skin for robots use silicone, which effectively mimic human appearance but fall short in creating delicate textures, such as wrinkles, and in having skin-specific functions. Meanwhile, trying to tailor sheets of living skin - commonly used in skin grafting - is difficult when it comes to conforming to fingers, which have uneven surfaces and need to be able to move. “With that method, you have to have the hands of a skilled artisan who can cut and tailor the skin sheets,” Takeuchi says. “To efficiently cover surfaces with skin cells, we established a tissue moulding method to directly mould skin tissue around the robot, which resulted in a seamless skin coverage on a robotic finger.” Other experts have also noted that this level of realism could have the opposite effect, in a phenomenon known as the “uncanny valley” effect. “It is possible that the human-like appearance [of some robots] induces certain expectations but when they do not meet those expectations, they are found eerie or creepy,” Dr Burcu Ürgen, an assistant professor in psychology at Bilkent University, Turkey, who wasn’t involved in the study, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/09/scientists-make-slightly-sweaty-robotic-finger-with-living-skin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a>. Professor Fabian Grabenhorst, a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford who studies the uncanny-valley effect, also told the publication that people might have an initial negative reaction to these kinds of robots, but that it could shift depending on their interactions with the robot. “Initially people might find it weird, but through positive experiences that might help people overcome those feelings,” he told The Guardian. “It seems like a fantastic technological innovation.” As exciting as this discovery is, Takeuchi adds that it’s “just the first step” in covering robots in living skin, with their future work looking to allow the skin to survive without constant nutrient supply and waste removal, as well as including hair follicles, nails, sweat glands and sensory neurons. “I think living skin is the ultimate solution to give robots the look and touch of living creatures since it is exactly the same material that covers animal bodies,” he says. Their study was published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2022.05.019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matter</a>. Image: Shoji Takeuchi

Technology

Cancer patients go untreated due to hospital debts

A cancer centre in Palestine is turning away patients for the first time in its history, with some 500 patients turned away since September last year for one reason - it’s owed $96 million ($NZ 105 million). The cancer unit in the Augusta Victoria Hospital in eastern Jerusalem is owed the funds from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and is unable to buy the chemotherapy drugs needed to treat patients, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-60829319" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a>. “It’s the first time in our history that we’ve been forced to take the decision not to accept new patients,” Dr Fadi al-Atrash, the hospital’s deputy CEO, told the BBC. “We’re facing a very critical situation where we might be forced to close some departments in future. We might have to stop the treatment of patients already in our care. “It means that more people might die of cancer because they’re not receiving their treatment on time, or according to the right schedule.” A lack of funds for healthcare isn’t the only problem for the PA, which says it’s facing the worst financial crisis since it began 30 years ago, due to a combination of the pandemic, inflation and the Palestinian conflict with Israel. Salem al-Nawati, a 16-year-old with leukaemia from Gaza, collapsed outside the PA Health Ministry in Ramallah earlier in the year and was declared dead soon after. His uncle, Jamal al-Nawati, was fighting to secure a hospital bed for Salem, and detailed the barriers his nephew faced in accessing treatment. Since hospitals in Gaza are ill-equipped to treat many serious cases of cancer, Salem was given a medical referral and PA financial guarantee for treatment in a private hospital in Nablus. However, after being initially refused a travel permit by Israel, Salem arrived for treatment a month later and was turned away from the Nablus hospital because its bills hadn’t been paid by the PA. “I was wondering what we’d done wrong, what had this poor patient ever done?” Mr al-Nawati said. “Salem’s condition was deteriorating hour-by-hour, day-by-day. He was so sad, asking me why he was being refused treatment, and I was doing my best to reassure him.” Though an influential family friend intervened, resulting in the PA offering to send Salem to an Israeli hospital, his permit didn’t allow him to travel there. Image: Getty Images

Caring

Our Partners

Over 60

News

Shop

Catalogues

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Games

Information

Keep up to date

Search

Retiring with debt? Experts explain downsizing, using super for your mortgage, and pension eligibility

Borrowing money isn’t always a bad thing – debt can be a sensible way to build wealth

Aussies top global list for biggest gambling losses

Michael Jackson's staggering debt revealed

REVIEW: Super-intelligent, dog-detecting robot lawn mower

What are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ debts, and which should I pay off first?

5 signs your friend is struggling with serious debt

Forcing people to repay welfare ‘loans’ traps them in a poverty cycle – where is the policy debate about that?

Don’t let financial shame be your ruin: open conversations can help ease the burden of personal debt

What to do when your friend owes you a few

"I had better make sure I don’t have a heart attack!": Allison Langdon stuns pensioners on the verge of bankruptcy

"Sheer terror": Pensioner slapped with five-figure government fine

Tactile robot with a sense of touch can fold laundry

Realistic androids coming closer, as scientists teach a robot to share your laughter

Supermarket delivery by robot better for the climate

Patch me up, Scotty! Remote surgery robot destined for ISS

A robot dog with a virtual spinal cord can learn to walk in just one hour

Qantas staff to be given $5,000 bonus

New “sweaty” living skin for robots might make your skin crawl

Cancer patients go untreated due to hospital debts

Our Partners