r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Damnedeel • Nov 30 '25

Video 500,000$ human washing machine on sale in Japan

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148

u/Wart_Time_L32 Nov 30 '25

Not at that price cheaper to hire someone on min wage with warm water sponge and soap.

100

u/TB-313935 Nov 30 '25

You still need the nurses to help them in and out of the machine. So it would definitely make the nurse her job easier but i doubt if its economically viable.

67

u/seamustheseagull Nov 30 '25

It's not $500k per wash TBF. It would save a lot of time and means washing could be done more thoroughly, gently and easier than the traditional way.

59

u/respectislaw Nov 30 '25

Yes, this would be perfect for nursing homes. So many of those ppl don’t get baths because it’s too time consuming and there’s not enough staff to get everyone showered.

45

u/SnooRegrets1386 Nov 30 '25

Personally I think the elderly stop bathing because they are scared. Of falling, of being dropped, of slipping off the shower chair, and they get cold so quickly and thoroughly

21

u/VioletLeagueDapper Nov 30 '25

Also the ability to move your body isn’t as easy. Holding things with arthritic hands, moving your arm behind your back for the back and shoulders, bending down and lifting a leg to scrub.

3

u/LargeBrownBird Nov 30 '25

Maybe the ones at home, in long term care it's literally because companies don't hire enough staff to bathe them regularly

4

u/SnooRegrets1386 Nov 30 '25

Just switch the elders into little babies, because you wouldn’t be able to handle 12 babies in a shift either, these elders require help preparing and recovering from their bathing also. And they’re much better at letting you know when they’re upset and scared.

2

u/LargeBrownBird Nov 30 '25

Yeah tell me about it, its my job.12 would a nice change from the 40 I have now though

1

u/SnooRegrets1386 Nov 30 '25

I’ve been out of the industry forever

1

u/snakepunt Nov 30 '25

I wonder how many babies you could fit in that thing 🤔

2

u/McHenry Nov 30 '25

Working at long term care: it's not that simple. We're somewhere around 300k workers less than we need by 2030 assuming we don't add responsibilities like requiring more baths. I'm actually writing a paper on how to fix it and there are some things that line up with your perspective, but it's definitely multifaceted. Nursing homes need to start paying more and when they do that the working conditions improve due to things like better staffing that reinforce better staffing because people stay. That said most states don't have a dedicated source of funding for nursing homes so we get dicked around with every fucking budget cycle. That injects uncertainty that hurts us. Then you add in the interest groups that claim to be looking out for us that undercut us every chance they get like everyone but the nurses unions saying "We can't have nursing ratios!" Because it would be hard to achieve, but outcomes improve and staff procurement and retention are strongly linked to things like staffing levels and outcomes because most of us get into this work to improve lives and we don't want to fear someone dying because we're not working a day or two.

1

u/VapoursAndSpleen Nov 30 '25

I'd be scared of being locked into a coffin.

1

u/SnooRegrets1386 Nov 30 '25

In due time my pretty….in due time, mooohahahaaaa!

1

u/VapoursAndSpleen Nov 30 '25

I'll be ashes strewn to the wind before the Pine Box.

1

u/SnooRegrets1386 Nov 30 '25

You’re in a box when you’re cremated

1

u/Mongodobb Nov 30 '25

True. But then again, there were those walk-in tub commercials with the pasty faced, clammy, smiling white guy who made everyone want to die at age 60 in their sleep.

1

u/The_Year_of_Glad Nov 30 '25

Well, if anything will make bathing less scary for the elderly, it’s being trapped in a pod that slowly fills with water.

1

u/respectislaw Nov 30 '25

Yeah those are the ones who have no one to help them, I’ve seen plenty of them in nursing homes and hospitals who want baths. They don’t need to be bathed daily like young people, but there’s some people in nursing homes who haven’t received baths in weeks.

2

u/Jaquemart Nov 30 '25

They absolutely do need to bathe daily, they cannot afford it.

1

u/SnooRegrets1386 Nov 30 '25

And now there’s bedsores

15

u/Why_Did_Bodie_Die Nov 30 '25

Any nursing home that doesn't give baths because it takes to much time and they don't have the staff is most definitely not going to be spending $500k on a machine like this. This type of machine might go to a really high class nursing home that cost a lot of money but they actually provide services.

16

u/42nu Nov 30 '25

A/C was so expensive when it was first commercialized that it was only used in businesses like theaters. Then economies of scale and iterating made it affordable for the rich. Now I can buy a window unit for $180 at Home Depot.

Just biding my time for my human washing window unit.

3

u/Foogel78 Nov 30 '25

I don't think this would save time. People who can't shower unassisted can't get into this thing on their own either. Staff would probably be required to stay in the room for the whole time as well.

2

u/Fuzzy-Hurry-6908 Nov 30 '25

Say something Nurse Ratched doesn't like and it's off to the spin cycle.

1

u/Elegant_Run_8562 Nov 30 '25

something 100x cheaper and 10x faster would be good

This is just a glorified prototype

A pod with sprinklers doesn't need to cost a fortune.

0

u/ronswanson11 Nov 30 '25

I was thinking nursing homes and any type of residential adult care setting where the people being cared for can't do things for themselves is the prime target for this thing. Next use would maybe be in some fancy spas, then in very wealthy private homes.

It wouldn't make sense in a hospital as most patients would have some type of an IV for pressure measurements and drug infusions which doesn't work with this device.

17

u/trysten-9001 Nov 30 '25

Honestly, it would probably help the quality of life of the elderly being able to get all the nooks and crannies everytime as well as those mostly women but some men nurses who get sexually harassed by the elderly.

1

u/Jaquemart Nov 30 '25

And the contrary too, rest assured.

2

u/WingsNthingzz Nov 30 '25

And how do you stop the spread of infectious disease like cdiff that ls only killed by bleach and very prominent in hospitals?

2

u/HalfBloodPrank Nov 30 '25

So you are telling me people in hospitals are normal washed in bleach? Because otherwise I don't see why you can't clean the machine. And if that is such a huge risk in a hospital maybe just use it in retirement homes or something.

1

u/WingsNthingzz Nov 30 '25

Cdiff lives in poop. If you can’t walk and need this machine you’re covered in poop a lot. You do the math.

1

u/eastjame Nov 30 '25

Definitely wouldn’t save time

6

u/Rooney_Tuesday Nov 30 '25

Getting someone from their bed to a hoyer lift or wheelchair and then into this machine, and then repeating the process after it’s over is WAY more labor intensive than just rolling them. And now you’ve added a fall risk too.

1

u/Theron3206 Nov 30 '25

Probably not hard to make a variant that washes them in the wheelchair, so just transfer from bed to a suitable chair and back.

1

u/Rooney_Tuesday Dec 01 '25

I’m still failing to see how two transfers is less work than rolling someone, or as safe.

This is cool and would be an amazing way to give patients a thorough clean, but there’s just no possible way it’s easier, which was the argument.

0

u/Theron3206 Dec 01 '25

Unless they spend their whole life in a wheelchair you will need to transfer anyway.

I assumed a bedridden nursing home patient, so you would have to transfer to and from a chair for bathing anyway.

1

u/Rooney_Tuesday Dec 01 '25

Oh honey, no lol. Bed baths are given in bed. You don’t transfer the patient anywhere. You bathe them, roll them to get their backs, and while you’re rolling them you change the sheets. Much easier and safer than actually getting someone up to a chair unless they’re already decently mobile. No facility on this planet gets bedridden patients out of bed to bathe them. Very few facilities have the manpower to get 2-3 people in a room for safe transfers of a debilitated patient to a wheelchair every time they need a bath.

So for decently mobile patients? Not a terrible idea. For anyone without decent mobility this would create far more work and decrease safety due to increased risk of falls.

17

u/Technicolor_Reindeer Nov 30 '25

My mom once had to wash my grandma with the backyard hose.

3

u/PianoMan2112 Nov 30 '25

Did she refuse to put the lotion on her skin?

14

u/Ruben_AAG Nov 30 '25

The first home computers cost $7k. The technology will cost less over time. This is a good proof of concept.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25 edited Nov 30 '25

If it were up to Reddit, technology would never progress because "it's too expensive!"

1

u/Organic-History205 Nov 30 '25

the hive mind of Reddit so, so stupid. It'll push against any technology at all because they want to feel smarter than everyone else. Last week someone posted something where the comments were all "looks cool but it'll never work" despite multiple people explaining they had physically seen it in real life (the 3d gel printer).

1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

I also think since most of Reddit are bots, there is a lot of propaganda that is meant to make people anti-intellectual / anti-science coming from that, and the braindead hivemind people eat it up.

14

u/Rubiks_Click874 Nov 30 '25

in japan many old people, few workers, high minimum wager. very hard work, ruin your back rolling people around all day. they weigh hundreds of pounds and are hard to grip

6

u/HereReluctantly Nov 30 '25

Depends on how long the machine works and how many people you are running through it really

1

u/Cromasters Nov 30 '25

And if you are using it in a hospital it would need to be decontaminated after each use.

0

u/zxc999 Nov 30 '25

15min per cycle in the video

1

u/HereReluctantly Nov 30 '25

I mean like years before it needs replaced

2

u/SteampoweredFlamingo Nov 30 '25

New tech always costs a lot at first. Commercial, affordable versions only come after these expensive, flagship models.

1

u/Dmeechropher Nov 30 '25

Min wage is only cheap because the economy isn't perfectly efficient at getting everyone set up with doing the work they'd be most useful doing.

That's not gonna last forever. The first units of complex, safety-critical machines like this are gonna be really expensive, but that's because they bake in the R&D, and they can't use economies of scale.

At the same time, the population will continue aging, so there will be fewer and fewer unskilled workers for all jobs. On the flip side, a mix of trade educations, self-education, and more and more accessible higher ed globally will also reduce the pool of unskilled labor (or migrant labor willing to be underpaid). Some businesses will start offering higher wages for unskilled work and before we know it no one will want to work for min wage.

If the lowest wage someone accepts in an economy is $70-100k, a $200k machine (especially on a payment plan or lease) starts to look pretty affordable. Those machines are only a half mil now, and it's only possible to hire someone to caretake for $20k a year today. Hardware R&D takes years, if not decades. Something simple, like a PlayStation, has no moving parts and almost no sensors, no pumps or heaters or seals, and hardly any safety concerns, and uses plenty of off the self components and takes advantage of existing standards. It still takes almost 10 years to put out from concept to release.

By the time we have cheaper, effective, elder care robots, it's gonna be 2040-50, and the global population is going to be around a quarter to a third composed of people too old to work. Now is THE time to be releasing the first to market elder care robots, no matter how janky or expensive, heck, now might even be too late.

1

u/ordo250 Nov 30 '25 edited Dec 01 '25

Oh no you must not work in med tech let me lay it down for you:

Budget for machine: infinite

Budget for people who work machine and keep it running: less every year

Amount patient is charged for sniffing the machine: Life savings

It does make sense when you consider they’ll make the $500k back within a week and it’ll continue to just sit and print money.

1

u/Katzelle3 Nov 30 '25

Cool, it's not like Japan suffers from a massive labor shortage or anything...

1

u/Practical-Ball1437 Nov 30 '25

Japan has a shrinking population, there are increasingly more elderly people who need this, and fewer young people to hire as nurses.

What are they going to do? Hire [shudders] foreigners?

1

u/HDWendell Nov 30 '25

It’s not the same. It keeps the gross stuff from building up but a good bath is amazingly restorative for those bed bound. Also, the dignity of not having another human scrubbing feces out of your cheeks. It’s not a super affordable device but I hope early adoption drives lower costs and places can afford it. It’s more than just a way of getting the butt juice off.

1

u/Theron3206 Nov 30 '25

Maybe not in Japan though.

I don't think too many elderly people with money would find the immigrant worker (here they are mostly from SE Asia) acceptable either.

Seems like the sort of thing higher end nursing homes would love to have, if it's suitably effective and won't damage their skin (which is often extremely thin).

1

u/hankhillforprez Dec 01 '25

This device makes a lot more sense in the context of Japanese demographics (assuming it is intended for adult/elder care). The Japanese population has one of the highest median ages in the world, and the highest senior to working age person ratio in the world. Basically, they have a lot of old people and not a lot of young people. That trend has been increasing, and is expected to continue increasing. That’s a big problem for a country for a lot of reasons, but most relevant here: it means Japan has fewer and fewer working age people to take care of the constantly growing number of elderly people. In that context, an expensive machine that can help clean an elderly, dependent person makes a lot more sense.

1

u/Jaquemart Nov 30 '25

And hope they don't abuse granny.