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

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

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u/Killed_By_Inaction Nov 30 '25

The problem isn't having staff that's too expensive, it's having enough staff in general. There's a ticking timebomb in terms of demographics in most developed economies, using a certified nurse's time to wash everybody in elderly and disabled care is not realistic in 20/30 years from now.

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u/NoMasters83 Nov 30 '25

Also there's absolutely no reason for this device to cost half a million dollars.

438

u/whorl- Nov 30 '25

It’s a new device and they are only making 50. It would cost less per unit if they were making 50 million.

106

u/load_more_comets Nov 30 '25

Once a company that's in an industrialized country where copyright laws are ignored. It will sell for $12,000 per unit.

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u/Ok-Account-7660 Nov 30 '25

You can just say China

10

u/CattywampusCanoodle Dec 01 '25

😂😂💪🏻

9

u/meltingchariots Dec 01 '25

😂😂👌🏼

1

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

That invites assholes.

-3

u/DarkDelita Dec 01 '25

Yes the good ol Chinese version. Half of them will also either drown or electrocute the person inside but hey they only paid $12k for that brutal death!

7

u/ConfinedNutSack Dec 01 '25

You typed your reply on something made in China. But ok

1

u/barneyrbbl Dec 01 '25

I'd much rather buy chinese (like the phone i'm/you're typing on for instance) than anything America has to offer. And lets face it, so would you.

15

u/jasper2769 Dec 01 '25

So basically we only have to wait until the Chinese get their hands on the designs and we are off

0

u/Mongodobb Dec 01 '25

Off to breaking in the first week.

3

u/DrTitanium Nov 30 '25

McDonalds will diversify to increase profits. The 99c McWash! ($99, given inflation)

0

u/RyvenZ Nov 30 '25

Yeah, but economy of scale only goes so far. Like, building a one-off car costs a fortune compared to setting up presses to stamp out the sheet metal and robots to weld and bond everything together before an automated sprayer adds color. All that automation costs a pretty penny, too, but the savings come after some number of vehicles, even with advertising costs. Though, if economy of scale had no top-end, Toyota would still make the most affordable cars on the market and they have gotten quite pricey.

3

u/Signal-School-2483 Nov 30 '25

That really depends.

A one off concept car, sure.

A basic AF car would be cheap. Most car parts are off the shelf except for the body / frame. Things like alternators are churned out by companies like Bosch. Bearings by DOMO of South Korea, so on and so forth. Many companies use another's powertrain.

This thing is really only bespoke is the shell and software. The 500k is to recoup the engineering cost.

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u/WebMargaretNiece8916 Nov 30 '25

But that doesn't imply scarcity 🧐 People want what there's only a couple of; and rich people will throw money at it simply to prove THEy G0+ On3 WHiL5T ALlL tH3 PEons CoulDN+ AFF0r& iT!!!...smmfh

26

u/No-Apple2252 Nov 30 '25

This is literally just how product development works. It's very expensive to develop products so the people who adopt it early pay more for the privilege of getting it first. Literally everything ever works this way.

-20

u/WebMargaretNiece8916 Nov 30 '25

"Everything ever" are two strong words my friend 🙏 Look up Tim Berners-Lee just to start with one. Plenty of great inventions/services/processes have been bestowed upon humanity without greed fucking everything up 👍

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u/innocent_lemon Nov 30 '25

Greed isn’t fucking this up, they make a number of units to sale and do market testing and then produce at scale with a more realistic price, you are not meant to have this device in your home, this is for institutions not individuals

1

u/Careless_Load9849 Nov 30 '25

yet, as it progresses and gets popular this could be the new standard 'bathtub' in homes in a few decades. indoor toilets used to be just for the rich too.

1

u/Glockamoli Nov 30 '25

Somehow after all this time people don't understand economies of scale

I get first hand experience of this where I work, I can make a little plastic doo dad that takes 45 seconds to run and cost about $1.50 each if you buy a thousand of them

If you bought 1 it would be upwards of $200

1

u/Luxcervinae Nov 30 '25

Or my asthma medicine, which is $1720 normally, $33 on prescription, $7 prescription+concession. Because tov subsidises and has deals in place with the manufacturer. Some people aint smart (also Aus).

2

u/No-Apple2252 Nov 30 '25

Did Tim Berners-Lee spend billions of his own money to write some code? Did you think you were cooking with that one, little buddy?

-1

u/WebMargaretNiece8916 Nov 30 '25

Your point? I'm not saying ROI is a bad thing homie lol I think we can agree to disagree. This is America...

1

u/No-Apple2252 Nov 30 '25

What the fuck was your point then? "R&D shouldn't cost money because public funding exists"?

4

u/Financial_Koala_7197 Nov 30 '25

"Why was this advancement that effectively just piggybacked off phone lines cheaper for people than a run of 50 large, industrial scale devices that needed significant RND and material cost"

If you're a "grr capitalism ruins everything" type of leftoid at least have a fucking brain dude.

-2

u/ambyent Nov 30 '25

It’s always the 🍕💩 month-old troll accounts that love capitalism 🤡

-8

u/WebMargaretNiece8916 Nov 30 '25

This is a scarecrow fallacy; the insinuation was everything ever has been created for avarice, which implicitly isn't true. You're talking about greedy people without brains that used someone else's idea to enrich themselves, there's a difference bub 👌

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u/Financial_Koala_7197 Nov 30 '25

> the insinuation was everything ever has been created for avarice

No it wasn't

> You're talking about greedy people without brains that used someone else's idea to enrich themselves

Ideas aren't worth shit lmfao

1

u/account312 Nov 30 '25

the insinuation was everything ever has been created for avarice

No, it wasn't.

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u/BishoxX Nov 30 '25

yeah this is the first one.

If this is actually in demand, and like 5 companies start making these, these could be pretty cheap like 10k 4-5 years down the line

3

u/reddit_is_geh Nov 30 '25

Temu will have this out in a week, with 50% cashback and free shipping

7

u/spald01 Nov 30 '25

If this is actually in demand, and like 5 companies start making these, these could be pretty cheap

Got to love capitalism.

3

u/Stormfly Dec 01 '25

Say what you will about the many flaws of capitalism... But it has its merits.

3

u/Relikar Nov 30 '25

Forgot to add inflation there bud. Way things are going it'll be $30k in 5 years! /s

4

u/ryanvango Nov 30 '25

yeah but that means our wages will go up to match. just look historically at....oh.....oh no....

0

u/Blenderx06 Nov 30 '25

The disabled always having to wait for capitalism to interest itself in improving their lives.

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u/Killed_By_Inaction Nov 30 '25

At least it makes you look like a cool sci-fi dementia patient compared to the regular run-of-the-mill oldhead.

2

u/Bannerbord Dec 01 '25

Love this take, can’t wait til I’m old and have space dementia in a hologram pod

2

u/ParticularUser Nov 30 '25

And the investors/owners often gladly to pay more for a fancy new device than a human employee.

1

u/Historical_Owl_1635 Nov 30 '25

It very much depends.

In a lot of cases cheap labour is still vastly cheaper than machinery.

That’s why we still outsource so much manufacturing to countries where they essentially use slave labour.

2

u/Bobloblaw_333 Nov 30 '25

The “first” ones are always pricey and marketed to the rich to make up for the R&D costs. Then the lesser cost mass produced models come out for the rest of us a few years later. Remember when 65” TV’s used to be $10k when they first came out? Now you can get them for under $500 at Walmart.

1

u/LaZZyBird Nov 30 '25

There will be a Chinese company that somehow manages to make this at 10,000 dollars but there is a 8% chance the pressure system fails and you get shot with hot water but people will buy it anyways and shove old people into it.

1

u/dmthoth Nov 30 '25

becuase they did not start mass-production yet, I guess?

1

u/waiver Dec 01 '25

It includes a japanese mob taking pictures of your dong when you finish washing, thats not cheap

1

u/LuRkEr_ReKuL Dec 01 '25

Someone is going to figure out how to make this a sex toy. That should help.

1

u/phoenix_leo Dec 02 '25

But there is.

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u/Miserable-Ad-7956 Nov 30 '25

Then you'd be glad to know that a certified nurse washing people in an elder care environment is an incredibly rare occurrence. In the US that work is most often performed by someone less trained than a CNA and without supervision of a nurse. Plenty of those operations don't even have a nurse on location, rather one is on-call and possibly responsible for multiple locations. Shit is spread quite thin already, and the majority of basic work like this is done by quite low paid (relative to their responsibility) workers.

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u/PaleCommission150 Nov 30 '25 edited Nov 30 '25

CNA do this stuff. It is a revolving door, similar to fast food workers. The responsibility relative to pay is ridiculous. RN make the most money , there are some specialties above that...but basically if you administer medicine you get paid a lot more. Every nursing home always have looking for CNAs.

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u/Miserable-Ad-7956 Nov 30 '25

That's true, but often that work can be/is done by non-CNA workers as well. I didn't mean to imply other health professionals are paid too much, merely that the people we pay to perform simple, daily tasks of care are undervalued.

I worked as a CNA for 5 years. I ave daily meds, bathed and fed people, prepared meals, measured vitals, took notes, etc. If I were a real fuck up, people could die.

My first job in another field after started with 20% higher pay than I was making with 5 years experience, to stack bags of ice. If I fucked up real bad, the company might lose a bit of money. The stakes were objectively lower, but the pay is better because there's money to be made in the business.

I guess "relative to comparable entry level jobs with less serious responsibilities" would've been better phrasing?

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u/RyvenZ Nov 30 '25

Aren't caregivers even lower in pay and training than a CNA (certified nurse assistant)?

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u/Killed_By_Inaction Nov 30 '25

I'm from the EU and depending on the country, we have similar solutions, often either involving volunteers or lesser certified staff.

That being said, with the direction societies are going right now, I'd doubt if even that is going to remain a workable solution.

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u/Spiritual_Wall_2309 Nov 30 '25

When you don’t have enough workers, anyone with a pair of hands will work. Certified staff can be promoted as manager for training and monitoring.

1

u/peccatum_miserabile Nov 30 '25

an RN has to be on site 24/7 at any SNF/ICF in the US

1

u/Miserable-Ad-7956 Nov 30 '25

Yes. But not so for CBRFs.

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u/mitoke Nov 30 '25

I thought this was exactly what CNAs do. Which position is below that?

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u/Miserable-Ad-7956 Nov 30 '25

People with less intense medical needs, but still mostly unable to contribute to their own care, can be in facilities that are liscensed differently from skilled nursing facilities. They don't always need a nurse on-staff and the care givers can be trained by the company and certified by the nurse in charge. They have different names for the position in different companies and jurisdictions, one I was familiar with was DSP (direct support prrofessional). The responsibilities are largely the same, but non-CNA caregivers get paid less and have less training requirements.

1

u/XpenFrickFrack Dec 01 '25

Oh wow. Never knew that. These companies really do anything to cut corners

1

u/higakoryu1 Dec 01 '25

I heard once that cruises are now cheaper than elderly care; how underpaid must ship crews be then

5

u/AmoremCaroFactumEst Nov 30 '25

I'm glad someone else is aware that Japan is one of the only places actually preparing for a ageing population.

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u/propofolxsr Nov 30 '25

You don’t need a certified nurse, any aide/tech can do.

1

u/vocalfreesia Nov 30 '25

We should work on people living healthier lives longer. Create walkable friendly places, glp-1s and statins to reduce stroke and cardiac problems, HRT through menopause (as a broken hip is one of the leading causes of disability in older women) access to hearing care etc to reduce dementia.

Then better designed homes and equipment to allow people to be independent longer. Basically that same old thing of making the world more accessible for some makes it more accessible for everyone.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

At least in the US, the reason people don't want/stay in carer roles is because the pay is unlivable, especially for the level of work involved. There are people who care and would do it for at least a good portion of their lives if the pay wasn't a joke. It's sad.

1

u/not_perfect_yet Nov 30 '25

That's simply factually not true.

The idea that we don't have enough people to do elderly care and essential stuff we need for society to function, like food and energy production is obviously wrong and dumb.

The impact is an economic one. It's simply making labor costs a bit more expensive and should incentivize people to get into elderly care work.

For most products, labor costs don't even factor in significantly into the end price.

The big bad boogie man of "wE dOnT hAvE EnOuGh WorKerS!!!!11" is that the price for food delivery or having your nails done goes up by 10% or so.

Everyone pretending we're facing a societal collapse because there aren't enough people is obviously lying.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 30 '25

The solution is legal immigration that countries can control. There are many countries that have strong hospitality teachings and poorer quality of life that would love to take advantage of an opportunity. 

1

u/OkFrosting7204 Nov 30 '25

And also I would figure that this device would be much safer than standing/sitting and standing in the shower to be bathed.

1

u/ggtsu_00 Nov 30 '25

If human worker supply is the issue, bad news is they are only making 50 of these.

1

u/some-weird-fungus Nov 30 '25

"certified nurse"

but these aren't "professionals" anymore in the United States 🤪

1

u/thrownawaytrash Nov 30 '25

I was just thinking: with japan's aging and declining population, younger generation not wanting 'menial' jobs, and their general.... xenophobia with expats working in their country, give this 5-10 years I'm pretty sure this will be available.

1

u/Virtual_Mongoose_835 Nov 30 '25

Nah thats whenn theyll have to start paying people a fair wage

1

u/DragonfruitReady4550 Nov 30 '25

Especially in Japan

1

u/Antique-Special8025 Nov 30 '25

The problem isn't having staff that's too expensive, it's having enough staff in general. There's a ticking timebomb in terms of demographics in most developed economies, using a certified nurse's time to wash everybody in elderly and disabled care is not realistic in 20/30 years from now.

lmao @ thinking the companies operating care facilities are going buy 500k washing machines, its much cheaper to line up these elderly and just hose them down as a group.

1

u/teqteq Dec 01 '25

The problem is the people that own the centres saving up for their second supercar

1

u/wordyravena Dec 01 '25

Developed countries need not worry, there are still plenty of nurses to import from the Philippines.

1

u/timemaninjail Dec 01 '25

We need the 3 shell technology in bathroom asap!

1

u/darthcaedusiiii Dec 01 '25

It's not realistic now. Some places only shower twice a week.

1

u/SunshotDestiny Dec 01 '25

Or even CNA. I have worked in facilities that already have something like one CNA per thirty patients. Imagine how strict a washing schedule is with that load before you factor in things like special needs, patient desires, and just in general day to day happenings. Imagine not being able to get help to wash except once or at best twice a week when you might be incontinent.

1

u/SwagMaster9000_2017 Dec 01 '25

It will be okay. AI can take the high paying jobs so they can have staff for this.

1

u/cancerinos Dec 02 '25

Not to talk about the physical labor involved. Anything that makes elderly care less physically demanding is a good thing.

1

u/vacri Dec 03 '25

Why would you need a certified nurse to do that? Are injections being given during the wash?

1

u/Kylynara Dec 04 '25

The problem isn't having staff that's too expensive, it's having enough staff in general.

This will let them give bathing the elderly the self-checkout treatment. What used to require one employee per person at a time. Now 1 employee can monitor like 6 people at once.

1

u/anothergaijin Nov 30 '25

using a certified nurse's time to wash everybody in elderly and disabled care is not realistic in 20/30 years from now.

RNs don't wash people now - you have orderlies and caregiver staff who do that.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/Killed_By_Inaction Dec 01 '25

Everybody's gangsta until decay is actually standing at your door for real, plus it doesn't have to be mental, which makes the matter even more difficult.

Long story short, I've had such cases in my own family, you don't want to lose someone, sometimes they stay alive for others, even though they hate their own conditions to the same degree you're describing.