THE RISE OF ROBOT PETS AND DISCOURSES OF TECHNO-COMPANIONSHIP IN LATER LIFE

Abstract Robot pets of varying degrees of sophistication are advertised as ideal companions for older adults, with claims that they support their emotional and cognitive needs. A new generation of robot pets (e.g., Lovot) is emerging equipped with internet connections, recognition software, surveillance capacity, and AI platforms to mimic desired aspects of animal-human relationships. This paper draws upon promotional materials gathered at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 and interviews with robot designers, to probe what the robotization of human-animal relationships tells us about shifting notions of companionship through the life course. The argument is that robot pets are inscribed within discourses that instrumentalize human-animal-technology entanglements and position digital technologies as idealized solutions to perceived age-related problems. Theoretical ideas from animals studies add a creative dimension to aging studies to explore what the societal enthusiasm for robot pets reveals about our understanding of the lived material and relational worlds of older adults.


TECHNOLOGY AND AGING FUTURES: DISCOVERING THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW (CES) 2019
Chair: Stephen Katz, Trent University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada The growing field of technology and aging or gerontechnology has largely been considered from a health perspective on technological intervention to ameliorate conditions of isolation, disconnection, inactivity, and loneliness, as well as provide efficient alert systems, transportation coordination, and emergency services. Contesting the image of a 'digital divide' separating younger from older generations, the recreational industry has also produced a seniors market of technological games, toys, apps, exercises, and social media. The four papers in this symposium, however, are individual critical reflections by a group of social scientists who visited the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2019 (Las Vegas) as part of an ethnographic project about the politics of the technical turn in gerontological studies. In particular, the authors gathered evidence from the CES to support their interests in four trends: a) The collecting, aggregating, and sharing of personal data by home surveillance, artificial intelligence monitoring, and self-tracking systems for commercial, insurance and work-place purposes, b) The popularization of healthy lifestyles based on technical and exclusionary models of 'smart', 'fit', and 'optimal' standards, c) The technical rhetoric that infuses designs for efficiency, speed, and convenience with anti-aging and ageist ideologies, d) The challenges to older people to manage their lives against the health risks, interventions, and expectations posed by technology-driven austerity programs. The papers have in common their creative interpretations of CES materials and shared concern about the many older groups whose insufficient access, skill, and resources will deny them participation in the technological imaginary of aging futures.

PRIVATE PARTS: AGING, AI, AND THE ETHICS OF CONSENT IN SUBSCRIPTION-BASED ECONOMIES
Kim Sawchuk 1 , 1. Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada This paper explores Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a technological design offered to assist elder-care based on tracking individual behavior amassed in data bases that are given predictive value through algorithm-identified normative patterns. Examples are drawn from ethnographic research conducted at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, including document analysis of product promotions and interviews conducted with company representatives, supplemented by interviews with older adults. The paper focuses on the ethical dilemmas of privacy, security, consent, and identity in home surveillance systems and financialization of personal data in AI subscription-based services. Theoretically the argument, informed by recent discussions on the datafication of self and quantified aging, emphasizes that such a subscription-based economy exploits older individuals by sharing their lifestyle profiles, health information, economic status, and consumer preferences within powerful corporate networks such as Google and Amazon. Conclusions question how the promise of AI is being tied to the future of population aging.

Constance Lafontaine 1 , 1. Concordia University, Montreal, Québec, Canada
Robot pets of varying degrees of sophistication are advertised as ideal companions for older adults, with claims that they support their emotional and cognitive needs. A new generation of robot pets (e.g., Lovot) is emerging equipped with internet connections, recognition software, surveillance capacity, and AI platforms to mimic desired aspects of animal-human relationships. This paper draws upon promotional materials gathered at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 and interviews with robot designers, to probe what the robotization of human-animal relationships tells us about shifting notions of companionship through the life course. The argument is that robot pets are inscribed within discourses that instrumentalize human-animal-technology entanglements and position digital technologies as idealized solutions to perceived age-related problems. Theoretical ideas from animals studies add a creative dimension to aging studies to explore what the societal enthusiasm for robot pets reveals about our understanding of the lived material and relational worlds of older adults.

SMART LIFE, FITNESS, WELLNESS, AND THE PROMISE OF DIGITAL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
Stephen Katz 1 , 1. Trent University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Based on the author's ethnographic observation and collection of product media kits, videos, and photographs from the Consumer Electronics Show 2019, this paper critiques the ways in which positive lifestyle concepts such as 'smart life', 'fitness' and 'wellness' are designed within products aimed at senior marketing to shape the older consumers as composites of health problems open to technological intervention. However helpful sensor clothing, home surveillance cameras, self-tracking appliances, robotic companions, or digital mobility devices may be, they are also opportunities to capitalize on shared personal data and subscription-based monitoring services. Discussion links these concepts to wider concerns about algorithimic standardization of health risks for older people, healthcare austerity programs, and social inequalities based on technical markers of successful aging and privileged life-course trajectories

REPRESENTATIONS OF OLD AGE IN THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS WORLD Mireia Fernández Ardèvol 1 , 1. Open University of Catalonia / Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
This paper examines representations of old age at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019, identifying how explicit product discourses identify later life with Fourth Age dependency, fragility, decline, and care, as is the case with the home and companion-robot industry. While designers take a Fourth Age approach to the 'senior market', they liken their products with those for children, as both old and young are stereotyped as requiring surveillance based on their assumed weaknesses. Thus the technological depictions of old age neglect the diversities of older populations and reinforce dominant ageist and homogenizing narratives about older life as disempowering, passive, and digitally divided. Conclusions question why technological design aimed at helping older individuals are uninformed and misconceived about the realities of later life and what recommendations may be offered to resolve this resulting ageism. The past decade has seen rapid growth in conversations around and progress towards fostering a more transparent, open, and cumulative science. Best practices are being codified and established across fields relevant to gerontology from cancer science to psychological science. Many of the areas currently under development are of particular relevance to gerontologists such as best practices in balancing open science with participant confidentiality or best practices for preregistering archival, longitudinal data analysis. The present panel showcases one of the particular strengths of the open science movement -the contribution that early career researchers are making to these ongoing conversations on best practices. Early career researchers have the opportunity to blend their expertise with technology, their knowledge of their disciplines, and their vision for the future in shaping these conversations. In this panel, three early career researchers share their insights. Pfund presents an introduction to preregistration and the value of preregistration from the perspective of "growing up" within the open science movement. Seaman discusses efforts in and tool for transparency and reproducibility in neuroimaging of aging research. Ludwig introduces the idea of registered reports as a particularly useful form of publication for researchers who use longitudinal methods, and/or those who work with hard-to-access samples. The symposium will include time for the audience to engage the panel in questions and discussion about current efforts in and future directions for transparent, open, and cumulative science efforts in gerontology. While a novel concept for many, pre-registration is an outlet growing in prevalence that allows researchers to systematically work through future studies from start to finish by laying out research questions, relevant hypotheses, and study design. "Growing up" as a researcher with Open Science, I never felt that pre-registration limited me, my ability to think and ask questions, or any opportunities to explore new ideas with old data. Instead, it strengthened me as a researcher by giving me a methodical perspective to take when considering why I needed to ask a question and how I planned to answer it. In this talk, I will define what pre-registration is and discuss my experiences with it as an early career researcher. Furthermore, I will present different concerns and conceptions people have about it and expound upon the inherent benefits it provides to both critical thinking and study design.

TRANSPARENCY AND REPRODUCIBILITY IN THE NEUROIMAGING OF AGING
Kendra L. Seaman 1 , 1. Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States In concert with broader efforts to increase the reliability of social science research, there are several efforts to increase transparency and reproducibility in neuroimaging. The large-scale nature of neuroimaging data and constantly evolving analysis tools can make transparency challenging. I will describe emerging tools used to document, organize, and share behavioral and neuroimaging data. These tools include: (1) the preregistration of neuroimaging data sets