# Care robots could ease elder care and hospital workloads

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/care-robots-could-ease-elder-care-and-hospital-workloads/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Fei-Fei Li](https://realalpha.app/builders/fei-fei-li/) · Fei-Fei Li is a professor of computer science at Stanford and AI pioneer. · Co-founded World Labs, whose Marble product generates persistent, high-fidelity 3D worlds from images, video or text.
- Host: [Andrew Huberman](https://realalpha.app/people/andrew-huberman/) · Host, Huberman Lab
- Show: Huberman Lab
- Episode: [Using AI to Increase Your Intelligence & Enrich Humanity | Dr. Fei-Fei Li](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/), Aug 10, 2026
- Moment: 1:37:55 to 1:40:49 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/care-robots-could-ease-elder-care-and-hospital-workloads/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=5875

## Quote

> “We know that on a given shift, **nurses walk miles** to fetch things, get medicine.”
> — [Fei-Fei Li](https://realalpha.app/builders/fei-fei-li/) at [1:40:19](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6019) · Huberman Lab

## Takeaways

1. Li wants help with physical caregiving while keeping family responsibility intact.
2. Robots could assist older people living alone and support wildfire response.
3. Nurses spend miles walking to fetch supplies and medicine.

## About this segment

Fei-Fei Li sees robots helping with physical caregiving, wildfire response and hospital work, without replacing family or clinicians. She expects robotics to take decades to mature.

From “Using AI to Increase Your Intelligence & Enrich Humanity | Dr. Fei-Fei Li”, Aug 10, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[1:37:59](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=5879) 12 months is a little bit too fast for robotics. Two years, three years? I would say if we zoom out, 30 years. 30 years, okay. I'm not saying that's the first time robots hit the street. We already have robotic cars. I'm just saying it takes longer for especially a hardware-also-involved technology to manifest. But I would say, hopefully in you and my lifetime, I would love to see robots being part of our society, helping us.

[1:38:32](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=5912) For example, I'm a single grown-up child taking care of two very advanced-aged and very sick parents. And they happen not to speak English either. The amount of work I do is incredible, right? So I would love to have help. It doesn't take away family's responsibility. It doesn't take away love. It doesn't take away the necessary communication. But the physical labor would really, certain part, I would love to get help.

[1:39:07](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=5947) We live in the state of California. What is the one thing we all experience? Traffic. High taxes. A certain part of California doesn't have traffic, but wildfires. Oh, wow. Yes. Right. Who is fighting these wildfires? Putting humans in danger of rescue, natural disaster is not a great idea, right? So my family and my parents happen to have enough means, but I was just thinking an elderly living alone, how do they go get grocery?

[1:39:45](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=5985) How do they go get medicine? Now, there might be some shipping we are starting to see, but what if they want to go, you know, for a walk or want to go to a park? So there are just so many things. Oh, by the way, you're in the School of Medicine. We don't have an excess of caretakers. We have a shortage of caretakers. Our nurses are deeply fatigued and overworked. I was literally in the hospital with my dad for the past month and just watching the amount of work nurses do.

[1:40:24](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6024) We know that on a given shift, nurses walk miles to fetch things, get medicine. There's just so many. Can you imagine robots helping, right? Like, so there are just so many ways that our society can be structured and can benefit from help. Oh, I love these examples.