Japan is increasingly turning to service robots to address labor shortages caused by an aging population.

The country’s service robot market is expected to nearly triple by 2030, reaching ¥400 billion ($2.7 billion).

With projections of a labor shortfall of 11 million by 2040 and nearly 40% of the population aged 65 or older by 2065, robots are filling critical gaps, Tech Crunch has reported.

For example, Skylark, Japan’s largest table service restaurant chain, uses 3,000 cat-eared robots to assist with food delivery, with workers like Yasuko Tagawa relying on robotic help for half of their tasks.

Written by B.C. Begley