Robotic technology is one of the best resources for battling COVID-19
[35]. Robots are being used to move people out of high-risk situations, including: (1) to disinfect hospitals and urban streets, as mobile UV or spraying robots
[36], (2) to prepare orders, stock shelves and fulfill orders at retail stores, warehouses, and perform inventory checks
[37], and (3) the delivery of groceries, food, and other products
[38][39]. For example, robots are also being used for meal delivery to those in quarantine, including monitoring to check that people are following quarantine enforcement
[40], advising people to maintain social distancing
[41], and autonomously delivering supplies, such as water or medication to dedicated spots in hospital rooms, or by delivering blood samples to the lab for analysis
[42].
3.1. Socially Assistive Robots Used during COVID-19
In this section, we investigate Research Question 2: Which SARs were deployed during the pandemic for this vulnerable demographic? Herein, we discuss commercially available SARs used during the COVID-19 pandemic with older adults. A major limitation during the pandemic was that few research robots (or robots under development) were able to be deployed in long-term care homes, due to lockdowns and restrictions. We, therefore, focused our survey on commercially available SARs. In the future, we anticipate seeing more HRI research as facilities open up again. Furthermore, in this section, we investigate Research Question 3: What type of help and tasks did the robots provide older adults and their caregivers? We identify the specific applications of SARs during the pandemic to help the older population and their caregivers. A summary of the commercially available robots, along with their main functions during the pandemic, is provided in Table 1. The robots all have multimodal communication abilities, and were able to perform multiple functions, including: (1) health monitoring (routinely checking vital signs and alerting healthcare professionals of any abnormalities), (2) screening of visitors (checking for masks and measuring temperature upon entering facilities), (3) social facilitation (enabling video communication between residents and families or healthcare staff), (4) activity facilitation (singing, dancing), (5) providing information and reminders for tasks (weather and food menu, scheduled activities), and (6) cognitive and physical training activities (memory games, exercises).
Table 1. Summary of surveyed commercial socially assistive robots (SARs) deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic with older adults.
Robot Name, Company/Developer |
Main Features |
Environment/Location |
Function during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
Reference |
Pepper, by Softbank Robotics  Reprinted with permission from ASBLab, University of Toronto. 2021 |
1.2 m-tall mobile humanoid robot with two arms, a head, and a torso with a touchscreen tablet Facial and mask recognition, natural language processing |
Deployed in hospitals, elderly care homes. Japan, France, Britain |
Health monitoring Screening Activity facilitation Providing information Cognitive and physical training |
[47][48] |
Temi, by Robotemi  Reprinted with permission from Robotemi. 2021 |
1 m-tall mobile robot, with a touchscreen tablet for a head Facial recognition, natural language processing |
Deployed in hospitals, elderly care homes. Israel, Germany, United States, China, South Korea, Hong Kong |
Health monitoring Screening Social facilitation |
[49][50] |
Sanbot Elf, by Qihan Technology  Reprinted with permission from SARA Robotics. 2021 |
1 m-tall mobile robot with two arms, a head, and a torso with a touchscreen tablet Facial and speech recognition |
Deployed in elderly care homes and hospitals. Netherlands, Italy |
Health monitoring Social facilitation Activity facilitation Providing information, and reminding of tasks |
[51] |
Lio, by F&P Robotics  Reprinted with permission from F&P Robotics. 2021 |
1 m-tall mobile robot with a non-touch display on its base, and one 6-degree-of-freedom (DoF) robotic arm Facial and speech recognition, Object manipulation |
Deployed in elderly care homes and hospitals. Switzerland, Germany |
Health monitoring Activity facilitation Providing information, and reminding of tasks Physical training |
[52][53] |
James, by Zorabots  Reprinted with permission from Zorabots. 2021 |
1.2 m-tall mobile robot with a touchscreen tablet for a head Facial and speech recognition Tele-operation features Multi-robot coordination |
Deployed in elderly care homes. Belgium |
Health monitoring Social facilitation |
[54][55] |
ARI, by PAL Robotics  Reprinted with permission from PAL Robotics. 2021 |
1.65 m mobile humanoid robot with two arms, a head, and a torso with a touchscreen tablet Facial recognition, natural language processing Connects to other smart devices |
Deployed in elderly care homes. Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland |
Health monitoring Screening Activity facilitation Social facilitation Providing information, and reminding of tasks Cognitive and physical training |
[56][57] |
Misty, by Misty Robotics  Reprinted with permission from Misty Robotics. 2021 |
36 cm mobile robot with 2 arms Facial and speech recognition |
Deployed in homes of the elderly. United States, Spain |
Health monitoring Screening Activity facilitation Providing information and reminding of tasks |
[58][59] |
Pepper, by Softbank Robotics, is a 1.2 m-tall mobile humanoid robot with two arms, a head, and a torso with a touchscreen tablet
[48]. Pepper is expressive through gestures and voice, and is able to communicate using natural language processing. Pepper’s main strengths are that it uses an open source deep learning mask detection software, adapted from AIZoo Tech’s FaceMaskDetection, to first detect people’s faces and then determine if they are wearing masks
[60]. It can verbally ask questions from a COVID-19 screening questionnaire, and give directives, such as to sanitize hands and maintain social distancing, which is useful in elderly care homes, where they have to routinely screen visitors and care staff
[47]. Finding ways to keep the elderly safe in hospitals and care homes has become a priority during the pandemic. Since Pepper is mobile and people can communicate with it verbally, rather than using its touchscreen tablet, this helps to reduce the risk of viral infection
[47]. The tablet can be used for providing information and instructions to individuals. Pepper can also perform cognitive and physical training activities
[47].
Temi (short for “technology for me”), by Robotemi, is a 1 m-tall mobile robot, with a touchscreen tablet for a head
[50]. Temi communicates through conversational assistance via Amazon Alexa or its own technology, which includes natural language processing, and speech-to-text/text-to-speech engines. It also has facial recognition capabilities
[50][61]. Initially designed as a companion to seniors living in their own homes, it has now been deployed to help with COVID-19 outbreaks in elderly care homes
[49] to help minimize human-to-human contact. The robot’s main benefits are that it can perform health monitoring and screening and has been outfitted with an IR camera for temperature taking, and a tray that can carry hand sanitizers
[50][61]. Furthermore, Temi will also be equipped in the future to be able to detect heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, respiratory and heart rate waveforms using a 4D intelligent RF sensor developed by Vayyar Imaging. Then, in real time, the vital signs and COVID-19 infection risk level of a person will be determined and presented on the robot’s screen
[62]. Temi can conduct telepresence sessions through an integrated app, allowing residents in care homes to maintain their social networks during lockdowns and when limited visitors are allowed. In April 2020, Connected Living, a social impact company that serves senior living communities worldwide by providing technology solutions to create connected communities for seniors, partnered with Robotemi for the deployment of the robot. They are deploying the robots in Maplewood Senior Living, in the United States, to act as a companion and improve the well-being of the residents through social facilitation, such as by providing telehealth calls to residents or connecting remotely with family members, and to help stop the spread of COVID-19, by bringing hand sanitizer, asking residents to wash their hands, and taking temperature readings from visitors
[63].
Sanbot Elf, by Qihan Technology, is a 1 m-tall mobile robot with two arms, a head, and a torso with a touchscreen tablet
[64]. The robot has facial and speech recognition capabilities. The main benefits of this robot are that it can host a medical service platform developed by SARA Robotics that can cooperate with the medical care platforms of hospitals, and elderly care homes
[65]. SARA Robotics has deployed this robot in twelve care facilities and hospitals in the Netherlands to improve quality of life and provide support to alleviate caregiver staffing shortages
[51]. The robot acts as a support to elderly people suffering from dementia by providing cognitive and physical exercises, games, music therapy, and performing repetitive tasks, such as reminding staff and residents of upcoming events
[51]. SARA Robotics is planning to expand the functionalities of the robot, introducing autonomous navigation and home automation, where the robot will be able to detect falls using its cameras
[66]. The SARA Home system allows caregivers to provide a personalized profile and health plan for every client. SARA Robotics is continuing to gather feedback from care facilities as to how to alleviate the work burden on health care professionals, and how to improve quality of life for residents. At the beginning of the pandemic, six Sanbot Elf robots were deployed in the Circolo Hospital in Varese, Italy, a region at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak
[67], where the robots helped to keep patients connected to healthcare staff through its video chat capabilities.
Lio, by F&P Robotics, is a 1 m-tall mobile robot with a non-touch display on its base and one six-degrees-of-freedom (DoF) robotic arm with manipulation capabilities
[53]. Lio’s main strengths are that it also has a multifunctional robotic arm with a gripper that can pick up small objects, such as water bottles, and transport them on its platform; the arm can also be used for disinfecting tasks
[53]. It also has facial and speech recognition capabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lio has been adapted to perform disinfection tasks by grasping a UV-C light that it carries and placing it over the object to be disinfected. Lio can perform health monitoring by detecting people with an elevated body temperature using its IR camera placed on its gripper
[52]. If an elevated temperature is detected, the robot alerts medical personnel. Lio has four embedded processing units, so data can be stored locally on the robot, without the need for cloud computing, to ensure data privacy. The robot can also perform physical activity facilitation, provide information and reminders of tasks
[52][53].
James, by Zorabots, is a 1.2 m-tall mobile robot with a touchscreen tablet for a head
[55]. James has facial and speech recognition capabilities. The robot is being used in elderly care homes in Belgium during the COVID-19 pandemic to help residents keep in contact with family and loved ones through video calls on its tablet
[54][68]. Its main strengths are that it incorporates the Zora software application that can be used to control and coordinate multiple James robots; it also lets a user tele-operate the robot via local network or cloud connection
[69]. The James robot is part of ReMember-Me, a smart system deployed across countries in Europe and Latin America which aids in the prevention and detection of cognitive decline among older adults
[70]. The robot monitors a person’s health status, and engages the elderly in personalized cognitive activities, as well as promotes social inclusion among older adults
[70]. The system includes sleep, activity, and mood assessment, short daily exercises, and socialization
[70].
ARI, by Pal Robotics, is a 1.65 m-tall mobile humanoid robot with two arms, a head, and a torso with a touchscreen tablet
[57]. ARI is able to communicate via natural language processing, and has object and face recognition
[57]. Its main benefits are that it can display multimodal behavior through gaze direction, speech, and gestures to directly interact with people in bi-directional communication. ARI can also connect with other smart devices, wearable sensors, and applications to monitor the health and well-being of older adults
[56]. Due to the pandemic, ARI has been modified to include an IR camera in its head to detect temperature. In spring and summer of 2021, ARI will be taking part in several pilot projects with older people living in their own homes, or in residential care homes, in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Ireland. Pilot 1 consisted of four to five participants between 70 and 80 years old over a four week period, at Clinica Humana in Mallorca, Spain in May 2021
[71][72]. ARI was deployed to detect temperature, provide reminders, entertain and connect to others through video calls. The next pilot will be in residential homes, where ARI will act as a companion robot, and with the help of a psychologist, will be used as a complementary tool to promote engagement in cognitive games such as Tic-Tac-Toe
[71][72].
Misty, by Misty Robotics, is a 36 cm-tall mobile robot with two arms
[59]. Misty has facial and speech recognition capabilities. During the pandemic, the robot has been integrated with an IR camera in its visor, and can be equipped with UV lamps for disinfection
[73]. In addition to non-contact temperature sensing, the robot can ask health screening questions
[58]. The results are recorded and available through an admin portal, and texted or emailed to designated care personnel, which is an asset of this robot
[58]. In Spain, Misty is being used to augment the abilities of human care providers whose job it was to visit those aging-in-place in their own homes, by allowing them to remotely check in more frequently than what is possible with home visits, even with pandemic quarantining regulations. Misty keeps track of the health of the elderly through asking them questions about daily habits such as sleep quality, medication taking, and diet
[74]. Another of its strengths is that Misty also helps address loneliness in the elderly by providing companionship through dancing, telling jokes, and playing music.