Assistive robots for nursing care Available products and research fields

In the media more and more can be read about care robots as a possible solution for the current lack of qualified care staff but often without differentiating this term any further. This often leads to the assumption that robots are already able to take over physical care tasks with patients; however, current solutions primarily have assistive functions. The goal of this article is to elaborate for which application areas products already exist and which topics current research projects are dealing with based on concrete examples. On the one hand, assistive robots are presented that are designed to support staff in senior care institutions and hospitals. On the other hand, assistive robots are presented that support older persons or persons in need of care in their daily lives. These observations show that existing products either provide only reduced interaction capabilities or have only limited autonomy or intelligence. Assistive robots providing more extensive, also physical interaction abilities and complex autonomous behavior are still a research topic.