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Medical robotics 189

(2) manipulators service, (3) telepresence robots, (4) rehabilitation robots,
(5) health monitoring robots, (6) reminders, (7) entertainment robots,
(8) domestic robots, and (9) fall detection/prevention robots. All these
robotic types have been applied to eight key problem areas in
aged care, namely social isolation, dependent living, physical or cognitive
impairment, mobility problems, poor health monitoring, lack of recrea-
tion, memory problems, and fall problems. Fig. 33 shows a collection of
companion robots used to solve previous healthcare problems as they
have a social effect, such as activating communication. Most of them
are designed in the shape of an animal (cat, dog, rabbit, seal, etc.), but
some are humanoid robots. They have the ability to listen, respond to
speech, talk in a few circumstances, recognize touch, and detect sound
and light. Companion robots are widely used in social isolation problems,
but not so much in the physical/mental problem area. In a few cases they

Fig. 33 Pictures of companion robots. Reproduced with permission from Shishehgar, M.,
Kerr, D., Blake, J., 2018. A systematic review of research into how robotic technology can
help older people, Smart Health doi: 10.1016/j.smhl.2018.03.002, Copyright Elsevier, 2020.