The home healthcare industry is under growing pressure of delivering services more effectively within its already-stretched capacity. Especially, providing efficient, cost effective homecare for the growing number of older adults will require major changes in ways providers gather information from and deliver care services to care recipients. As many homebound older adults have been isolated in the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for innovations in the home healthcare industry is becoming more urgent.
Robots are in a unique position to monitor, assess/evaluate, and prevent situations that could put older adults at-risk. Research in robots, especially assistive robots and companion robots, has been attracting growing interest in recent years. Robot-based homecare technologies can record health-related data with advanced sensors, and then automatically processthe data and provide personalized advice or automated actions. For healthcare workers, these technologies allow for more comprehensive monitoring and free them to address the more complex aspects of their work. These technologies also make possible individualized care that promotes independence and safety of the care recipients.
The goal of this special issue is to provide readers an overview of the state of the art in robot-assisted home healthcare, identify and promote the future research directionsin this emerging field. By presenting the achievement and future opportunities in this multidisciplinary research area that crosscuts robotics, automation, AI and healthcare, this special issue will have great impact on the robotics and automation research community.
