A companion robot is a robot created to create real or apparent companionship for human beings. They offer a variety of functions, such as monitoring the home remotely, communicating with people, or waking people up in the morning. Their aim is to perform a wide array of tasks including educational functions, home security, diary duties, entertainment and message delivery services, etc. The idea of companionship with robots has already existed on science fictions of s, like R2-D2.
Starting from the late 20th century, companion robots started to came out on reality, mostly as robotic pets. Besides entertainment purposes, interactive robots were also introduced as a personal service robot for elderly care around Through machine learning, they can analyze speech, tone, and facial expressions to detect whether you're happy, stressed, or feeling a bit down.
The companion robots try to interact with users. They gathers information of users based on their interactions, and make the feedbacks. This procedure slightly varies based on their specific roles. For example, social companion robots make some simple conversations, while pet companion robots mimics as they are real pets.
Companion robots can perform a variety of tasks and they are produced in a specialized manner according to their purpose or target audience in order to increase convenience and end user satisfaction. Social companion robots are designed to provide companionship and be a solution for unwanted solitude. They often mimic adult human, child or pet behaviours appealing to the user base. Assistive companion robots are aimed at people who require constant care because of age, disability or rehabilitation purposes.
Such robots can help disadvantaged users with their daily tasks, act as reminders e. Assistive companion robots reduce the intensity of labour that should be performed by caretakers, nurses and legal guardians. Educational companion robots perform tutorship for students, regardless of their ages, and can teach desired subjects with activities tailored for the user such as interactive assignments and games.
