Companion robot
A companion robot is a robot created for interacting with humans in order to provide companionship, emotional support, and assistance with tasks. Companionship can take many forms including physical contact, verbal communication, and emotional support. Some of these robots can be used for other purposes, for example, in the field of artificial intelligence, where their functionality can be used as a research assistant. In general, companion robots are designed to meet the needs of humans while making them as comfortable as possible.
Robots built for companionship typically possess a set of basic cognitive skills, such as memory, attention, coordination, learning and empathy. However, the human's interaction with a companion robot can be limited by the robot's lacking natural language abilities and limitations of the robot's physical or software components. For example, many robots can't take care of their own needs, even though they have human-like cognitive abilities and the means to manipulate their environment. They may also be incapable of responding to emergencies, such as a fire, burglary or injury.
When designing a companion robot, it's important to consider the responses it should have in such scenarios. For example, a companion bot connected to the internet could notify a trusted friend of the user or a help provider when the user becomes unexpectedly unresponsive due to a gas leak, injury, heart attack or stroke and potentially save lives.