On the Remarkable Advancement of Assistive Robotics in Human-Robot Interaction-Based Health-Care Applications: An Exploratory Overview of the Literature

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of technology, assistive robotic entities have arisen as indispensable instruments within diverse Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)-based health-care applications. By integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into these assistive robotic entities, they gain the capacity to autonomously perceive, engage in sophisticated reasoning, and execute actions within highly dynamic and complex environments. In light of these impressive achievements, this paper highlights a three-stage exploratory overview of the literature on the remarkable advancement of assistive robotics in HRI-based health-care applications. The first stage initiates an assessment of assistive robotics spanning historical epochs from ancient to modern times. Following this, the second stage comprehensively explores assistive robotics investigations in the realm of HRI-based health-care with its four sub-fields including rehabilitation, geriatric-care, pediatric-care, and nursing. Finally, the third stage entails a thorough analysis of the common challenges encountered in these pertinent investigations and provides a set of recommendations. This comprehensive paper not only provides an abundance of studies for each concept, method, and application in HRI, but it also presents their theoretical foundations, strengths, gaps, critical challenges, and recommendations. The results of the conducted exploratory overview shed light on the noteworthy prominence of assistive robotic entities within the HRI-based health-care field. The acquired findings emphasize the positive impact of such entities on human health, affirming their pivotal role in contributing to the advancement and effectiveness of health-care interventions. Furthermore, this paper provides an opportunity for scholars and researchers actively engaged in the pertinent field to obtain comprehensive additional insights, serving as a guiding resource for their academic endeavors.

Keywords:

• Artificial intelligence
• geriatric-care
• health-care
• nursing
• pediatric-care
• rehabilitation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by The Turkish Council of Higher Education [YÖK 100/2000 Doctorate Scholarship] and The Scientific and Research Council of Turkiye [TÜBİTAK 2211-C Doctorate Scholarship].

Notes on contributors

Fatma Gongor

Fatma Göngör received the BSc degree in Computer Engineering from The Melikşah University, Kayseri, Turkiye, in 2015. She had her MSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering department at Adana Science and Technology University, Adana, Turkiye in 2018. She is currently continuing her doctoral research at the same university.

Onder Tutsoy

Önder Tutsoy was born in Turkiye, graduated from The University of Fırat in Turkiye. He did his MSc in Advanced Control and System Engineering and PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Manchester in England in 2009 and 2013 respectively.