What are the requirements for a good care-giving robot?

Although there are several models of care-giver robots available to consumers, they are not as common in households as one might expect. This is due both to their high cost and because they are not yet capable of replacing human supervision.

Robots are not very commonly seen in today's market because of their high price. The Snuggling Ifbot, a robot designed to stimulate the minds of seniors, sells at a cost of 576,000 yen (5,600 dollars) in Japan. [20] The Wakamaru, a nurse bot, sells for about 1 million yen (approx. US $14,250). [21] Even though the prices are cheaper than hiring actual full time nurses, because the robots do not replace human companionship completely and nurses might still be needed sometimes, their prices need to be lower for the robots to be more common in markets. A more affordable price range would be about twice that of a computer (about $1,800). Since 2000, more than half the families in the United States own at least one computer, [23] so even though the price isn't still cheap enough for every family to be able to buy the robot easily, it should be the goal price for care taking robots.

Elderly people are usually bothered with two problems, one is their declining health, and the other is loneliness. Robots that are created to take care of elderly patients need to be able to perform certain special tasks to be sellable in market, such as protecting the elderly from injuring themselves while performing daily chores. Older people are more prone to injury from lifting heavy objects. [22] A robot designed to take care of the elderly should be able to assist them with such tasks. Many elderly patients also use walking sticks or other walking aids; these can sometimes be difficult for the senior to use, especially if the elderly have trouble picking up walking sticks. A care taking robot designed for the elderly should be able to act as a walking aid in such situations. Also, because elderly people sometimes suffer from bad memory or an inability to call for help if they are injured, the robot should be able to recognize ways to get the elder home, or to the nearest hospital.

Not all elderly people have family companions always available; their children might be busy working. To keep seniors entertained, the care-taking robot also needs to be able to tell jokes, talk, play board games and hold simple conversations. Elders like to feel they are cared for, so robots need to be able to ask the elder about how they are feeling, and remind them in a human-like voice about their regular activities, such as taking medicine.

Today's older generation didn't grow up using many electronic devices, the robot should be very easy to operate. Complicated input ways such as typing commands on keyboards should not be used, instead, voice commands combined with simple buttons or touch screen input would be better. The robot also should vocally speak, display on screen the commands and wait for a conformation before it executes them. It also needs to be able to detect when its power is low and self-charge so the patient wouldn't need to worry about recharging the robot.