Although technology and computation power have become more and more present in our daily lives, we have yet to see the same tendency in robotics applied to health care. In this work we focused on the study of four distinct applications of robotic technology to health care, named Robotic Assisted Surgery, Robotics in Rehabilitation, Prosthetics and Companion Robotic Systems. We identified the main roadblocks that are limiting the progress of such applications by an extensive examination of recent reports. Based on the limitations of the practical use of current robotic technology for health care we proposed a general modularization approach for the conception and implementation of specific robotic devices. The main conclusions of this review are: (i) There is a clear need of the adaptation of robotic technology (closed loop) to the user, so that robotics can be widely accepted and used in the context of heath care; (ii) For all studied robotic technologies cost is still prohibitive and limits their wide use. The reduction of costs influences technology acceptability, thus innovation by using cheaper computer systems and sensors are relevant and should be taken into account in the implementation of robotic systems.

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Abstract:The reduction of cognitive tasks brought about by new developments in service-robots' collaboration with humans in working environments has given rise to new challenges as to how to address safety issues. This paper presents insights from biology, cognitive/neural sciences and sociology that can conquer these new challenges. The main focus lies in sociological variables that ensure safe human-robot interaction in working environments rather than addressing biological ones (avoiding bodily harm) or purely cognitive ones (avoiding any signals that are outside the human's sensory comfort zones). We will present an approach on how to integrate behavioral patterns into the robotic system in order to prevent the problem of reduced cognition in relation to essential features, which are necessary for carrying out this pattern in the context of a human-robot interaction with non-humanoid robots (which is the most typical design of robots used in work environments).

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