Robot companions for older adults: the costs

A companion robot for an older adult costs between $160 and about $840 in the first year, if you count only products you can order today. At the low end, a robot cat from Joy for All is $159.99 once. ElliQ, a talking companion for the table, is $249 to start plus $49 to $59 a month. Robots for senior living communities are priced by quote or by the hour.

We wrote this for families and activity directors. If you want robots sorted by the job they do for a community, read our other guide, Robots for senior living.

The kinds of companion robot

A tabletop companion that talks

ElliQ by Intuition Robotics sits on a table and talks with one person. The maker says it is made for adults aged 60 and older who live alone or spend most of the day alone.

ElliQ is leased through a membership. The membership page lists a one-time fee of $249, and then $59 a month, or $588 for a year, or $936 for two years. The first year on the annual plan therefore costs $837. ElliQ needs power and Wi-Fi, and the maker ships and supports it only in the United States and for English speakers. The maker also states that it is not an emergency device.

Robot pets

A robot pet is made to be stroked and held. Joy for All sells a companion cat for $159.99 that purrs and responds to touch and motion, and a companion pup for $179.99 that barks and wags. You pay once for either of them, and each runs on four C batteries.

PARO is a soft robot seal with sensors for touch, light, sound, temperature and posture. Its maker offers it to hospitals and extended care facilities where live animals are difficult to bring in. The PARO site shows no price, so a community has to ask for a quote.

Mobile home robots

Robots that drive around a private home and keep a person company are announced often, but in November 2026 we could not confirm one on open sale in the United States with a public price, so none is in the table below. If a seller offers you one, ask for the monthly fee and what happens to the robot if the company stops the service.

A robot with a person behind it, for communities

Starlife Bella is a humanoid service robot with a friendly face and a chest display on a wheeled base. It is for senior living communities and is not sold to private homes.

Price, who it is for, and what it needs

Prices checked in November 2026. They change often; check the linked pages.

How much does an elderly care robot cost?

For a private home, plan for $160 to $180 for a robot pet with no further cost, or about $840 in the first year for ElliQ and $588 in each year after that on the annual plan. For a community, the cost depends on the model, and PARO is sold by quote. Starlife Bella costs $10 to $20 an hour, and that price includes the robot pilot, the driving and the maintenance, so a community that books two hours every weekday pays roughly $100 to $200 a week.

No robot in this guide gives physical care, so its cost comes on top of the cost of care.

What the evidence says about loneliness

The research is encouraging, but it is early. A meta-analysis in The Gerontologist (Mehrabi and Ghezelbash, 2025) pooled 19 studies with 1,083 older adults and found that social robots reduced loneliness. The reduction was larger for people in institutional settings than for people who lived independently. The authors also found signs of publication bias, which means the real effect may be smaller than the published one, and they wrote that nobody knows yet if the effect lasts once the robot is no longer new.

The New York State Office for the Aging gives ElliQ to older adults, with about 900 units in its program. Its program page says a 2023 report found a 95% reduction in loneliness among users. The figure comes from a program report, which is weaker evidence than a controlled trial, and the page does not give the number of people measured.

Neither source shows that a robot treats or prevents any illness.

What a robot cannot replace

A robot does not replace a visit from a daughter or a friend at the same table, and it does not replace a caregiver who notices that something is wrong today. It also does not replace an emergency pendant or a call button, which ElliQ's maker says directly about its own product.

For an activity director, a robot is one more tool in the weekly program, next to music and crafts. A robot pet gives one resident something to hold, and a talking robot can reach residents who do not come to group activities. The activity team still runs the group activity and still judges who needs what today.

Some people do not want a robot at all, so ask the person first and let them try it before you pay for a year.

How to choose

For a parent who lives alone, speaks English and likes to talk, ElliQ is the better choice, and Bella is not available for a private home. For a person who is comforted by an animal, or who no longer follows a conversation easily, a robot pet is the better choice because it costs little and the person does not have to do anything to enjoy it.

The question is different for a community, because one robot has to serve many residents with different needs and languages.

Where Starlife Bella fits

Bella works in a senior living community, alongside the staff. It is not autonomous: a trained robot pilot controls Bella live from a laptop, with AI assistance, and Starlife supplies the robot pilot.

Bella talks with residents every day, starts video calls with the family, and writes notes for staff. It speaks more than 30 languages with live translation both ways. Bella never makes body contact with a resident, so it does not lift anyone, and it does not give medication or medical advice. It is never left to look after a person alone at home.

A community normally starts with a 14-day pilot, about one week after the order. Bella is available in the United States and Germany.

If you want to see how Bella would spend a day with your residents, we can show you. Book a demo.