Guide · November 2026
Robots for senior living: what each one does
No robot replaces a caregiver. Each robot on the market does one narrow job: some keep a person company at home, some carry supplies for staff, and others bring a family member or a clinician into the room on a screen.
This guide sorts the robots by job and names one real product for each. The products are examples, and the order is not a ranking.
The jobs, with one example each
| Job | Example | What it does | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Companion at home | ElliQ by Intuition Robotics | A voice device on a table. It talks with one older adult, gives reminders, plays music and games, and shares messages with family. | Made for adults aged 60 and older who live alone or spend most of the day alone. It needs power and Wi-Fi, and it ships only in the United States. There is a one-time fee of $249 plus a subscription. The maker says it is not an emergency device. Source: ElliQ FAQ. |
| Delivery and fetch tasks for staff | Moxi by Diligent Robotics | Runs supplies, lab samples and medications between departments. It opens doors and uses elevators. | Built for hospitals. The maker describes its tasks as "non-patient-facing". It publishes no price. |
| Telepresence for family and remote clinicians | Ohmni by OhmniLabs | A screen on wheels. A person far away sees, hears and speaks through it on a video call. | Symbotic bought OhmniLabs in December 2024. The company says it still sells and supports Ohmni products. Ask about supply and support terms before you order. |
| Social or therapy robot | PARO | A soft robot that looks like a baby harp seal. It responds to touch, light, sound and being held. | The maker offers it to hospitals and extended care facilities where live animals are difficult to bring in. It has been in use in Japan and Europe since 2003. |
| Companion robot for a community | Abi by Andromeda Robotics | A humanoid robot that keeps residents company in their rooms and joins small group activities such as singing, games and conversation. | The maker says it is fluent in 90 languages and remembers earlier conversations. It was created in Melbourne, Australia. Providers in Australia book a demo, and providers in the United States join a waitlist. It publishes no price, and each contract depends on the number of robots. |
| Conversation, activities and family calls in a community, with a person behind the robot | Starlife Bella | Talks with residents, starts video calls with the family, and writes the notes for staff. | A trained robot pilot controls it live. It never touches residents. From $10 an hour. See pricing. |
Prices checked in November 2026. They change often; check the linked pages.
Which robot fits which need
Start from the job you need done. For a person who lives alone at home, a table companion such as ElliQ is the better choice. If your staff walk long distances to fetch supplies, a delivery robot such as Moxi is the better choice, because Bella does not carry or handle objects.
A family that wants to move around a room during a visit should look at a telepresence robot, which lets the family member drive. Some residents want something to hold, and a robot such as PARO is made to be held while Bella is not. A community that wants a companion robot to sing, dance and play games with small groups can look at Abi, which Andromeda Robotics says it created together with aged care and assisted living providers. Andromeda says Abi is fluent in 90 languages, so it also suits residents who prefer a language other than English. In the United States the company takes providers on a waitlist, so ask when a robot can arrive. A robot with a person behind it fits a community that wants daily conversation and family calls for many residents.
Questions a community should ask
Ask every vendor the same questions, and ask for the answers in writing.
- Does the robot touch residents, and can it bump into a walker or a wheelchair? How fast does it move?
- Is there a camera and a microphone, and is a person watching live? If so, who is that person and how are they trained?
- Is audio or video stored? If it is, ask where, for how long, and who can open it.
- How does a resident say yes or no, and what happens for a resident who cannot give consent? How does a family opt out?
- Who is liable if the robot causes harm, and does the vendor carry product liability insurance?
- Who charges the robot, cleans it and moves it between floors? Ask how many staff minutes it needs each day.
- Does it need your Wi-Fi, and what happens when the connection drops?
How to run a fair pilot
A pilot is only fair if you can compare the robot with a normal week, so the first step happens before the robot arrives.
- Run a baseline week first, and count the same things you will count later.
- Get consent. Tell residents and families what the robot does and who is behind it, record who agrees, and let anyone say no at any time.
- Choose a few numbers to follow. Good ones are conversations each day, minutes each conversation, family video calls each week, and attendance at activities.
- Write down the staff minutes spent on the robot each day, because that is the cost to staff.
- Record how many residents decline or ask the robot to leave.
- Ask residents and staff the same short questions in the baseline week and in the last week.
- Decide the pass mark before you start. Write down what result means you continue and what result means you stop.
Two weeks is enough to see if residents accept the robot, but it is not enough to prove any effect on health.
Where Starlife Bella fits and where it does not
Starlife Bella is a humanoid service robot with a friendly face and a chest display, and it moves on a wheeled base. It is not autonomous: a trained robot pilot controls Bella live from a laptop, with AI assistance. Tell residents and families this before the first visit.
Bella talks with residents every day and remembers them. It starts video calls with the family and writes the notes for staff, and it speaks more than 30 languages, with live translation both ways. Because it has built-in 5G, it needs no community Wi-Fi. It needs one power outlet and works indoors only.
The limits matter as much in a care setting. Bella never touches residents, and it does not lift or transfer them. It does not give medication and it does not give medical advice.
Starlife carries product liability and provides the robot pilot, the driving and the maintenance. You pay by the hour, from $10 an hour, with no big contract, and most deployments cost $10 to $20 an hour.
Starlife robots have logged more than 2,000 guest interactions in healthcare settings over 10 months. See the specs.
The normal start is a 14-day pilot, and the lead time is about one week. Bella is available in the United States and Germany.
To see how Bella would work in your community, ask for a demo. Book a demo.