A special place within the Graveyard of Robots should be reserved for all those well meaning creatures that were made to help provide healthcare to all those in need, the Healthcare Robots, may they rest in peace.
Keepon (now by BeatBots)
A famous paper about Keepon. It was designed to help kids with autism and appeared to be doing something right.
Here is the website of BeatBots. Keepon was downgraded in their tenure into nothingness I believe.
Riba II and Robear by RIKEN
Riba I en II were followed by Robear, but I think that one was also last seen around 2015, see here.
The design of the robot looks quite interesting. It is focused on lifting or sustaining the weight of people during transfers. So for examples, lifting somebody from a bed to a wheelchair, or from a chair to an upright position and then to a wheelchair. Such transfers are very frequent and important parts of daily healthcare for many people. And theer is already technology in place to helpt with such transfers, such as hoists, stand aids, transfer boards or slide sheets. See, for some examples here. The specific transfer scenario that Robear is demonstrating is typically done with a lifting system like below:
Looking closer at this exact scenario it is clear to me that Robear lacks good gripping points. It does not have a way to grip the hands or arms and it does not offer something for the human to grip with their hands. So, Robear needs to wrap its hands all the way around the body, which is usually done by some kind of sling.
In any case, I have not found more recent examples of Robear actually in use anywhere.
Care-o-Bot 1-4 by Fraunhofer
Care-oBot was or is a very well known healthcare robot. It featured in quite a few research projects. And the presentation video of Care-o-Bot 4 was unforgettable:
So, is this slick and smooth robot dandy actually in use anywhere at the moment? Well, I found this video from 2021 that shows a modified version working for that enormously important function that is such a bottleneck in healthcare: bringing water to patients.
There is a support page where you can find contact info if you want to know more.
All in all Care-o-Bot is a very typical example of a very expensive robot, requiring a specific environment (no barriers, room to maneuver) that can essentially do nothing useful really. In many hospitals water and drinks are brought by volunteers or (pre-)pensioners who also provide a social function. There is no point in replacing them with a robot.
At the same time I understand that the basic problems of navigating and staying out of people’s way need to be solved and this requires effort as well. Still, it may be the case that those problems will be solved in very different ways. Think, for example, of robots following service lines.
I am not aware of Care-o-Bot actually in use anywhere at the moment.