More and more telepresence robots keep hitting the market.Panasonic is the latest entrant with their recently announced Hospi-Rimo, a post-op helper designed to roam the halls of a care facility and, among other functions, allow staff or remote family members to interact with patients.

The Hospi-Rimo is based off Panasonic's existing Hospi drug-delivery robot.  Hospi-Rimo can be left to its own autonomous devices, or it can be remote controlled by the user.  It can also move to specific locations while avoiding obstacles along the way.

The bot has a happy face screen and sensors to learn its environment.  Panasonic says it could be used in hospitals or in lonely elderly residences.

Panasonic also introduced a hair washing robot last year with 24 fingers and various washing cycles.  Some of the improvements that have come out since its release have been: refined head scanning for custom washing, conditioning, drying, and user-set spot massages.

The RoboticBed, announced in 2009 and since commercialized, is essentially a fully adjustable bed that can transform into an electric wheelchair. The bed/chair has a power-assist tilting function to help prevent any slippage during long periods of sitting and a simple control interface.

To get a test drive Hospi-Rimo will be attending next month's International Home Care Exhibition  in Tokyo.

More on Telepresence Robots:

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