Coronavirus has spurred the development of assistive robots for the elderly. Robots can and could do a lot to help older people, but there is one crucial thing they cannot do.

Coronavirus marks a seismic shift in the robotics industry, from greater emphasis on healthcare to macro-level policy to new sales models.

With Coronavirus, governments across the world have swiftly moved to erase boundaries to using telehealth. “We’re witnessing 10 years of change in one week”, with some hospitals and practitioners reporting a 20-fold rise in telemedicine since Coronavirus erupted. After years of languishing in the outskirts of healthcare, telemedicine has reached the mainstream of medical care and will stay there. The revolution is here and there is no going back.