Future perspectives of robot psychiatry: can communication robots assist psychiatric evaluation in the COVID-19 pandemic era?

Journal: Current opinion in psychiatry
Published Date: May 1, 2021

Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Direct face-to-face interview between a psychiatrist and a patient is crucial in psychiatric evaluation, however, such traditional interviews are becoming difficult to conduct because of the infection risk in the COVID-19 era. As telepsychiatry, video interviews using internet are suggested to be useful to evaluate and assist individuals with mental disorders. However, some patients especially with social phobia, depression, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) hesitate to use even such face-to-face-like tools. Communication robots have been proposed as future assistant tools for such patients. Herein, we summarize recent advancements in robot psychiatry, and propose the benefits of communication robots in psychiatric evaluation.

Authors

  • Yuichiro Yoshikawa
    Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-8531, Japan.
  • Hirokazu Kumazaki
    Department of Clinical Research on Social Recognition and Memory, Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Ishikawa, Japan.
  • Takahiro A Kato
    Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.

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