The Social Robots Are Coming: Preparing for a New Wave of Virtual Care in Cardiovascular Medicine

ardiovascular care centers around the world struggle to keep pace with an aging population with complex medical needs, the requirement for physical distancing, and limited hospital resources rerouted to the acute management of COVID-19.The need for innovative, efficient, and efficacious virtual care systems is now more important than ever.Social robots (SRs) may rise to the challenge.SRs are artificial agents physically embodied with human or animal features and imbued with social and emotional intelligence.1 In health care applications, SRs act as a social companion and medical assistant to patients who have limited access to health care or home support services, those who are reticent to onsite hospital visits, or who require frequent follow-ups with health care providers.SRs are equipped with artificial intelligence technology that allows the system to mimic patient-provider encounters, such as recognizing voices, providing eye contact, interpreting and responding appropriately to verbal and nonverbal cues, and adapting to the user's feedback, technology that has been leveraged to help the SR facilitate the detection of important changes in patients' behavior and health status.Today, SRs predominantly supplement gerontological services in patients' and long-term care homes, providing cognitive and social stimulation, supporting medication management, assisting with daily living tasks, and facilitating communication with the appropriate care provider or emergency responder.Recent iterations are now capable of screening for specific health conditions, including alcoholism and prediabetes, while embedded technolo-