Coming to a care home near you... the robot companions for the elderly:

£15,000 machine called Pepper seeks out residents to talk to and could also monitor their health

• Robots are being trialled at care homes in Essex, Lincoln, Poland and Greece 
• Experts hope they will be able to monitor people's pulses and spot illnesses 
• But critics are warning that machines cannot offer same support as humans

Care homes plan to use robots to interact with the elderly – raising fears they could become a cheap replacement for staff.

A £15,000 robot is to patrol care homes and seek out elderly residents in Southend to talk to.

And a separate British trial starting this month will use robots to bolster staff at homes in the UK, Poland and Greece.