  This paper reviews 262 reports appearing between March 27 and July 4, 2020,
in the press, social media, and scientific literature describing 203 instances
of actual use of 104 different models of ground and aerial robots for the
COVID19 response. The reports are organized by stakeholders and work domain
into a novel taxonomy of six application categories, reflecting major
differences in work envelope, adoption strategy, and human-robot interaction
constraints. Each application category is further divided into a total of 30
subcategories based on differences in mission. The largest number of reported
instances were for public safety (74 out of 203) and clinical care (46), though
robots for quality of life (27), continuity of work and education (22),
laboratory and supply chain automation (21), and non-clinical care (13) were
notable. Ground robots were used more frequently (119) than aerial systems
(84), but unlike ground robots, aerial applications appeared to take advantage
of existing general purpose platforms that were used for multiple applications
and missions. Of the 104 models of robots, 82 were determined to be
commercially available or already existed as a prototype, 11 were modifications
to existing robots, 11 were built from scratch. Teleoperation dominated the
control style (105 instances), with the majority of those applications
intentionally providing remote presence and thus not amenable to full autonomy
in the future. Automation accounted for 74 instances and taskable agency forms
of autonomy, 24. The data suggests areas for further research in autonomy,
human-robot interaction, and adaptability.
