Overview of the role of robots in upper limb disabilities rehabilitation: a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Neuromotor rehabilitation and improvement of upper limb functions are necessary to improve the life quality of patients who have experienced injuries or have pathological outcomes. Modern approaches, such as robotic-assisted rehabilitation can help to improve rehabilitation processes and thus improve upper limb functions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of robots in upper limb disability improvement and rehabilitation. METHODS: This scoping review was conducted by search in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and IEEE (January 2012– February 2022). Articles related to upper limb rehabilitation robots were selected. The methodological quality of all the included studies will be appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). We used an 18-field data extraction form to extract data from articles and extracted the information such as study year, country, type of study, purpose, illness or accident leading to disability, level of disability, assistive technologies, number of participants in the study, sex, age, rehabilitated part of the upper limb using a robot, duration and frequency of treatment, methods of performing rehabilitation exercises, type of evaluation, number of participants in the evaluation process, duration of intervention, study outcomes, and study conclusions. The selection of articles and data extraction was made by three authors based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved through consultation with the fifth author. Inclusion criteria were articles involving upper limb rehabilitation robots, articles about upper limb disability caused by any illness or injury, and articles published in English. Also, articles involving other than upper limb rehabilitation robots, robots related to rehabilitation of diseases other than upper limb, systematic reviews, reviews, and meta-analyses, books, book chapters, letters to the editor, and conference papers were also excluded. Descriptive statistics methods (frequency and percentage) were used to analyses the data. RESULTS: We finally included 55 relevant articles. Most of the studies were done in Italy (33.82%). Most robots were used to rehabilitate stroke patients (80%). About 60.52% of the studies used games and virtual reality rehabilitate the upper limb disabilities using robots. Among the 14 types of applied evaluation methods, “evaluation and measurement of upper limb function and dexterity” was the most applied evaluation method. “Improvement in musculoskeletal functions”, “no adverse effect on patients”, and “Safe and reliable treatment” were the most cited outcomes, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that robots can improve musculoskeletal functions (musculoskeletal strength, sensation, perception, vibration, muscle coordination, less spasticity, flexibility, and range of motion) and empower people by providing a variety of rehabilitation capabilities. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13690-023-01100-8.