Humanoid robot-assisted support for healthcare in older adults: A systematic scoping review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
Humanoid robots offer a promising solution to the growing burden of elderly care. However, existing evidence on their applications for general aging populations remains fragmented and lacks systematic synthesis.
Objective:
Objectives: This scoping review aimed to examine the literature on humanoid robot-assisted support for health care in older adults and identify gaps in the literature to guide future research.
Methods:
Methods:
Arksey and O’ Malley’ s methodological framework was used to conduct this scoping review. We conducted a comprehensive search in 8 databases, including IEEE Xplore Digital Library, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and OpenGrey Repository, covering literature up to April 30, 2025. The reference lists of key texts were examined and citation chaining was conducted. Two independent reviewers examined all full articles for fitness with the eligibility criteria and extracted data elements. The study findings were then summarized, coded, and analyzed using the PAGER (Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence for practice, and Research recommendations) framework.
Results:
Results:
A total of 32,477 articles were retrieved, 59 of which were included in this review. The majority (83.1%, n=49) were conducted in real-world settings. Methodologically, 34 studies (57.6%) employed small sample sizes (n≤25), with study designs comprising 27 quantitative (45.8%), 22 mixed-method (37.3%), and 10 qualitative (16.9%) approaches. Participant characteristics revealed female predominance (>50%) in 32 studies (54.2%), while 27 studies (45.8%) included cognitively impaired participants. Through PAGER framework analysis, we identified four key patterns: (1) effects, perceptions, and experiences of humanoid robots; (2) preferences, expectations, and enablers for humanoid robots; (3) implementation barriers and challenges; and (4) determinants of user attitudes and adoption.
Conclusions:
Conclusions:
This scoping review demonstrates the significant potential of humanoid robots in elderly healthcare while highlighting key challenges in their practical implementation. Successful integration will require addressing technical limitations, user acceptance barriers, and systemic adoption challenges.
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