Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40861429›Full record

ReviewDigital health

Effectiveness and usability of care robots in supporting older adults living with frailty: A systematic review.

Run-Ping Che, Yong-Xin Ruan, Naonori Kodate, Yiwen Shi, Xiaoting Liu, Sarah Donnelly, Sayuri Suwa, Wenwei Yu, Dexia Kong, Mei-Chun Cheung

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Run-Ping CheDepartment of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7699-393X
Yong-Xin RuanDepartment of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2895-4338
Naonori KodateSchool of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6480-7327
Yiwen ShiSchool of Government, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7508-5785
Xiaoting LiuSchool of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8386-9515
Sarah DonnellySchool of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Sayuri SuwaGraduate School of Nursing, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3693-7455
Wenwei YuCenter for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1277-863X
Dexia KongDepartment of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Mei-Chun CheungDepartment of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0210-0772

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: Frailty is one of the most problematic expressions of aging and causes older adults to require more assistance in daily life. Care robots have been proposed as a potential solution to bridge the widening gap between the demand and supply of healthcare services. This review aims to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of care robots in supporting older adults living with frailty. Methods: A systematic review was conducted, including peer-reviewed articles published in English from January 2000 to April 2025. A quality assessment was performed on the included studies, and the results were summarized narratively. Results: Of the nine studies reviewed, five examined the impact of care robots on physical frailty. Three of these studies reported positive outcomes, while two found no significant effects on physical frailty. The impact of care robots on psychological frailty was assessed in four studies, but no significant effects were found. Regarding usability, the perceived usability of care robots among frail older adults was generally low, primarily due to technical limitations. Usability also varied depending on the specific contexts in which the robots were deployed. Conclusions: Care robots have the potential to improve physical frailty in older adults, although their impact on psychological and social frailty remains limited. Usability challenges persist, underscoring the need for further refinement in robot design, user experience, and contextual factors to enhance their effectiveness and usability for this population.

Indexed as

Care robotseffectivenessfrailtyolder adultsusability

Identifiers

PMID40861429
PMCPMC12374120

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.