Embodied Intelligence Applications in Health Care Populations: Scoping Review.

Background: Embodied intelligence-artificial intelligence instantiated in physical or virtual bodies that can perceive, communicate, and interact with users and their environments-has been increasingly applied in health care. However, the evidence base remains fragmented because of inconsistent terminology, diverse embodiment forms, and limited synthesis of application domains, target populations, care settings, acceptability, and effectiveness. This fragmentation constrains conceptual clarity and translation into routine health care practice. Objective: This scoping review aimed to systematically map the applications of embodied intelligence in health care by classifying embodiment forms, identifying major functional domains, describing target populations and implementation settings, and synthesizing the available evidence on acceptability and effectiveness. Methods: This scoping review followed the Arksey and O'Malley framework, with enhancements by Levac et al, and was reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) and PRISMA-S (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses literature search extension) guidelines. Seven electronic databases were searched from database inception to December 2025, supplemented by gray literature searches and backward citation screening. Eligible studies were primary empirical studies published in English or Chinese that examined embodied intelligence in health care contexts. Two reviewers independently screened records and charted data using a pilot-tested standardized form. Descriptive statistics and thematic synthesis were applied. No formal critical appraisal was conducted because the aim was to map the breadth and characteristics of the evidence base. Results: A total of 83 studies were included. Five embodiment forms were identified: virtual humanoid agents (32/83, 38.6%), physical humanoid robots (32/83, 38.6%), virtual animal-shaped agents (1/83, 1.2%), physical animal robots (13/83, 15.7%), and mechanical robots (5/83, 6%). Applications clustered into 3 functional domains: health management and health education (40/83, 48.2%), mental health promotion (37/83, 44.6%), and physiological health promotion (6/83, 7.2%). Older adults were the most frequently targeted population (45/83, 54.3%). Interventions were mainly implemented in home settings, care homes, laboratories, and hospitals. Twenty-two randomized controlled trials reported generally beneficial effects on health behaviors, mental health outcomes, or cognitive function, although outcome measures were heterogeneous. Twelve studies examined acceptability and generally reported favorable user acceptance. Conclusions: This scoping review provides the first comprehensive synthesis of embodied intelligence in health care using a unified classification of forms, functional domains, populations, and application settings. The findings indicate that embodied intelligence is most mature in "health management and health education" and "mental health promotion," with increasing real-world deployment in home and care home settings. By consolidating fragmented evidence and standardizing terminology, this review offers a practical foundation for clinicians, nurses, and policymakers to support the implementation of embodied intelligence in routine health care. Evidence is limited by heterogeneous outcome measures, many lab-based evaluations, and the absence of formal quality appraisal, underscoring the need for standardized outcome measures, rigorous randomized controlled trials, and longitudinal evaluations to enable scalable and ethically grounded real-world adoption.