Characteristics and Emerging Trends in Research on Rehabilitation Robots from 2001 to 2020: Bibliometric Study

Abstract

Background The past 2 decades have seen rapid development in the use of robots for rehabilitation. Research on rehabilitation robots involves interdisciplinary activities, making it a great challenge to obtain comprehensive insights in this research field. Objective We performed a bibliometric study to understand the characteristics of research on rehabilitation robots and emerging trends in this field in the last 2 decades. Methods Reports on the topic of rehabilitation robots published from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2020, were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on July 28, 2022. Document types were limited to “article” and “meeting” (excluding the “review” type), to ensure that our analysis of the evolution over time of this research had high validity. We used CiteSpace to conduct a co-occurrence and co-citation analysis and to visualize the characteristics of this research field and emerging trends. Landmark publications were identified using metrics such as betweenness centrality and burst strength. Results Through data retrieval, cleaning, and deduplication, we retrieved 9287 publications and 110,619 references cited in these publications that were on the topic of rehabilitation robots and were published between 2001 and 2020. Results of the Mann-Kendall test indicated that the numbers of both publications (P<.001; St=175.0) and citations (P<.001; St=188.0) related to rehabilitation robots exhibited a significantly increasing yearly trend. The co-occurrence results revealed 120 categories connected with research on rehabilitation robots; we used these categories to determine research relationships. The co-citation results identified 169 co-citation clusters characterizing this research field and emerging trends in it. The most prominent label was “soft robotic technology” (the burst strength was 79.07), which has become a topic of great interest in rehabilitative recovery for both the upper and lower limbs. Additionally, task-oriented upper-limb training, control strategies for robot-assisted lower limb rehabilitation, and power in exoskeleton robots were topics of great interest in current research. Conclusions Our work provides insights into research on rehabilitation robots, including its characteristics and emerging trends during the last 2 decades, providing a comprehensive understanding of this research field.

Rehabilitation Exoskeletons: a Systematic Literature Review

“…Esta investigación presenta una revisión sistemática de toda la investigación disponible relevante respecto de Exoesqueletos de Rehabilitación y en relación con su desarrollo y aplicación, enmarcado en el enfoque sistémico [11] . Para su elaboración, se ha implementado en una primera etapa la Web of Science Core Collection un índice de citas confiable para ubicar investigaciones en un conjunto multidisciplinario y seleccionado de revistas, libros y conferencias, en segunda etapa CiteSpace [12] [13] y tercera etapa el método Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) [14] que permite estructurar de manera ordenada la información para su análisis (Figura 1).…”

Effect of eye-tracking-based attention training for patients with poststroke cognitive impairment: a study protocol for a prospective, single-blinded, single-centre, randomised controlled trial in China

“…Therefore, in terms of attention training, the combination of ET technology may have potential benefits for the cognitive abilities of stroke patients: (1) ET makes it possible to monitor and analyse particular attentional activities precisely. Compared with other interactive methods, such as rehabilitation robots, the technology makes cognitive rehabilitation efforts more focused on physical function 20. (2) ET enables the integration of gaze-based interactions without the need for high ability in upper limbs, such as touchscreen-based devices 21.…”

“…Compared with other interactive methods, such as rehabilitation robots, the technology makes cognitive rehabilitation efforts more focused on physical function. 20 (2) ET enables the integration of gaze-based interactions without the need for high ability in upper limbs, such as touchscreen-based devices. 21 This not only enhances engagement but also makes the rehabilitation process more enjoyable and motivating.…”

Cardiovascular Comorbidities in COVID-19: Comprehensive Analysis of Key Topics

“…Novel big data streams have created interesting opportunities to synthesize research and identify hotspots of big data in infectious disease epidemiology [40]. Furthermore, big data bibliometric analyses can reveal trends in and project future developments in each scientific discipline [41][42][43]. Thus, based on bibliometric analysis, a study was conducted [44], that aimed to investigate the international scientific output on the relationship between COVID-19 and cardiovascular diseases.…”