Rehabilitation robotics in routine care: a minimum dataset and reporting framework for service delivery models

Rehabilitation robotics has accumulated evidence for improving motor outcomes, yet adoption in routine care remains uneven across services and health systems. This evidence-to-practice gap reflects not only clinical considerations but also variation in how robotic rehabilitation is organized and delivered. Relevant service features include staffing and supervision patterns, scheduling rules, device placement, maintenance and support arrangements, governance, and documentation workflows. Current studies often describe the technology and clinical protocol while reporting service delivery features inconsistently, which limits transferability and weakens interpretation of implementation and economic findings. This perspective proposes a pragmatic reporting standard for service models in robotic rehabilitation. Its purpose is to make delivery configurations measurable and comparable across settings, while distinguishing the steady-state service delivery model from the time-limited implementation strategies used to establish, adapt, or sustain it. The standard includes a taxonomy of common service delivery archetypes, a Minimum Service Model Dataset for Rehabilitation Robotics (MSMD-RR) specifying must-report variables with operational definitions and units, and a reporting checklist, robotic rehabilitation service reporting (ROBOT-SERV), designed to complement established implementation science and health economic reporting guidance. MSMD-RR variables were selected for feasibility in routine care, cross-context interpretability, and plausible links to key drivers of real-world value, particularly utilization hours, throughput, therapist time, and downtime. A service model logic model is also provided to link inputs and processes to outputs and implementation, organizational, and economic outcomes. The proposed standard aims to support benchmarking, pragmatic evaluation, and health technology assessment. Graphical abstract.