## 2 Materials and Methods
### The Robotic Device Set's Identification
To rank the robotic solutions in terms of purchasing priority, the team defined an algorithm based on the weighted sum of the scores of the items in the evaluation form (Equation (2)):  
\[Score=product\;maturity\times\sum\
olimits_{i}\;Parameter_{i}\times Weight_{i} \tag{2}\]  
where the parameters and corresponding weights are depicted in Table 3. The score given to a robotic solution through Equation (2) takes into account the main characteristics of the device with a special focus on usability and sustainability in the framework of the FDG rehabilitation processes. According to the formula in Equation (1), the ideal robotic solution is a device at a high technology readiness level (TRL) that (i) is able to provide outcome measures that can be compared with reference normative values; (ii) has no safety issues and few contraindications; (iii) has strong scientific evidence supporting the efficacy; (iv) can be used even with patients with a high level of impairment; (v) gives the possibility of customizing the exercises; and (vi) can improve the efficiency of rehabilitation processes by optimizing the use of resources. The overall score given to a robotic solution is obtained by a weighted sum of the items listed above. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Commercial** & **Type of System** & **Treated** & **Type of** & **Description and Assisted** & **Certification** & **Evaluation Period** & **Price Range** \\
**Name** & & **Segments** & **Movement** & **Movements** & **Certification** & **Evaluation Period** & **Price Range** \\ \hline \hline Gloreba—drogenet srl, Lumezzane (BS), Italy & Exoskeleton & Hand & Spatial & Actuated glove for fingers flexion-extension & Medical Device & June–July 2015 & Low \\ \hline \hline Armoe & & & & Actuated evoskeleton with 6 & & & \\ Power—Hocoma AG, Volketswi, Switzerland & Exoskeleton & Upper limb and Hand (grip only) & Spatial & degrees of freedom for & & & \\ Power—Hocoma AG, Volketswi, Switzerland & Exoskeleton & Upper limb and Hand (grip only) & Spatial & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\ \hline \hline Amadeo–Tyromotion GmbH, Graz, Austria & End-effector & Hand & Linear & Device with 5 degrees of freedom. Siders to be attached to fingertips for fingers flexion-extension & Medical Device & June 2015 & Medium \\ \hline \hline Motor—Humanware stl, Pisa, Italy & End-effector & Upper limb & Planar & 2 Degrees of freedom robot with a handgrip moving on wheels on top of a desk for shoulder horizontal & Medical Device & January–June 2015 & Medium \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\ \hline \hline Physioasistant & & & 2 Degrees of freedom robotic & & & \\ \({}^{\prime}\)Bracodi \(\Omega\) ferro\({}^{\prime}-\)Celin srl, Pollo (SP), Italy & End-effector & Upper limb & Planar & 2 Degrees of freedom robotic arm with handgrip for shoulder horizontal & Prototype (not yet certified as addiction/adduction, and elbow flex/ext) & June 2015 & Prior not available \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Technological systems evaluated. Price ranges: low \(<\) 40.000 \(\copyright\); medium, between 40.000 \(\copyright\) and 100.000 \(\copyright\); high \(>\) 100.000 \(\copyright\).