Recently, significant efforts have been made to develop prostheses, soft rehabilitation, and assistive devices that enhance the quality of life of limb amputees and the activities of daily living (ADL) of stroke patients. Therefore, this present study provides a general overview of the current prosthetic, assistive, and rehabilitative devices with a focus on actuators that provide actuation via shape-memory alloys (SMA). Shape-memory alloy (SMA)-based actuators are the subject of considerable research as they possess high force-to-weight ratio, quiet operation, muscular mobility, bio-compatibility, and accessible design options, all of which can potentially be used to develop inventive actuating systems. Several studies have examined the use of SMA-actuated devices in the medical and engineering industry. They have also, more recently, been used to develop soft robotic systems. This present review primarily focuses on the characterization, number, type of actuator, degrees of freedom (DOF), weight, cooling technique, control strategies, and applications as well as the advantages and disadvantages of plate, spring, and wire-based SMA actuators. Composite-based upper limb SMA actuators were also reviewed and compared in terms of the matrix, reinforcing materials, SMA configuration actuator dimensions, and manufacturing method as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The findings indicate that, in the last few years, more studies have examined developing novel intelligent materials with which to improve hand flexibility. Therefore, SMA materials have a promising future in the development of intelligent designs for hand-robots. They may also be used to improve control robustness as well as the accuracy of hand functions for ADL and effective rehabilitation.

最近，已经做出重大努力来开发假肢、软康复和辅助设备，以提高肢体截肢者的生活质量和中风患者的日常生活活动 (ADL)。因此，本研究概述了当前的假肢、辅助和康复设备，重点是通过形状记忆合金 (SMA) 提供驱动的驱动器。基于形状记忆合金 (SMA) 的执行器是大量研究的主题，因为它们具有高力重量比、安静的操作、肌肉活动性、生物相容性和可访问的设计选项，所有这些都可能用于开发创造性的驱动系统。一些研究已经检查了 SMA 驱动设备在医疗和工程行业中的使用。他们最近还 被用于开发软机器人系统。本综述主要关注致动器的特性、数量、类型、自由度 (DOF)、重量、冷却技术、控制策略和应用，以及基于板、弹簧和线材的 SMA 致动器的优缺点. 还对基于复合材料的上肢 SMA 致动器在基体、增强材料、SMA 配置致动器尺寸和制造方法及其优缺点方面进行了审查和比较。研究结果表明，在过去的几年里，更多的研究考察了开发新型智能材料以提高手的灵活性。因此，SMA材料在手持机器人智能化设计开发中具有广阔的应用前景。