Review of Continue Surgical Robot Actuated by SMA

Abstract

Continuous robot is a kind of robot that can continuously bend in the working space. It is widely concerned because it can move flexibly in the unstructured and narrow environment. Shape memory alloy (SMA) material has excellent shape memory effect and superplastic, and can be controlled by applying different temperature, so it is an ideal material for continuous robot actuating device. SMA driven continuous robot has the advantages of small structure, simple control, wide range of motion, high degree of freedom, easy to avoid obstacles, and so on. It is very suitable for the complex environment of medical surgery. In this paper, the actuating principle and mode of SMA are analyzed, the research status and modeling method of SMA driven continuous robot in medical surgery are reviewed. Finally, the development trends of the robot are prospected.