Rehabilitation and assistance enabled by soft active materials
Soft active materials, including shape memory alloys, dielectric elastomers, magneto-active elastomers, liquid crystalline elastomers, and piezoelectric materials, have been used to develop soft rehabilitation and assistive devices. Table 2 summarises the details of these devices, including the materials employed, actuation mechanisms, key function and operating parameters, applications, their advantages, and the challenges faced with respect to future development.