In recent year, as the robot technology is developed, the researches on the artificial muscle actuator that enables robot to move dexterously like biological organ become active. Actuators are key technologies underpinning robotics. Breakthroughs in actuator technology, particular in terms of power-to-weight ratio, or energy-density, will have significant impacts upon the design and control of robotic system. In this paper, a new approach to design and control of shape memory alloy(SMA) actuator is presented to drive the robot hand. SMA wire is divided into many segments and their thermal states of the SMA are controlled individually in a binary manner. This control manner will reduce the hysteresis that the SMA material has and it becomes the fundamental technology to develop the anthropomorphic robot hand. In this paper, the mechanism In the digital step motor of the shape memory alloy that is driven by the segmented binary control, which is a new control technique, is studied. This SMA digital step actuator applies for the robot hand and the driving mechanism of the robot hand is investigated.