Power from Potential: A Survey of Electrostatic Actuators for Haptics
High-Voltage Electrostatic Actuators (HVEAs) are emerging as a compelling alternative for haptic interfaces requiring soft, thin, silent, and energy-efficient actuation. This survey reviews four major classes: electrostatic switchable adhesives, dielectric elastomer actuators, soft electrohydraulic actuators, and electrokinetic pumps. It analyzes their mechanisms, bandwidths, force densities, and scalability for rendering cutaneous and kinesthetic feedback, and outlines design constraints and future research directions.
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[Submitted on 6 Jul 2026]
Title:Power from Potential: A Survey of Electrostatic Actuators for Haptics
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Abstract:As haptic interfaces integrate more seamlessly into wearables and everyday environments, they increasingly require actuators that are soft, thin, silent, and energy efficient. However, conventional motors and temperature-responsive polymers often struggle to deliver these properties due to their bulky form factors and high power consumption. High-Voltage Electrostatic Actuators (HVEAs), which generate force by applying an electric field to localized charge concentrations using high voltages and ultra-low currents, have recently emerged as a compelling alternative due to their fast, silent, and low-power operation within highly customizable and compliant form factors.
This paper presents a focused review of HVEAs for haptics, examining four major classes: electrostatic switchable adhesives, dielectric elastomer actuators, soft electrohydraulic actuators, and electrokinetic pumps. For each class, we describe their mechanisms that enable haptic output; characterize their bandwidths, force densities, and spatial scalability; and evaluate their versatility for rendering cutaneous and kinesthetic feedback across wearable and world-grounded interfaces. Through this cross-technology analysis, we identify common design constraints and emerging strategies for improving ergonomics, streamlining fabrication, and integrating self-sensing. We conclude by outlining where HVEAs are uniquely positioned to advance haptic interaction and highlighting key research directions needed to translate these technologies into practical systems.
Comments: Copyright 2026 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works
Subjects:
Robotics (cs.RO); Emerging Technologies (cs.ET)
Cite as: arXiv:2607.13058 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2607.13058v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.13058
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
Related DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1109/TOH.2026.3708136
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Submission history
From: Ahad Rauf [view email] [v1] Mon, 6 Jul 2026 03:38:02 UTC (16,760 KB)
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