MAE Distinguished Speaker Series 2026 Seminar on Electrostatic Soft Actuators for Wearable Robotics

27 Jan 2026 02.00 PM - 03.00 PM LT4 (North Spine, NS4-02-34) Current Students, Public

Professor Herbert Shea

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

This seminar will be chaired by Prof Yeong Wai Yee.

Seminar Abstract

Wearable robotics for haptics or for muscular assistance require compliant, efficient, fast, lightweight and high force actuators. Much research has focused on pneumatic solutions, effective, but requiring an external pump or compressor. I will present flexible actuators developed in my lab that operate on electrostatic principles, as this approach provides a clear path to untethered operation. I will report both fiber-format as well as patch-format devices, the former aimed at soft exoskeletons, the later for cutaneous haptics. Our fiber-format pumps, 2 mm in diameter and several meters in length, generate fluid flow with no moving parts, and can be woven into fabrics, allowing both thermal management and shape change. Our zipping hydraulically-coupled actuators can be arrayed to generate pop-up haptics over large areas. I will conclude with some open challenges and opportunities in mechanically active wearables.

Speaker's Biography 

Herbert Shea is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where he leads the Soft Transducers Lab (EPFL-LMTS). He is the director of EPFL’s institute of mechanical engineering. Herb holds a PhD in physics from Harvard University (1997), after which he spent 2 years at IBM Research Yorktown and 5 years at Bell Labs, prior to moving to Switzerland in 2004. Herb and his team’s research is centered on electrically-driven elastomer-based compliant actuators for wearables, haptics and soft robotics. Our aim is efficient and high force-density actuators for wearable robotics.

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