Electroadhesion provides a reversible adhesion based on electrostatic attractive forces between a substrate and an electroadhesive pad, enabling the handling of various objects. Despite its structural simplicity and broad applicability, conventional electroadhesion systems often suffer from relatively low adhesive forces and strong performance variability depending on substrate properties, which limits their practical use. To address these limitations, this study proposes a new electroadhesion operating protocol that integrates voltage application, interfacial sliding, and subsequent voltage removal. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed protocol increases pull-off force by up to 367% compared to the conventional operating method for metallic and ceramic substrates, with particularly pronounced enhancement on rough surfaces as well as in the low-voltage regime. Furthermore, the effects of voltage application conditions, surface roughness, and sliding conditions on adhesion performance were systematically investigated. The results reveal that adhesion enhancement is strongly governed by material and surface properties, with the most significant gains observed for rough metallic and ceramic substrates, while requiring only a single sliding cycle to achieve performance gains. Based on these findings, a robotic manipulation demonstration was conducted in which a robotic manipulator successfully transferred a 1125 g glass plate for more than 20 consecutive cycles. This work presents an operating protocol for enhancing electroadhesion performance without modifying pad geometry or materials, with demonstrated effectiveness for metallic and ceramic substrates, providing a practical pathway toward improving the load-carrying capability and robustness of electroadhesion-based handling systems.

The advancement of equipment technology is very important for winter sports competitions, but there has been a lack of research on ice friction via the modification of runner surface. In this study, we modify the surfaces of steel runners that are commonly used in winter sports to reduce ice friction by improving water repellency. A custom-built tribotester that can measure ice friction under high-speed conditions was developed. Three surface treatment processes—vapor deposition, immersion, and spraying—are applied to the steel surface to improve its hydrophobicity. The results confirm that surface treatment techniques for large areas can effectively reduce the coefficient of friction between the steel runner and ice, which is strongly related to the water contact angle of the steel runner. This highlights the effect of surface wettability on the coefficient of friction between metal surfaces and ice. The developed surface treatment methods can be applied to runner surfaces that are used in various winter sports.