Zero-Point Energy Manipulation was first mastered by the Apex, but knowledge of its existence has long been a facet of Human, Apex, and Hylotl societies, particularly in Human 'science-fiction' stories and canon. In its first forms of utilization by the Apex, ZPEM was put to use in the fields of military and law-enforcement technology, particular in riot-busting and other means of putting a halt to any form of disobedience or outburst.
Zero-Point Energy Manipulation involves the use of the Casimir Effect and, as one might assume, Zero-Point Energy. Zero-Point energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may have, the vacuum energy. When this vacuum energy level is manipulated, for lack of a better term, it allows for a telekinetic control of the object in question, freezing it at a point in space and allowing for the manipulator to freely actuate it however they so desire.
In the current era of the galaxy, this manipulation is the basis behind all tractor-beam technology in ships and personal devices. As useful as this force is, its manipulation requires ample amounts of energy, so personal devices are often either very limited in the amount of time they can be used, or have limitations on the amount of mass they can manipulate at any one time, capping off at 300 kilograms, and about 4 hours of use per charge. However, as a module gets closer to this maximum range, it must get larger to accommodate extra power supply to the device. Usually such devices get to the size of a large backpack array which on its own can weigh 36kg. Smaller, more handheld and easily-carried modules usually find themselves within the range of 13kg to 40kg.
As one approaches the maximum weight attainable by a personal device, however, they will begin to feel the physical strain of lifting said mass, making it much more difficult to manipulate mass over 220kg as easily, and 300kg with great difficulty, not allowing for finesse in actuation that would be seen with a lower mass.
The smallest models are about the size of a wrist-gauntlet, and the largest are attached to ships and sub-atmospheric aircraft such as vertibirds. On the large end, space and aircraft model ZPEM devices can manipulate mass up to 2000kg and can run indefinitely as long as they are given ample supply of energy by the ship's core.