PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Sean Follmer

Sean Follmer is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford who develops robots and interfaces that let people touch digital information. He studied engineering at Stanford and completed his PhD in the MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group in 2015. His projects included the inFORM shape display, the Zooids swarm of small robots, and shapeShift, a moving display for touch interaction. In 2026, he coauthored Alignment Games, a framework for resolving differences in meaning during human–AI collaboration. He directs Stanford’s Shape Lab and is an associate professor of computer science by courtesy.

Works
196
Citations
6,756
h-index
46
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2009–2011

    Engineering at Stanford and MIT

    He earns a BS in engineering at Stanford University in 2009 and an SM at the MIT Media Lab in 2011.

  2. 2013

    The inFORM shape display

    In 2013, he coauthors inFORM with Daniel Leithinger, Alex Olwal, Akimitsu Hogge, and Hiroshi Ishii. The system uses a shape display to guide interaction, vary stiffness, and move physical objects.

  3. 2015

    A doctorate at MIT

    He completes a PhD at the MIT Media Lab in 2015 for work in human-computer interaction in the Tangible Media Group with Professor Ishii.

  4. 2016

    Zooids swarm user interfaces

    In 2016, he coauthors Zooids, an open-source hardware and software platform for tabletop swarm interfaces. Small autonomous wheeled robots handle display and interaction, with optical tracking and software to control their movement.

  5. 2018

    The mobile shapeShift display

    He coauthors the shapeShift paper in 2018 with Alexa F. Siu, Eric J. Gonzalez, Shenli Yuan, and Jason B. Ginsberg. The mobile tabletop display renders shapes and can ride on a robot to provide touch feedback for virtual reality.

  6. 2020

    An untethered soft robot

    In 2020, he coauthors work on an untethered, human-scale soft robot. Motors move along air-filled fabric tubes to change the robot’s shape.

  7. 2021

    A Sloan Research Fellowship

    In 2021, he receives a Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  8. September 2026

    Alignment Games for AI collaboration

    In September 2026, he coauthors Alignment Games: A Framework for Conceptual Repair in Human-AI Collaboration with Hari Subramonyam and Maneesh Agrawala. The framework identifies differences in how people and AI interpret concepts and proposes ways to resolve them during a task.

  9. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at Stanford

    As of October 2026, he is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and, by courtesy, computer science at Stanford University. He directs the Stanford Shape Lab, belongs to the Stanford HCI Group, and develops tactile interfaces and robotic devices for human-computer and human-robot interaction.

Career

  1. NowStanford UniversityAssociate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and, by courtesy, Computer Science
  2. NowStanford UniversityDirector, Stanford Shape Lab
  3. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPostdoctoral Associate, MIT Media Lab

Education

  1. 2015Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPhD, Tangible Media Group
  2. 2011Massachusetts Institute of TechnologySM
  3. 2009Stanford UniversityBS in engineering (product design focus)

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Checked career sources: me.stanford.edu, tangible.media.mit.edu, profiles.stanford.edu.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Sean Follmer yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Sean Follmer | Mechanical Engineering me.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. inFORM tangible.media.mit.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Tangible Media Group | Sean Follmer tangible.media.mit.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Zooids: Building Block for Swarm User Interface shape.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. shapeShift: A Mobile Tabletop Shape Display for Tangible and Haptic Interaction shape.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Soft Robot, Unplugged | The Current news.ucsb.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Sean Follmer's Profile | Stanford Profiles profiles.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Alignment Games: A Framework for Conceptual Repair in Human-AI Collaboration arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.