Sean Follmer

Sean Follmer is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, with a courtesy appointment in Computer Science. He directs the Stanford Shape Lab and is part of the Stanford HCI Group, where he studies how people interact with digital information through physical, tactile, and dynamic media. Follmer’s research integrates robotics, mechatronics, sensing, and human-centered design to create shape-changing interfaces, advanced haptic devices, and interactive 3D physical displays. His work explores how leveraging human spatial cognition and dexterous manipulation can enable richer collaboration, more intuitive computer-aided design, and new interfaces for people with visual impairments. Follmer earned his PhD and MS from the MIT Media Lab, and his TED talk on shape-changing interfaces has been viewed more than 1.5 million times. His research has received numerous honors, including Sloan and NSF CAREER fellowships, multiple Best Paper Awards at ACM CHI and UIST, and recognition from major design organizations. His lab’s contributions span foundational HCI theory, novel robotic hardware, and tools that support the future of physical computing.