Inventor. Interaction Designer for Emerging Technologies

Brian Harms

I design seams between physical and digital worlds, building new ways to see, touch, and talk with technology.

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Hello,


I'm a spatial thinker and lifelong tinkerer, obsessed with invention. I studied architecture and emerging systems & technology, then spent a decade on Samsung's Think Tank Team designing interfaces, devices, and robotic systems on a diverse team that included designers, architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, software developers, and scientists. 

Humans have become skilled at adapting to technology, but I'm most interested in the opposite: designing new modalities that let technology adapt to the way we behave, communicate, think, and create.

CV

Here's what I've been building:

AI Interfaces

To make interactions with AI more human.

eyeTerm
Can our gaze untether us from our keyboards?
Our attention contains rich information untapped by our computers. eyeTerm allows you to manage multiple projects in the same way one would a team of humans, which greatly improves technical accessibility.
I use this every day. Your eyes already know where to look — the computer just needed to notice.
Role: Sole Creator
View project →
Penpal
What is it like to correspond with AI using only handwriting?
A prototype for people of any age to interact with a living piece of paper that writes back. Penpal explores the tension between the slowness of writing and the speed of AI on a canvas with no graphical user interface. 
Slowing the conversation down made it more useful, not less. Pacing and tone shape trust as much as accuracy does.
Role: Sole Creator
View project →

Voice Interfaces

To explore natural ways of interacting with emerging technologies.

Dispatch
Can you manage agents from a walkie-talkie?
Dispatch consolidates the experience of directing agentic AI down to two buttons. Cycling windows, streaming voice commands, and interrupting work (ESCx2) become the only necessary inputs, untethering you from the keyboard.
The two most underrated inputs on a phone are the volume buttons — physical, directional, and usable without looking.
Role: Sole Creator
View project on IG →
Voice To 3D Print
Can you speak an object into existence?
In 2024 It was impossible to get a GPT to run code outside of a sandboxed environment, until "actions" were released in chatGPT. This made it possible to bridge the gap between voice and 3D printing by intercepting GPT python code in Rhino + Grasshopper.
The moment someone describes a shape and holds it minutes later is the closest I've felt to magic in a workshop.
Role: Sole Creator
View project on IG →

Spatial Interfaces

To respond to human presence and behavior.

Project SPOT
Can product interaction data lead to better consumer retail experiences? 
A retail display system that knows which products you interact with. Effortless to set up, depth sensors detect volumetric region activations and gestures. The content on screen shows relevant product information, while giving retailers useful metrics about product interactions. 
People would stop mid-stride when the display reacted to them. "Interactive" doesn't mean touchscreens — it means the thing notices you.
Role: Created interaction system prototype, demo producer, then project manager.
View project →
Scene Switch
Can you document creative work without adding friction?
Operating cameras and managing recording software while trying to work in a studio kills creative flow. A spatial interface for activating robot-mounted tracking cameras by moving through a space. Skeleton tracking determines which zone you're in and automatically switches the active scenes in OBS Studio, including screen sharing when you are sitting at your desk. 
Captured hours of studio content without once thinking about cameras. The best production tool is the one you forget is running.
Role: Sole Creator

Robotics & Fabrication Methods

To inspire, reduce friction, and increase accessibility.

Bot Chef
What does a robot need to feel like before you'd let it in your kitchen?
Samsung's future product concept for a collaborative home robot. We spent 2.5 years researching and developing how Samsung could make a beautiful, friendly, capable robot arm that would help people envision a future where robots would help them with repetitive tasks in the kitchen. This project helped convince Samsung to create a dedicated robotics task force. 
Taught me that robot interaction is choreography — timing, anticipation, and restraint matter more than speed or precision.
Role: Inverse kinematics, simulation & control, demo planning and design.
Presented project to public and executives. Sole IC to project manager.
View project →
Suspended Depositions
Can you 3D print without support material? 
World's first working prototype of in-gel 3D printing (2012). A robotic arm suspends UV-curing resin inside a gel medium, allowing freeform fabrication in any direction without support structures. I designed and built the entire system (with the exception of the robot arm).  Featured in Wired and DeZeen, and later popularized by MIT and Disney Research.
Questioning one constraint — that printing must fight gravity — opened a whole category of form that couldn't exist before.
Role: Inventor of the process, robot control, simulation, software, tool design and construction, project lead.
Read article →

Delightful Objects

To resonate with people and explore self expression.

TAPE
Can modern technology make music feel nostalgic?
A familiar physical artifact for the modern digital mixtape. The Tangible Audio Playback Experiment (TAPE) uses your phone's speakers, volume buttons, screen, and NFC reader to detect custom 3D printed tapes with embedded NFC chips that store a link to your favorite playlist. Tap to the back of your phone to play. A modern way to make a loved one a "real" mixtape.
Went viral because people don't miss CDs — they miss the ritual of choosing, holding, and giving music. A new form for an old gesture.
Role: Sole Creator
View project on IG →
Mac Caps
How would I like to make my Mac Mini more expressive?
We love to express our taste through the customization our devices; color, screensavers, cases, etc. Mac Minis have increasingly become a lifestyle product. Mac Caps playfully combine self expression through geometry, color, and utility. Customized 3D printable files are made available to download using a pay-what-you-want model.
Wearing something you designed changes how you carry yourself. Small objects punch way above their weight in personal meaning.
Role: Sole Creator

Furniture and Lighting

To bring attention to our built environments.

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Light[s]well
How do you fill a three-story void with light that feels like architecture?
A 4-by-8-foot responsive light installation designed to fill a large void with diffused light and create an implied, semi-permeable ceiling. The frame was constructed from aluminum extrusions which have strips of LEDs embedded within them. The expressive diffusing cardstock fins were parametrically designed and laser-cut. 
Living with responsive light changed how I experience rooms. You don't notice it directly — you just feel more present.
Role: Sole Creator
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Samsung Bench
How do you design something personal within a corporate brief?
Samsung Research America commissioned a bench design as part of a company wide design competition for their Mountain View campus, and selected my entry as the winning design. A parametric interleaving of two contrasting shapes and two contrasting materials, two benches with unique geometric and material identities inhabit the same space.
Still installed on campus years later. Seeing people choose to gather around something you made is the best feedback.
Role: Sole Creator
View project →

Honorable Mentions

A compilation of clips from solo projects and experiments.

And more

You can see them all at brianharms.design

Get in touch

Thanks for taking the time to learn about my work. 

If you'd like to know more about me or my projects,
feel free to reach out. 

Brian Harms
SF, CA

Brian Harms — 2026 brianharms.design