James Bern

James Bern is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at Williams College, currently on leave. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from ETH Zurich (2020), an MS in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University (2017), and a BS in Mechanical Engineering with minors in Computer Science and Control & Dynamical Systems from Caltech (2015).

His research spans soft and rigid robotics, computational design, and numerical simulation, with a focus on enabling artists, designers, and the public to utilize advanced robotics tools. Key questions include modeling unpredictable physical phenomena, optimizing design/control spaces, and democratizing robotic design.

Recent publications highlight his work on soft drone grasping, virtual reality inverse kinematics, cable-driven stiffness modulation, and soft robot simulation. His collaborations include the Computational Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich and the Distributed Robotics Lab at MIT CSAIL.