[3] He wanted to be an artist from an early age, doing drawing and painting, and eventually taking courses at Cooper Union in New York City.

[3] Finishing his formal education, he then went to work for a robotics engineering firm, where he added computer modeling (CAD-CAM) to his skills.

The two largest Hoberman spheres are motorized, 5.5–6 m in diameter, and suspended above open rooms in science centers.

Hoberman has designed other folding architectural structures, such as the Expanding Hypar (1997) at the California Museum of Science and Industry; the Hoberman Arch, the centerpiece of the medals plaza for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics; and a retractable dome featured at the World's Fair 2000 in Hanover, Germany.

In July 2011, the rock band U2 concluded a nearly three-year world-wide concert tour (called "360°") that featured Hoberman's expanding video screen, a 3,800 square feet (350 m2) elliptical display that would grow into a seven-story cone.

Likewise, Hoberman's "Pocket Flight Ring" is a folding, throwable toy resembling a chakram.