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Hard hard user interfaces.

Started as someone doing ActionScript in Macromedia Flash I got into Human-Computer-Interaction after watching Jeff's Hann's multi-touch work. That's the power of a really cool demo that inspired the birth of NUIGroup community which spawned 1000s of makers all around the world making their own projector camera multitouch systems. All of it became mainstream once Apple released the iPhone to the world, and also gave birth to my interest in human-centered engineering. I spent some 10 years after that playing with sensors, haptics, and gestural interfaces through multiple input modalities but nothing stuck as much as multi-touch did. Thanks to Apple's execution. Everyone's phone/tablet interaction is default multitouch. (unless you have a visual impairment). Primsense evolved into Kinect, then came Wiimote, Leap but nothing stuck.  for speech, it was Amazon's Alexa. Latest news , that its going to lose Amazon 10B.  Like I am writing this post through my keyboard a

Thoughts on better making

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Ideas for better engineering. I’m very passionate about applied and analytical material science with a background in leading startup initiatives. I had built a haptic wearable startup with synthesis gait analysis and haptic feedback through wearables, which exposed me to several schools of design and engineering, and on-ground impact. This had bought me to Boston at MIT to explore advanced forms of man-machine-interfaces. I have transcended from just being a techie, someone who enjoys impacting social problems using tech. In recent years, I have shifted from consumer devices into supply chain innovation leading to carbon offsetting, which exposes me to various operational, perceptive and implementation challenges.  I come from a farming family first-generation engineer, born around the invention of the internet- in the early 90s I used to hear how repairability was a desired feature in tools around us, and local was the way to go. In today’s hyper-connected time- being in d

Project Ambhibia

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Project Amphibia.  Keywords : Carbon linings, electronics, deep water, cell‐laden hydrogels,  directly printed wearable systems Leaving a set of these images here as an inspiration, and diary entry for adaptive and embodied interfaces. Most of this research in Organic User interfaces have been around tattooing on the skin which is still in its infancy, due to physical limitations of electronic components. Using carbon layering under special materials we can possibly fabricate electro-actuated  geometries that can have various sensorial and conductive properties.  Possible trials: Stretchable  micro-tectonic sensors fused with Ambhibia , with a full use-case.

What if phones were made like shuttlecocks!

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Now evolution is a slow process, and as humans and smartphone users this evolution to 'not drop things' is going to only happen in a million years. It's easier to redesign bodies/smartphones. I shattered two phones in the last two years, two screens I got replaced were expensive and quite a hit on the pocket. Humans drop things. What I don't understand is that the screen is the most sensitive part of the phone yet it shatters easier than feather. The phone has other parts too- an incomprehensibly well made PCB, modem, battery, and the casing . Observing a smartphone physically: Now the parts above with respect to screen are packed in this fashion primarily for three reasons: packing, protection and function. The case's job is to protect, the electronics are for function, and fasteners/glues for packing.  It's pretty clear that current design of smartphone fails pretty badly at protection: one of the most expensive parts, the screen(alumi

to write poems or to study poetry?

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It was almost the same time 3 years ago when I headed to Boston to pursue research at Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab. Time flied, too fast to perceive it went by.. The life before that was that of running around, seeking each resource actively, hanging onto IRC channels, attending FOSS events, to learn and to meet people in the virtual world of infinite internet. My undergrad college was in the middle of nowhere , with a sorry state education system, and marred by favoritism based on caste and regions. The only escape for the bunch of us was the infinite world of internet and some awesome friends we met during the hostel days back in Bikaner/Rajasthan. We had lost hope to the point that we decided to stop giving a damn about my GPA- to the point that we would travel during our semester exams as we saw no point in taking them (even if we did, we knew the result)- at best IT jobs. It was hard to explain to parents. I was lucky to have really good mentors from childhood-

discordant yet musical whistles

My house in Delhi has a guard that walks around and whistles all night to keep the thieves away. I am still amused by the fact how the entire street comes together and contributes and hires the guard, instead of complaining and waiting for the Govt. to solve their issues, which is slow as heck. Its like a citizen contributed and distributed parallel police with evolving protocol, when the systems don't work well. Atleast it keeps the societal interaction intact and neighbors talk, which i believe is a good thing- communities being vocal about their issues. writing this at 3AM while everyone sleeps and guard is awake. 

Word of the day- pokayoke

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pokayoke! Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ?) [poka yoke] is a Japanese term that means "mistake-proofing". A poka-yoke is any mechanism in a lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur.The concept was formalised, and the term adopted, by Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota Production System.It was originally described as baka-yoke, but as this means "fool-proofing" (or "idiot-proofing") the name was changed to the milder poka-yoke.