Anirudh Sharma

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...

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 ...

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.

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...

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-...

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. 

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.

the missing airplane shows that whatever futuristic things we might develop, its important to be in the present(+3 seconds to avoid maybe a dangerous cat to attack you). we propose technologies that 'would touch lives' 50 years ahead, and forget to live in/for the present. either we're too much altruistic or just too busy the rat race of inventing a future that we don't know what will be good for. after all these inventions and industries, has world become a happier place? Not sure. Yes, we definitely have gotten many superhuman powers now, but the fact everyone has those powers keeps us pushing for inventing even more. --- pause--- for a moment, lets be in the moment, and thank nature at times for it has conspired till this very moment-that we are. I can't even begin to count the number of sensors/technologies, that plane had one in all, so many lives, so many stories. All have become one with the nature now. In split second. At times have you wondered, ...

According to the accredited mechanical flying rules the bumble-bee can't fly, because of its shape and its weight compared with its wing surface. But the bumble-bee doesn't know about that and does fly nonetheless. [Rolf Schneider] 

Magic is inspiring. For it can light up the eyes of the sad, make the logical person believe in things he wouldn't otherwise. Any piece of art, music, work that inspires others to me seems like magic. For its so simple yet none of us could make it, other than the creator. Like Naqvi

That's the version 0.1 of the ink-harvester box design. I ended up designing my own enclosure, instead of using Altoids box, though they're the same size. -The suction exhaust pulls the air containing soot particles from the surroundings. -A syringe with 1 way valve is being used as the pump which will push the ink into the cartridge. Next phase, - Design the carbon separator using capacitive plates. The air comes in with a lot of dust most of which dust and other particles. The powdery black soot separated from rest is what we're interested in. This principle is used in Chimneys to reduce the carbon particles injected into the atmosphere. - Interfacing a small sachet that mixes Isopropyl Alcohol and Gum arabic to the powder. I am going to use this DIY pump design for the constant flow of powder to the system Harvester setup in a box with syringe pump DIY Pump Design Links:  http://aonomus.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/diy-syringe-pump-version-3...

This is not an attempt to win over the pollution. Just a minor itch that led me to build something cool from observations arising from Nostalgia of the days back in India :) Nostalgia 0 - Just after you're born. ( Suggested by Kunal) If you're born in India chances are that your grandma will take some steps to protect you from wicked spirits by smudging kajal onto your eyes. The technique to make kajal is old. Its carbon deposited from burning a low fidelity oil.(mustard etc.) Nostalgia 1- Getting around I was once day dreaming about the awesome days we spent back in Bikaner, a small city in the west of Rajasthan. It reminded me of the heat, travelling in sweat inducing autorickshaws while we used to do our experiments with building our Multi-touch table with low tech techniques(ref. Rahul, Sudhanshu and Vivek). The month of June there was full of sweat, with unburnt smoke rising from unending tur-tur-ing of autorickshaws blackening our skin. Kote gate Nostalg...

       'Our goal here is to complement rather than replace.' Recently I came across an article on augmented reality. The term these days is used like a fad. Like in 1970s cell-phone was the hot term, those what it represents today is more than just a cellular phone, its a hell lot of technology in packed in a soapbar. 20 years from now, there would be no difference in real and virtual. We could live what we hallucinate today.  Those who fantasize climbing Himalayas, or walking through streets of Varanasi would just be able to 'buy' the experience, and feel it on their cornea embedded Augmented Reality/AR system. So the meaning of hallucination will evolve as well, which I think I can't imagine right now (book 'hallucinations of the next decade'?). I was thinking how these terms affect our thinking process. As the term says, why do you want to augment the reality? The reality itself is so complete, beautiful and strong, that i...