A PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab,
Pranav Mistry, has always amazed the world through a series of
inventions that have challenged the traditional notion of
technology. At the 20th Nasscom India Leadership Forum, Mistry
showed the audience why the IT world needs to look beyond
technology limitations, by demonstrating some of his
innovations.
Mistry showcased his previous projects at MIT which includes
intelligent sticky notes and TeleTouch - a technology that lets you
touch and control objects from far. For example, you can use your
smartphone to switch off your lamp, AC and even a door. As every
device is IP enabled and recognized, you can control every device
by just viewing it on your smartphone and just clicking the image
of the device on your phone - the same way that you do with an
application on your smartphone. The difference, as Mistry
explained, the technology lets you interact with an object from
far.
Mistry showcased another technology called SPARSH that lets one
conceptually transfer media from one digital device to your body
and pass it to the other digital device by simple touch gestures.
On the stage, Mistry clicked the photograph of a person on the
stage, and transferred it by just using his hand to his laptop. You
just need to touch whatever you need to copy, and then touch the
device where you want to paste or copy the content.
Some more quotable quotes from the speech given by Mistry at NILF
2012:
- We are on the verge of an era where information is going to
change its medium again - the same way, static mediums such as
books gave away to dynamic mediums such as computers
- Every industry at its maturity looks for the humane touch. We
are now in an era where human aspects are extremely important. For
example, if I put a coffee cup on a table, can it suggest nearby
coffee places for me?
- Every culture has its own problems and solutions. Hence, I
believe that every problem may not necessarily have a technology
solution. For example, is a tablet really necessary when the people
may not even know how to use it?
- Technology can only make sense if it benefits the masses
- Technology is never the limiting factor, it is the human
factor. For example, devices can be made extremely small, but can
humans use it properly? Usability becomes extremely important for a
technology to succeed.
- My inspiration comes from Indian mythology
About Author
An award-winning journalist with more than 14 years of experience, Srikanth RP is Senior Associate Editor with InformationWeek India. Srikanth is passionate about writing on topics which clearly show the business impact of technology.
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