Dhairya Dand

Dhairya Dand (born 27 April, 1989) is an Indian-born New York City based inventor and artist.

Dhairya Dand
Born	27 April , 1989 Nashik, India
Nationality	Indian, American
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University Industrial Design Centre Victoria Jubilee Technological Institute
Known for	futurism, sensory research, wearables, social systems, Alexa, ICTD, educational toys
Notable work	SuperShoes, Obake, Cheers, ThinkerToys, icon, BodyAPI, flipIt, Lokshahi
Awards	2016 Forbes 30 under 30 in Manufacturing and Energy, 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 in Design, 2015 ELLE 20 names to know, 2015 Vogue Cool People, 2015 Future of StoryTelling Fellowship, 2014 WIRED Innovation Fellowship, 2014 INK Fellowship, 2014 The Smithsonian Finalist for the People's Choice Design Award, 2013 Boston Globe Top 25 Innovators, 2013 Contagious Ones to watch in Technology

His work investigates the human body as a medium for computation, new materials as a tool to embody interactions and design as a vehicle for mindfulness.[1] His work takes form of devices, objects, installations, new technology and materials.

Currently Dand is a Principal at ODD Industries, a futurist factory and lab in NYC, an artist in residence at the NEW Museum and on the scientific advisory board of the X PRIZE Foundation.[2] Dand is a core member of the W3C Standards Committee which governs the Internet at large. He was a key member of Amazon’s secretive Concept Lab which invented several Alexa devices. He has taught conceptual design based courses at the Art Institute of Seattle, the Carnegie Mellon School of Design, Tisch School of the Arts and the MIT Design Innovation Workshops.[3]

Dand is a graduate of the Media, Arts and Sciences program at the MIT Media Lab.

Early life

Dand was born in Nashik, India to parents who were plumbers and storytellers. Dand attributes his cross-disciplinary work to being trained as a plumber by his father and listening to stories and mythologies by his mother. [4][5]

He attended Victoria Jubilee Technological Institute for an undergraduate in Computer Science and the Industrial Design Centre for courses in design. Dand later lived in Singapore, Phnom Penh, Tokyo, London before moving to the United States to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[6][7][8]

Works

Dand's inventions range from sensorial interfaces, smart devices, display technologies, Alexa, social systems, prosthesis, bio-based architecture, educational toys, emotional robots.

In SuperShoes, Dand created insoles that work on a tickling interface, they tickle the feet and guide the wearer across the city. The insoles talk to the smartphone for location, data and access to the users personality preferences. The insoles help with navigation, reminders, taking mindful breaks, discovering new places in a city.[9][10][11][12]

In Programmable Hair, Dand made a contraption worn on the hair that allows the wearer to program their hairstyle, either by choosing from a library of hairstyles or by taking a picture of someone else's hairstyle.[13]

With Obake, Dand created a 2.5D elastic computer display technology that has shape memory. The display can be physically deformed, stretched, pulled, pushed. It remembers shapes and can self-actuate.[14][15][16][17][18]

While in Seattle, Dand was part of Amazon's secretive Concept Lab, where he is credited for key inventions and Alexa devices. Some of his inventions which are public, involve invisible interfaces and using hand gestures to use the air as a medium for computing.[19]

Dand's Cheers are alcohol aware ice-cubes that know how much the person is drinking. They change their colors depending on how much the person has consumed alcohol, they also strobe in response to the ambient music.[20][21][22][23]

Dand designed a bio-building that responds and reacts to its environment. During the day, cells in the building's 'membranes' open up, allowing for more ventilation; at night, they generate and conserve warmth.[24]

Dand's ThinkerToys are modular educational toys made from e-Waste which later led to an NGO called openTOYS. By plugging in these modules, a keyboard can be used as a piano, a mouse for language learning and speakers as storytelling devices.[25][26][27]

One of his early work was Lokshahi, which was a m-governance system for political transparency in rural India.[28][29]

Dand has also worked on several accessibility related inventions for emotional communication, autism and motor impairment.[30][31]

Awards and Exhibits

Dand was named in the Forbes magazine's 30 under 30 list in 2016 and 2015.[32][33] In 2015 Future of StoryTelling named him as a Fellow,[34] he was one of ELLE magazine's 20 names to know[35] and VOGUE's Cool People list.[36] In 2014 WIRED named him as an Innovation Fellow,[37] INK Talks named him as an INK Fellow.[38] His work was selected by the Smithsonian as one of the 20 designs for the People's Choice Design Award.[39] In 2013, he was one of the Boston Globe's Top 25 Innovators.[40]

He has presented at W3C's Annual Summit, Tencent's WE Summit,[41] Tokyo Designers Week,[42] WIRED Innovation Conference,[43] INK Talks,[44] TEDx events including TEDxHamburg[45] and TEDxBerlin,[46] the ICA[47] and the MIT Media Lab.[48]

Dand's work has been exhibited at the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A)[49] in London, MIT Museum in Cambridge, Singapore Arts House and at international conferences including UIST St Andrews,[50] CHI Paris,[51][52] TEI Barcelona.

References

1. "Dhairya Dand". TEDxHamburg.
2. "Advisory Board, Women's Safety XPRIZE". XPRIZE.
3. "Dhairya Dand LinkedIn Page". LinkedIn. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
4. "Dhairya Dand: Moved by stories, driven by curiosities". DNA. November 15, 2015.
5. "Dhairya Dand's journey from Nashik to MIT Media Lab a dedication to hard work". Economic Times.
6. "Dhairya Dand: Blending imagination and reality". Forbes.
7. "Dhairya Dand: Moved by stories, driven by curiosities". DNA. November 15, 2015.
8. "Brand Equity: In Conversation With MIT Media Labs' Dhairya Dand & Deepak Jagdish". ET NOW.
9. "MIT's Vibrating Supershoes Tell You Where To Walk". Fast Company.
10. "TOE-TICKLING SHOES LET YOU NAVIGATE THE CITY BY TOUCH". Popular Science.
11. "The High-Tech Shoes That 'Tickle' You Directions". The Atlantic.
12. "SuperShoes tickle your toes to help you find your way". New Atlas.
13. "'Love, See, Do. Repeat', Dhairya Dand". TEDx Hamburg.
14. "'Obake' (o-baa-keh) – 2.5D interaction gestures to manipulate 3D surfaces". Creative Applications.
15. "3D? Whatev! Obake Is A "2.5D" Elasticated Touch Screen Display". The Creator's Project.
16. "A New Computer Screen Reaches Out to Touch You". MIT Technology Review.
17. "A Touchscreen You Can Pinch, Poke and Stretch". Mashable.
18. "Elastic touchscreen prototype lets you pinch and zoom in '2.5D'". The Verge.
19. "Gestures for sharing data between devices in close physical proximity". USPTO.
20. "MIT Student Invents LED Ice Cubes That Track How Much You've Been Drinking". TIME Magazine.
21. "MIT Student Invents LED Ice Cubes to Track Alcohol Intake". ABC News.
22. "Too much to drink? Ice cube can tell you". CNN.
23. "GLOWING ICE CUBES WARN YOU WHEN YOU DRINK TOO MUCH". Popular Science.
24. "Dhairya Dand: Blending imagination and reality". Forbes.
25. "ThinkerToys repurpose old keyboards, mice, and monitors into educational toys". The Verge.
26. "Thinkertoys Turn E-Waste into Fun Gadgetry". Make Magazine.
27. "Using e-waste to create educational toys, with ThinkerToys". New Atlas.
28. "Dhairya Dand: Moved by stories, driven by curiosities". DNA. November 15, 2015.
29. "Dhairya Dand's journey from Nashik to MIT Media Lab a dedication to hard work". Economic Times.
30. "Enablers for the Disabled" (PDF). Times. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
31. "Media Consumption Device Lets You Flip and Shake to Alter News Perspectives". PSFK.
32. "Forbes 30 under 30 list 2015". Forbes.
33. "Forbes 30 under 30 list 2016". Forbes.
34. "Future of Storytelling". Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
35. "20 names to know for 2015" (PDF). ELLE. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
36. "VOGUE 2015: Tribes of Cool". VOGUE.
37. "Meet the inaugural Wired Innovation Fellows". WIRED UK.
38. "INK2014 : The INK Fellowship". INK Talks.
39. "People's Choice Design Award". Smithsonian Magazine.
40. "The Hive 25 under 25". Boston Globe.
41. "What is the future?". Tencent.
42. "Speakers" (PDF). Tokyo Designers Week. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
43. "WIRED 2014, Dhairya Dand". WIRED UK.
44. "INK 2014, Speakers". INK Talks.
45. "'Love, See, Do. Repeat', Dhairya Dand". TEDx Hamburg.
46. "TED". TED.
47. "FutureFlash". ICA.
48. "Creating SuperShoes: Dhairya Dand at K12Live! (MIT Museum Second Fridays, 1-10-14)". MIT Museum.
49. "Shoes: Pleasure and Pain". Victoria and Albert Museum.
50. Dand, Dhairya (2013). "Obake: interactions on a 2.5D elastic display". UIST '13 Adjunct Proceedings of the Adjunct Publication of the 26th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology: 109. doi:10.1145/2508468.2514734. ISBN 978-1-4503-2406-9. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
51. Dand, Dhairya (2013). "What's cookin?: a platform for remote collaboration". CHI EA '13 CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems: 2799. doi:10.1145/2468356.2479518. ISBN 978-1-4503-1952-2. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
52. Dand, Dhairya (2013). "Cheers: alcohol-aware strobing ice cubes". CHI EA '13 CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems: 2795. doi:10.1145/2468356.2479516. ISBN 978-1-4503-1952-2. Retrieved January 3, 2017.

External links

• Official Website
• ODD Industries Website
• TED Talk
• Profile page at MIT Media Lab
• Forbes profile on Dhairya Dand