Creating magic through technology

Imagine a mobile phone that works as a switch for your light or a remote control for your door or TV set

How easy would it be if by just a touch you could share pictures, data or any information with any other device. Or imagine a situation that allows you to use your mobile phone to switch on and off the lights in your house. Better still open the door without bothering to go to it and control your TV with your mobile phones.

All this and more is possible and in works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Pranav Mistry, Founder of SixthSense and a research assistant cum PhD candidate at MIT Media Lab as the show-stopper at the Nasscom Forum, who enthralled the audience with his technological innovations

“My focus is on creating IT with a people’s perspective. It is now clear that IT is not about computers anymore. Now, everybody wants a humane touch to their devices,” said Mistry.

Mistry gave a glimpse of his inventions that ranged from a technology he developed in 2002 to enable typing in Hindi on the mobile phone, to a project in his hometown Palanpur, Gujarat to facilitate pottery on a computer through 3D technology. “Innovation is not always through availability of resources, but sometimes due to lack of resources,” he explained.

Take his Sparsh, for example. Sparsh that works through cloud technology is among the best ways to transfer data. If one wants to transfer a document, video or picture from one device to another, one can merely touch the required item to copy it and paste it wherever possible by a mere touch.

Another invention Teletouch is a mechanism by which one can operate electronic goods or furniture placed anywhere in a room through a mobile phone by fixing an IP device to the item. For example, after an IP device is fixed to an electric lamp, a person can easily switch it on or off by pointing his phone to the device and clicking on the virtual switch that appears on the screen.

Augmented reality was also demonstrated by Mistry through a pair of HD spectacles which would help an individual project any object. It could further also used for translation where one can read any text in his preferred language by wearing those glasses.

Surprisingly, science fiction is not an inspiration for his inventions. Mistry, who is originally from Gujarat has learnt his tricks by closely observing Indian mythological characters, who Mistry said were “way ahead in technology compared to the present time”.