Suranga Nanayakkara

Suranga Nanayakkara (born 1981) is a Sri Lankan born computer scientist and inventor.[1] As of 2021, he is the director of Augmented Human Lab and associate professor at the National University of Singapore. Before moving to Auckland in 2018, he was an assistant professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design. He is best known for his work on FingerReader[2][3][4][5] and Haptic Chair.[6] His research interests include Wearable Computing, Assistive Technology, Ubiquitous computing, AI, Collective intelligence and Robotics. MIT Technology Review honored Nanayakkara as one of the Innovators Under 35 for Asia Pacific Region 2014.[7][8]

Suranga Nanayakkara
Nanayakkara working with EyeRing
Born1981 (age 41–42)
Piliyandala, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Alma materNational University of Singapore(B.Eng.)
National University of Singapore(PhD)
MIT Media Lab(Postdoc)
Royal College, Colombo(Secondary)
Known forInventor of FingerReader, SPARSH, StickEar and HapticChair
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Auckland
Doctoral advisorLonce Wyse, Elizabeth Taylor and SH Ong
Other academic advisorsPattie Maes
Websitewww.suranga.info

Education and research

Suranga is from Piliyandala, in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Having received his secondary education from Royal College, Colombo,[9][10][11] he completed bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering from the National University of Singapore in Singapore. He holds a PhD in Engineering from National University of Singapore. Suranga spent half a year at University of Birmingham and half a year at University of Southern California under student exchange program. Later he was a postdoctoral researcher with Pattie Maes's Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab.[12][13]

Career

Inventions

Suranga is best known for his work EyeRing - A finger-worn interface for seamless interactions[2][3][4] [5] Haptic Chair - Audio visual system to provide a more satisfying musical experience to deaf people[6] and StickEars – a sound-based sticky note like device to make everyday objects more accessible.[16][17][18] Among some of his other work, Suranga has invented SPARSH – a way to copy-paste data between digital devices; FingerDraw - way to extract colours and textures from nature and bring them into digital drawings.

Awards and achievements
  • INK Fellow, 2016, by INK
  • Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP), Sri Lanka award 2015, by JCI Sri Lanka
  • Young Innovator under 35 (MIT TR35) 2014 award, Asia Pacific region.[7]
  • Finalist, Singapore Challenge, Global Young Scientist Summit (GYSS’14).[19]
  • Interactive installation, iSwarm, selected for i Light Singapore 2014 Light show[20]

References
  1. "Creating the next generation of innovators". Sundaytimes. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  2. "Camera-Equipped "EyeRing" Helps Visually Impaired Identify Objects=". Ecouterre. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  3. "EyeRing helps visually impaired point, press, and hear information". PHYS.ORG. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  4. "With the Camera-Equipped "EyeRing" You Can Point at an Object and Take a Photo". Inhabitat. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  5. "Camera-toting EyeRing could help blind people to "see" objects". Gizmag. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  6. "New technology to help the deaf enjoy music". official website. National University of Singapore College of Engineering. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  7. "MIT TR35". MIT TR35. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  8. "EmTech Singapore A". EMTech. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  9. "Against the Odds". Tech Wire. 22 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  10. "Econnect" (PDF). National University of Singapore. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  11. "Suranga Nanayakkara". Suranga Nanayakkara. Retrieved 2017-05-03.
  12. "People, Fluid Interfaces Group". Fluid Interfaces. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  13. "about Suranga Nanayakkara". suranga.info. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  14. "Augmented Human Lab". ahlab.org. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  15. "Uni welcomes world leader in human-computer interaction". Scoop. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
  16. "Wireless device lends a listening ear" (PDF). Straits Times. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  17. "Wireless device lends a listening ear". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  18. "Helping our hearing-impaired communities". Helping hearing-impaired communities. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  19. "GYSS'14". GYSS. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
  20. "iSwarm - i Light 2014". i Light 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
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