Suranga Nanayakkara (born 1981) is a Sri Lankan born computer scientist and inventor. , 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 and Haptic Chair. His research interests include

Wearable Computing A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches. Wearables may be for genera ...

Ubiquitous computing Ubiquitous computing (or "ubicomp") is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using ...

, AI, Collective intelligence and

Robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...

. ''

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

'' honored Nanayakkara as one of the

Innovators Under 35 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at ''Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...

for Asia Pacific Region 2014.

Education and research

Suranga is from

Piliyandala Piliyandala ( si, පිළියන්දල, ta, பிலியந்தலை) is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is situated approximately south of Colombo. Piliyandala clock tower According to local residents and documentation, P ...

, in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

District, Sri Lanka. Having received his secondary education from Royal College, Colombo, he completed bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering from the National University of Singapore in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. He holds a PhD in Engineering from National University of Singapore. Suranga spent half a year at

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

and half a year at

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

under student exchange program. Later he was a postdoctoral researcher with Pattie Maes's Fluid Interfaces Group at

MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...

Career

* Since 2011, he has been directing the Augmented Human Lab. * In 2018, he was invited to join

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

as the first appointee of New Zealand Government's strategic entrepreneurial universities scheme * He joined Singapore University of Technology and Design as an Assistant Professor in 2011

Inventions

Suranga is best known for his work EyeRing - A finger-worn interface for seamless interactions Haptic Chair - Audio visual system to provide a more satisfying musical experience to

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

people and StickEars – a sound-based sticky note like device to make everyday objects more accessible. 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 Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) program serves to formally recognize young people who excel in their chosen fields and exemplify the best attributes of the world's young people. The program is sponsored by Junior Chamber Intern ...

), Sri Lanka award 2015, by JCI Sri Lanka * Young Innovator under 35 (MIT

TR35 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at ''Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...

) 2014 award, Asia Pacific region. * Finalist, Singapore Challenge, Global Young Scientist Summit (GYSS’14). * Interactive installation, iSwarm, selected for i Light Singapore 2014 Light show

References

External links

*
Documentary about Suranga in a Global Vision TV, JapanSuranga Nanayakkara
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanayakkara, Suranga Human–computer interaction researchers Sri Lankan computer scientists National University of Singapore alumni 1981 births Augmented reality Sri Lankan emigrants to Singapore Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Living people MIT Media Lab people