Sarang Nerkar

My work here was mentioned as a collaborator in Prof. Steve Mann's paper on Surveillance (oversight), Sousveillance (undersight), and Metaveillance (seeing sight itself) at IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2016. 

Complex-valued “gravlet” wavefunction visualized on a robotic SWIM that spins while moving back and forth. Data from LIGO was used with its Hilbert transform, noting the result is a chirplet (“gravitational signal” rather than “gravitational wave”). SWIM explores periodic realtime data at any scale from atomic to cosmic, as well as displays arbitrary data

Enhancing human eyesight with real-time stereoscopic high dynamic range video with automatic exposure selection
Selected for Certificate of Distinction (University of Toronto Capstone)

Team: Sarang Nerkar, Vivek Mogalapalli and Shariq Khalil Ahmed

Click here to see the poster

Paper: Extrapolative Lightspace Method for HDR Video
Exposure Selection

Abstract: We propose a method to automatically adjust multiple exposure-value settings for HDR video compositing.
The method uses imagespace-to-lightspace post-conversion and tonal extrapolation to iteratively select optimal exposure settings, as opposed to present systems, which use manually set settings. The limiting factor becomes the image sensor as opposed to the implementation of the algorithm, as in present systems. By choosing the exposure settings with the described algorithm, the high dynamic range sampling process can be adapted to various lighting environments. This algorithm is especially useful for ultra low power capture of optimally selected exposures which can be processed later using well-known HDR compositing methods.

Presenting Open EyeTap, open source (hardware and software) augmented reality glasses, that can be 3D printed at home, powered by Raspberry Pi Zero and made for a low price. This will enable the developer and tinkerer community to develop creative uses of the augmented reality technology, which is currently exclusive to those who can afford the expensive commercially available augmented reality glasses. 

Presented at Mobile World Congress 2017.

Presented at Foreign Talents in Hangzhou Entrepreneurship & Innovation Achievements Exhibition 2017

Click here to see pictures from Mobile World Congress 2017.  

Paper: Open Source EyeTap: Empowering Every Maker with Phenomenal Augmented Reality and Wearable Computing

(ACM ISWC 2017)

Abstract: 

Augmented reality and wearable computing development has skyrocketed in the consumer product domain in the past few decades, while the open source domain remained rather neglected. We believe that this is due to the existing development platforms being expensive, closed-source and due to the lack of a strong open source augmented reality community.
We present a hardware and software open source wearable augmented reality platform which enables users to make augmented reality glasses that cost less than $250 and realize new applications of augmented reality which can then be added to the platform for others to use and contribute to.

Click here to see the paper presented at ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers 2017. 
 

Presenting T-SWIM (Tactile Sequential Wave Imprinting Machine), a naturally augmented tactile reality system for making otherwise intangible electromagnetic radio waves, sound waves, metawaves, etc. graspable. T-SWIM uses a haptic actuator driven by a special type of lock-in amplifier which synchronizes with traveling waves and transforms them into coordinates in which they are sitting still. This creates an illusion that the speed of light, or sound, etc. is equal to zero so that otherwise imperceptible waves and metawaves can be explored both visually and haptically.

I won the Steven Mann Award in Wearable Computing for this device. 

This device was featured on the Science Channel show "Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman" and displayed at the Augmenting Reality Exhibit at the Canadian National Exhibition. 

My work here was mentioned as a collaborator in Prof. Steve Mann's paper on Surveillance (oversight), Sousveillance (undersight), and Metaveillance (seeing sight itself) at IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2016. 

Paper: Phenomenologically Augmented Reality With New Wearable LED Sequential Wave Imprinting Machines

Abstract—The Sequential Wave Imprinting Machine (SWIM), invented by Steve Mann in the 1970s, offers an augmediated reality experience which a group of people can all see with the naked eye (i.e. without the need to wear any special eyeglass). The SWIM is waved back-and-forth in space, and, through persistence-of-exposure (to either human sight, or to a camera such as by way of photographic film or sensor array) makes waves visible. Unlike displaying waves on an oscilloscope, SWIM displays waves arranged in space in such a way that they are registered not only in real-time but also in real-space, providing a naturally augmented reality. This paper outlines improvements in SWIM which are made possible by a simple circuit (with only 2 transistors per element), and recent improvements in LED technology. The result makes possible greater resolution and more dense packing, making it more wearable, and thus more accessible in general. Photos and scientific results of the new SWIM are presented.

microSWIM was featured in Prof. Steve Mann's Humanistic Intelligence segment on Through the Wormhole | Season 7 Episode 2 | Is Privacy Dead

Voyager is a planning and simulation tool for visualising and designing space missions within the Solar System using a 3D interface. The motion of the planets and moons is defined using data from NASA’s JPL Horizons ephemeris ensuring the highest level of precision.

It was piloted as a unique and intuitive way of teaching orbital mechanics at various universities including MIT and University of Toronto among others. It was also featured on the website of StarTalk Radio Show with Neil deGrasse Tyson (https://www.startalkradio.net/project-voyager-and-how-we-get-to-the-stars/)

A paper on this topic has been accepted at the IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia 2016 and will be published in December 2016.

Paper: Extrapolative Lightspace Method for HDR Video
Exposure Selection

Abstract: We propose a method to automatically adjust multiple exposure-value settings for HDR video compositing.
The method uses imagespace-to-lightspace post-conversion and tonal extrapolation to iteratively select optimal exposure settings, as opposed to present systems, which use manually set settings. The limiting factor becomes the image sensor as opposed to the implementation of the algorithm, as in present systems. By choosing the exposure settings with the described algorithm, the high dynamic range sampling process can be adapted to various lighting environments. This algorithm is especially useful for ultra low power capture of optimally selected exposures which can be processed later using well-known HDR compositing methods.

I also won a $10,000 grant from the Ontario Centres of Excellence for this work. 

My work was presented at the Augmenting Reality Exhibit at the Canadian National Exhibition

Link: Canadian National Exhibition Augmenting Reality Exhibit

Description: Follow us on a journey through reality where technology and the physical world intersect to create a new experience.

Augmenting Reality presents an insider’s view into a world of technological innovations that enhance our reality through digital means.

Try, touch, and experience throughout this multi-sensory exhibit.

Paper: Phenomenologically Augmented Reality With New Wearable LED Sequential Wave Imprinting Machines

Abstract—The Sequential Wave Imprinting Machine (SWIM), invented by Steve Mann in the 1970s, offers an augmediated reality experience which a group of people can all see with the naked eye (i.e. without the need to wear any special eyeglass). The SWIM is waved back-and-forth in space, and, through persistence-of-exposure (to either human sight, or to a camera such as by way of photographic film or sensor array) makes waves visible. Unlike displaying waves on an oscilloscope, SWIM displays waves arranged in space in such a way that they are registered not only in real-time but also in real-space, providing a naturally augmented reality. This paper outlines improvements in SWIM which are made possible by a simple circuit (with only 2 transistors per element), and recent improvements in LED technology. The result makes possible greater resolution and more dense packing, making it more wearable, and thus more accessible in general. Photos and scientific results of the new SWIM are presented.

ZEITDICE is a Smart Timelapse Camera engineered for capturing long periods of time. I designed a 6 layer PCB for it, developed a time-lapse flicker removal algorithm for it and implemented automatic exposure selection and high dynamic range imaging for it. 

I also won a $10,000 grant from the Ontario Centres of Excellence for my high dynamic range research and implementation. 

Company Website: Zeitdice Inc. 

Won the Undergraduate Summer Research Award for this research, awarded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). 

This system is currently being used at 5 different biomedical labs at the University of Toronto. 

Principal Investigator: Prof. Craig A. Simmons

Lab: Cellular Mechanobiology Lab

It’s a bulging/suspending elastic membrane device made of PDMS (silicone), the membranes are actuated via pressure regulation in the underlying channels. So that by integrating cell seeded/encapsulated hydrogel constructs onto the device membranes, we can introduce 3D mechanical stimulation (e.g. stretching and compression) to the cells (3D hydrogels will be deformed with bulging membranes).

This platform is being used to systematically screen and optimize the effect of 3D mechanical stimulation on cell functions and tissue formation in vitro. Eventually the information can be used to inform applications like heart valve tissue engineering in terms of mechanical loading protocols.

Presented this research at the University of Toronto Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering Summer
Research Day 2015. 

A self-powered Internet of Things (IoT) tire health monitoring system was developed. A piezo energy harvester was developed to power the system. The system consisted of 6 piezo energy harvester chips attached to the rim of a car tire that powered a mcu system that monitored the tire's health and reported the data to the car/phone via Bluetooth. The health monitoring system had various sensors on it that measures tire pressure, temperature and acceleration (for wheel alignment). 

Won the Undergraduate Summer Research Award for this research, awarded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). 

Principal Investigator: Prof. Craig A. Simmons

Lab: Cellular Mechanobiology Lab

Podium and poster presentation at University of Toronto Undergraduate Engineering Research Day 2015. 

Poster: Click here

Title: Development and Application of a Method to Establish Pressure-Strain Calibration Curves for Cell Stretching Systems

Abstract: The Flexcell FX-4000™ Tension System is a patented, computerized, and pressure-operated instrument that applies a defined and controlled duration of cyclic tension to cells attached to a deformable membrane in vitro. A modified version of the Flexcell system with custom components is being used in our lab, but the strains exerted on the membrane in the modified set up have yet to be characterized. The goal of this project is to develop and apply a method to characterize the membrane strains applied in the modified system. Our approach involves using pre-existing strain calculation algorithms that are being modified to suit the Flexcell system, as well as a bio-image analysis tool developed to analyze videos of the membranes undergoing deformation. Currently, a plugin is being developed for the interface and algorithm of a bioimage analysis software called Icy. The plugin detects and tracks five spots that are marked on the membranes. An algorithm determines the strain in certain regions based on displacement of the tracked spots and calculates the resulting strain field in the membrane as a function of the applied pressure. The pressure-strain calibration curves will be used to enable application of physiological and superphysiological strains to heart valve cells to test the hypothesis that excessive strain associated with high blood pressure causes disease development in heart valve cells.

A regular X-Y plotter was converted to a multidimensional(up to 4 dimensions) data visualization plotter by mounting a rotating microSWIM on the X-Y plotter. 

The movement in the X-Y axes of the plotter provide 2 dimensions and the polar coordinates obtained by the rotation(theta) and LED level(magnitude) of the microSWIM provide 2 more dimensions. Hence, making the device capable of visualizing data that is spread over 4 dimensions. 

Abstract:
As the field of Wearable Computing and Augmented Reality progressed, very few inexpensive solutions to augment the reality of the visually impaired have been witnessed. We present an interactive demonstration of open-source augmented reality wearable device that assists visually impaired individuals by providing them with smart vision via auditory feedback.

Publication: We AR sight: an open source augmented reality wearable device to assist visually impaired individuals

Interview: Making Interaction More Natural, One Device at a Time: The Story of ‘We AR Sight’

AIC ADT Baramati Foundation Initiative

Project Overview:

At the heart of the Agricultural Development Trust in Baramati, I played a pivotal role in establishing a transformative innovation and incubation facility. This initiative was designed to foster rural and agrarian development through a comprehensive innovation ecosystem, supporting ventures from their nascent idea stages through to tangible product development.

Creating an Innovation Ecosystem for Rural Advancement:

• Innovation Labs Design: I spearheaded the design of state-of-the-art innovation labs that empower individuals with ideas to navigate the journey from concept to prototype efficiently. These labs serve as the breeding ground for groundbreaking agricultural innovations.

• Co-working Spaces: Recognizing the importance of a conducive work environment for emerging startups, I designed versatile co-working spaces. These areas offer vital infrastructure that enables startups to flourish, facilitating seamless business operations.

• Mentoring Programs: With a focus on nurturing talent, I initiated comprehensive mentoring programs tailored for startups and first-time entrepreneurs. These programs provide exposure to key technological and business strategies, offering invaluable interactions with successful startup founders and leading researchers.

• Collaborative Partnerships: A cornerstone of our ecosystem's success has been establishing robust partnerships with corporate entities and government agencies. These alliances have been instrumental in piloting innovative technologies and solutions, paving the way for real-world applications of startup innovations.

Impact and Vision:

This project underscores my commitment to leveraging technology and entrepreneurship as catalysts for rural upliftment. By creating a vibrant ecosystem that supports the entire innovation lifecycle, from ideation to market introduction, we aim to inspire sustainable agricultural advancements and foster a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Link: https://www.aicadtbaramatifoundation.org/