Slides and video of talk on "You can be a Polymath: Innovation through Multidisciplinary Thinking", at The Goa Project 2014 (http://thegoaproject.com/)

2. Have we met before?

3. Let’s start simple
Photography
The Project
• Creativity, Vision
• Calculation, Technology
• Technique and Trickery
BHENDI BAZAAR, MUMBAI
Documenting an urban habitat
on the threshold of transformation

5. That’s just photography!
“Just” a photographer
Multi-Specialist
ISO  Aperture
ISO 


Coffee Food
Noise Reduction
Image Stacking

6. Skills Mix
Tools &
Usage
Software
Skills
Photography
Project
Objective
Social
Skills
Human
Physiology
Research

7. pol·y·math
/ˈ
päliˈmaTH/

8. Well-known polymaths
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
• Painter, Engineer, Inventor, Botanist
Richard (Billy) Arnold (1905-1976)
• Racer, PhD (MIT), WW2 General
Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000)
• Actress, Scientist, Inventor (FH-SS)

9. Any polymath you know?
Every 5 year old!
… and “that person”, your
walking encyclopedia friend
… and you, if you can break
the social conditioning
… Wait, what?

10. Breaking / making a polymath

11. Nurture secondary skills
•
•
•
•
Revisit your choices
Open “closed issues”
Google’s “20% rule”
Set self-challenges

12. A challenge for a polymath
Challenge: Mobility device for the blind
Improve upon the
“white cane”
Products exist, but expensive, imprecise
And for the deaf blind? Even less!
A multifaceted challenge…

13. Skills Mix
Optics
Product
Engineering
Economics
Software
Concept
Human
Physiology
Electronics
Production
Logistics
CAD

14. My solution
WyFindr: A “light cane” for the visually impaired:
• Non-contact device, new safety capabilities
• Detect approaching objects, sense further away
• More Discreet than white cane: Like a flashlight
White Cane: Image By Sarah Chester (email sent to User:Graham87)
[CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
Flashlight: Image By photo © 2005 by Tomasz Sienicki [user: tsca, mail: tomasz.sienicki at gmail.com] (Own work)
[CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or
CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

15. Simple concept
Piezo
Vibrator
Vibration
Driver
Microcontroller
Infrared
Beam
IR Sensors
Obstruction
reflects beam

16. Device CAD

17. What will we achieve?
• Enhanced safety
• Extended range
• Vibration feedback
• Motion sensing
• Improved
precision
• Social comfort
• Low cost, Rs.5000
August Anderson (left) in TV series Covert Affairs is
blind, and uses a fictional laser cane which emits a
visible blue laser pattern

18. Enough of concepts…
Application to business world

19. In the Workplace
I do… many things

20. In the Workplace
Requirement
Final
Output
PMath
I do… many things
Final
Output

21. In the Workplace
Too many = disaster
Easily distracted, bored
Must prioritize effectively
Provide “nascent polymaths”
Repetitive Innovative
I do… many things

22. Turning the tables: Your turn
Challenge: Innovative cell-phone power
Aesthetics
Others?
Technology
Study
Problem
Collaboration
Engineering
Economics

23. Your Action Plan
(homework!)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Allocate time – Daily + Weekly
Identify a mentor
Learn new skill
Rinse & repeat
Pick challenge / project
Create something
Get it reviewed

24. Anti-social behaviour is a trait of
intelligence in a world full of conformists
- Nikola Tesla