I am Ali Shtarbanov and my mission is to make prototyping and innovation in emerging fields more rapid and more accessible. I develop general-purpose tools and platforms that enable makers, researchers, artists, and designers to rapidly be able to build the ideas and futures they envision. Inspired by platforms like Arduino and Raspberry PI that liberated electronics and computing for everyone, my current work focuses on building and deploying novel hardware & software platforms aimed at liberating soft robotics and programmable materials for everyone. I am a PhD student and HCI researcher & designer at MIT Media Lab.
Research
Ultrasonic Tactile Display
Undergraduate Thesis Project
Other Works
Modular Organizer for Eyeglasses
Personal Design Project
Dual Microphone Noise Reduction
Undergraduate Independent Study. LabView Implementation
PaperTouch
Capacitive-Touch Storytelling & Drawing Interface
Concepts
WaterBended
Interactive Interface + Storyboard for an Escape Room that uses static electricity to bend water. Product Design Course at MIT
ParticleFlow
Interactive Challenge + Storyboard for an Escape Room based on the Chladny Plate Phenomenon. Graduate Product Design Course at MIT
WaterLevitator
Interactive Interface + Storyboard for an Escape Room based on the Hydrodynamic Levitation Effect. Product Design Course at MIT
MovieNet
Personalized Movie Recommendations via Physiological Responses of Viewers
General-Purpose PCB Designs
Universal MCU Shield
A wiring shield that drastically simplifies wiring complexity during rapid prototyping with most microcontrollers
Vortex Generator Driver
A driver board suitable for any speaker-based vortex generator with up to 6 transducers
