The Future of Flavor - Reinventing Human-Food Interactions

Wednesday, October 19 12:00 - 12:45pm EST via Zoom

Presenter: Dr. Nimesha Ranasinghe

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About the Event

Dr. Nimesha Ranasinghe, an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine and Co-founder of FlaVR Labs Inc., shares his exciting innovations in multisensory media to achieve total sensory immersion in Mixed Reality experiences. Hear how next-generation multisensory technologies will enhance the possibilities of delivering immersive experiences in the Metaverse and beyond. Nimesha will talk about his prior work on simulating taste sensations using electrical and thermal stimulation and will discuss his recent work on simulating flavors by digitally overlaying electric taste, color, and smell as stimuli lays the foundation for a new concept called 'Flavor Interfaces'. 

Join this interactive brainstorm as Nimesha seeks to address some of his innovation challenges!

Meet Dr. Ranasinghe

Dr. Ranasinghe's research interests include Multisensory Computing, Human-Computer Interaction, and Augmented and Virtual Reality. Nimesha is exploring the concept of 'Flavor Interfaces' where computing technologies can be applied to augment the traditional human-food interactions at the dining table. He is well-known for his Digital Taste (a.k.a. Virtual Flavors) and Virtual Cocktail (Vocktail) inventions and featured in numerous media around the world, including New Scientist, New York Times, Time Magazine, BBC Radio, Discovery Channel, and Reuters. Furthermore, he has published his work in several prestigious academic conferences and journals, including the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the ACM conference on Multimedia, and the Journal of Human-Computer Studies. In addition, he has received numerous awards for his research works; in 2014, his work on Digital Lollipop was selected as one of the ten best innovations in the world by the netexplo forum at the UNESCO HQ, Paris.

About the Innovation Blender Series

The Innovation Blender offers participants an opportunity to connect with stakeholders and potential users from MaineHealth, The Roux Institute at Northeastern University, and the Maine innovation/entrepreneurial ecosystem! This is a learning opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs to receive insights and instant feedback to support early innovations and new start-ups. 

About Mainehealth Innovation

MaineHealth Innovation is committed to fostering a culture of innovation within MaineHealth and among our community partners. We define innovation as a novel idea that solves an unmet care need through new care team models, products, or services. Multi-disciplinary collaboration is key and pivoting is part of the game. Solving problems creatively provides an opportunity to have fun and work better together. Join our mailing list

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