Anirudh Sharma: Ink made of air pollution
Anirudh Sharma: Tinta hecha a partir de la contaminación del aire
Inventor Anirudh Sharma is the founder of Graviky Labs, an MIT Media Labs spinoff. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
to five million people die
y cinco millones de personas
20 minutes' worth of pollution
you can see it right now,
in the air, you won't see them.
ahí afuera, son invisibles.
nuestros pulmones no las pueden filtrar.
and they end up in our bodies --
if not treated in the right time.
si no se tratan en el momento correcto.
when I was a student in 2012,
cuando era estudiante,
of a diesel generator,
de un generador diesel,
which is a sign of human progress,
símbolo del progreso humano,
as a society in the last 100 years,
como sociedad en los últimos 100 años
triangular, black-colored swatch,
muestra triangular de color negro
residual particulate waste
desechos de partículas residual
both pollution and inks,
la contaminación y las tintas,
that black-colored mark.
ink that we use conventionally
que usamos convencionalmente
de combustibles fósiles en las fábricas.
fossil fuels in factories.
that are burning fossil fuels
que queman combustibles fósiles
que usamos día a día.
on an everyday basis.
of liters of fossil fuels
millones de litros de combustible fósil
and our exhaust out there,
a este experimento.
and conducted a small experiment.
e hice un pequeño experimento.
much pollution to play with,
mucha contaminación,
that would suck in that candle soot,
para aspirar el hollín de la vela,
vegetable oil and vodka,
aceite vegetal y vodka,
these were really easily available.
eran muy fáciles de conseguir.
a very rudimentary form of ink
de tinta muy rudimentaria
of experimenting
that I showed you in the petri dish,
que les mostré en la placa de Petri,
that is being burned out there.
el combustible fósil que se quema.
this experimentation forward
con este experimento
of air pollution.
used to look something like this.
el laboratorio lucía así.
were not always controlled,
no siempre eran controlados
looking something like this.
how exactly to reach there.
by that lab through that building
por el laboratorio en ese edificio
"These guys are making bombs in there,"
están fabricando bombas",
wires and smoke in the same vicinity.
cables y humo en los alrededores.
and take experiments forward.
y avanzar con los experimentos.
and during the early stages,
durante las primeras etapas
with contraptions like these.
con dispositivos como este.
"¿Qué están haciendo esos autos?".
driving around doing?"
of our system that would capture pollution
para captar la contaminación
a conventional diesel-based car.
and created this into this version
y creamos esta versión
from static sources of pollution,
de fuentes estáticas,
as soon as you turn this machine on.
al encender la máquina.
the performance of the engine,
95 percent worth of pollution
that we are talking about that we capture,
del que hablamos y que captamos,
of operation of a generator.
de funcionamiento del generador.
and our research was advancing,
y nuestra investigación avanzaban,
approached us and said,
muy importante, y nos dijo:
further with you guys,
esta idea con Uds., chicos,
in a very big celebrated form."
de una forma extraordinaria".
global de arte", dijeron,
off this pollution."
a partir de la contaminación".
40 to 50 minutes of that car pollution
reciclando unos 40 o 50 minutos
de la que estamos hablando,
de la placa de Petri.
that is in the petri dish.
that you can write with.
en un color muy negro.
that is generated by the same pollution.
generado por la misma contaminación.
en el laboratorio,
to do a very big trial of this idea.
para hacer un gran ensayo con esta idea.
and we didn't think twice.
así que no lo pensamos dos veces.
in the real world is completely another.
real es algo completamente distinto.
our own houses and own kitchens
nuestras propias casas y cocinas
for making these inks.
para hacer estas tintas.
de mi cofundador Nihil,
to artists all around the world,
a los artistas que pintan con AIR-INK
AIR-INKs to the ports
las AIR-INK en los puertos
around the world can use it.
usarlas en todo el mundo.
started using AIR-INK,
empezaron a usar AIR-INK,
pollution-made artworks
hechas con contaminación
of scientists and engineers and inventors,
ingenieros e inventores,
than that the product of their work
que ver el producto de su trabajo
of the finest artists around the world.
los mejores artistas del mundo.
magazine last year,
"Contagious" del año pasado,
that we made back in our labs.
que hicimos en nuestro laboratorio.
by the British artist, Christian Furr,
del artista británico Christian Furr,
"Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones.
de los Rolling Stones.
pueden ir mucho más allá
and pop-culture artworks.
que pueda generar dinero negro,
I mean, just money --
processes and inks
y tintas de alta calidad
the conventional black inks
negras convencionales
thousands of years around the world.
durante los últimos miles de años.
and artworks around the world,
popularidad y obras de arte mundiales
kind of a problem.
de problema muy diferente.
basura de contaminadores
to our office address,
de contaminación a nuestra oficina
with this pollution?"
has pollution samples
tenemos muestras de contaminación
from India, from China, you name it.
this specific image, asking us
esta imagen específica, diciendo
filled with PM 2.5,
todas llenas de MP2,5
if we paid him some money.
si le pagábamos algo de dinero.
if we did not take that pollution?
si no hubiéramos tomado su contaminación?
or a landfill and dump it over there.
o un vertedero y la habría arrojado allí.
of AIR-INK figured out on the other side,
los aspectos económicos de AIR-INK,
this pollution and make inks from it,
esa contaminación para hacer tintas,
more valuable products.
de un valor aún mayor.
is a global killer.
la contaminación es un asesino mundial.
el problema de la contaminación.
will solve the world's pollution problem.
si encaramos el problema de otra forma.
slightly differently.
I'm holding right now.
AIR-INK I'm talking about.
de la que estoy hablando,
that is inside this petri dish.
que hay en esta placa de Petri,
breathing in when we are walking outdoors.
cuando caminamos afuera.
to do better than this.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Anirudh Sharma - Engineer, inventorInventor Anirudh Sharma is the founder of Graviky Labs, an MIT Media Labs spinoff.
Why you should listen
Anirudh Sharma's interest lies in deep-tech, science-based social entrepreneurship. He fuses cutting-edge sensor, wearable and man-machine interface technology. In 2010, Sharma invented a haptic shoe called "Lechal" to guide the blind. Lechal was the earliest wearable innovation designed for the visually challenged. During his tenure at Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab, Sharma worked on future fabrication and augmented reality with futuristic displays. After returning from MIT, he co-led the nonprofit consortium MIT Media Lab India Initiative with the goal of remodeling and perpetuating self-organized, design-led innovation into the grassroots in India.
Sharma also cofounded Graviky Labs to evolve his side project KAALINK, a retrofit technology which captures particulate carbon emissions from chimneys or diesel engines (without affecting the performance of the engine) before they enter the atmosphere. The captured pollutants are then recycled into inks, called AIR-INK. Forty-five minutes of automotive emissions is equivalent to produce 30 milliliters of black AIR-INK. The company has found its niche globally, replacing conventional black inks applied to arts, printing and fashion industry as a means to offset carbon. To date, Graviky has recycled roughly 250 kilograms of PM2.5 air pollution waste, which has produced 1,200 liters of AIR-INK. Sharma also loves folk, magic and indie artforms.
Anirudh Sharma | Speaker | TED.com