{"691806":{"#nid":"691806","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Alumni in Accessibility: Dhaval Patel, Founder of Lotus","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003ECelebrating the Georgia Tech alumni making a difference in accessibility!\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0027Smart home\u0027 tech today asks the user to rewire their environment to connect to Wi-Fi, then put speakers everywhere, then set it all up through another app. For millions of people, including students in dorms, each of those steps is a wall.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDhaval Patel spent nearly a decade at Apple before founding Lotus: a wearable ring that controls objects by pointing \u2014 no rewiring, no app, no internet.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EHe\u0027ll walk through the human-centered design process behind how this product came to be: why the team started by interviewing the people nobody interviews, and how a contrarian principle on design optimization produced a product that now serves seniors, pregnant mothers, and college students alike.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EThis event will be held on August 25 from 11:00AM-12:15PM in the Caddell Flex Space. A light lunch will be served. Space is limited, so please only indicate in person if you truly intend to be in person. For those interested in the online option, a teams link will be sent closer to the time of the event.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the speaker:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Dhaval Patel is the founder of Lotus Ring, a wearable device company that creates products for people with disabilities. He has his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (\u002708 \u0026amp; \u002709).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Smart home\u0027 tech today asks the user to rewire their environment to connect to Wi-Fi, then put speakers everywhere, then set it all up through another app. For millions of people, including students in dorms, each of those steps is a wall.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDhaval Patel spent nearly a decade at Apple before founding Lotus: a wearable ring that controls objects by pointing \u2014 no rewiring, no app, no internet.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EHe\u0027ll walk through the human-centered design process behind how this product came to be: why the team started by interviewing the people nobody interviews, and how a contrarian principle on design optimization produced a product that now serves seniors, pregnant mothers, and college students alike.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EThis event will be held on August 25 from 11:00AM-12:15PM in the Caddell Flex Space. A light lunch will be served. Space is limited, so please only indicate in person if you truly intend to be in person. For those interested in the online option, a teams link will be sent closer to the time of the event.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the speaker:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Dhaval Patel is the founder of Lotus Ring, a wearable device company that creates products for people with disabilities. He has his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (\u002708 \u0026amp; \u002709).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Celebrating the Georgia Tech alumni making a difference in accessibility!"}],"uid":"36680","created_gmt":"2026-08-19 15:27:07","changed_gmt":"2026-08-19 15:31:33","author":"llee344","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-08-25T11:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-08-25T12:15:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-08-25T12:15:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-08-25 15:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-08-25 16:15:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-08-25 16:15:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Caddell Flex Space, 280 Ferst Drive, 1st Floor, Atlanta, GA 30332","extras":["free_food"],"hg_media":{"680914":{"id":"680914","type":"image","title":"Alumni in Accessibility Dhaval Patel","body":null,"created":"1787151515","gmt_created":"2026-08-19 14:58:35","changed":"1787151620","gmt_changed":"2026-08-19 15:00:20","alt":"A picture of Dhaval Patel with the text Alumni in Accessibility, Caddell flex space 11-12:15 aug 25. ","file":{"fid":"265247","name":"Alumni-in-Access-flyer-Dhaval.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/19\/Alumni-in-Access-flyer-Dhaval.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/19\/Alumni-in-Access-flyer-Dhaval.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2512508,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/19\/Alumni-in-Access-flyer-Dhaval.png?itok=ma47lv3l"}}},"media_ids":["680914"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/forms.cloud.microsoft\/r\/HU3WwfZyyL","title":"Register"}],"groups":[{"id":"660387","name":"Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"6894","name":"accessibilty"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"194684","name":"Free"},{"id":"194683","name":"Talk"},{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"194945","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"177814","name":"Postdoc"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELauren Lee, lauren.lee@design.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}