Honghao Deng (
zh:邓鸿浩) is a Chinese
computational designer and entrepreneur who resides in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. He is co-founder and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Butlr Technologies and formerly was a researcher at City Science Group,
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...
.
Education
He earned a
Master
Master, master's or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
In education:
*Master (college), head of a college
*Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline
*Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...
of Design Technology with Distinction at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
Career
Deng founded
Butlr Technologies along with
Jiani Zeng in 2019. Prior to that he was a researcher at City Science Group,
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...
.
In 2020, his project with Jiani Zeng, ''Illusory Material: 3D Printed Optical Textiles'' was selected "The best experimental design project of 2020" by
Fast Company
''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually.
History
''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...
and won the
2020 Red Dot: Best of the Best, selected from 4170 entries from 52 countries.
During
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Honghao led his team at Butlr to develop sensors to help combat the disease. These sensors are ceiling-mounted to detect body heat and track people's movements indoors. They are thought to help business understand how clients navigate their stores. As of February 2025, Butlr had sold more than 20,000 of it sensors.
In 2022, he was named to the
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
30-under-30 list.
In 2024, he was interviewed by
NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
.
Publications
* 2021 - Lenticular Objects: 3D Printed Objects with Lenticular Lens Surfaces That Can Change their Appearance Depending on the Viewpoint
* 2019 - Diffusive Geometries: Vapor as a Tectonic Element to Sculpt Microclimates in Architectural Space.
*2019 - Hypercept: Speculating the Visual World Intervened by Digital Media.
* 2018 - Twinkle: A Flying Lighting Companion for Urban Safety.
*2018 - Transvision: exploring the state of the visual field in the age of extreme augmentation.
* 2017 - CatEscape: An Asymmetrical Multiplatform Game Connecting Virtual, Augmented and Physical World.
* 2017 - MagicTorch: A Context-aware Projection System for Asymmetrical VR Games.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deng, Honghao
1994 births
Living people
Chinese designers
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
Tianjin University alumni
MIT Media Lab people
Businesspeople from Jiangxi