Hayes Raffle

Hayes Raffle is an award-winning innovator specializing in products that nurture learning, creative expression, and interpersonal communication. He is a Senior Staff Designer on Google's Learning and Education team, and is an Edmund Hillary Fellow developing new technologies for social impact.

Prior to that, Hayes served as the overall UX lead for Google's AR Devices program, and helped create consumer AR and VR products including Google Daydream VR and Google Glass.

Hayes recently spent a year researching technology use throughout the world. In his prior academic pursuits, Hayes earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab, and a B.A. in fine art from Yale.

He has been awarded over 70 US utility and design patents for his inventions. He is a named inventor on over 50 of Google’s patents in AR/VR including the patents for Google Glass, eye tracking for user interfaces, and the Daydream View Headset and Daydream Controller, which quickly became the industry standard 3 DoF immersive computing input method after its announcement.

Hayes has authored over 40 peer-reviewed academic publications in the areas of tangible media, technologies for learning, and virtual and augmented reality.

His work in Family Communication at Nokia Research set a foundation new technologies for young children to connect with long-distance loved ones. His toys and learning tools include the award-winning Topobo and ZOOB® building systems.

Hayes has shown his work in Europe, Asia and the United States. Various projects have been featured by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, The Tonight Show, ID Magazine, and other major publications.