Research Director: Takeo IGARASHI
(Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo)
Research Term: 2007-2012

Almost everything we use in our daily life today is a commodity bought at a store and our life is made possible by "consuming" these commodities. However, living a life just by "consuming" given information and goods is very sad. We believe that real humane life should be a life where people "create" something only he or she can create as a part of self-expression and "share" it with others as a evidence of his or her existence.

The goal of this project is to develop computational systems that cultivate people's creativity by supporting their self-expression in the form of digital media and real-world entities. To that end, we develop innovative software technologies that help people to achieve the following three goals: (1) to create sophisticated visual expression such as three-dimensional computer graphics and animations, (2) to design their own real-world, everyday objects such as clothing and furniture, and (3) to design the behavior of their personal robots to satisfy their particular needs.