Creation of Human-Harmonized Information Technology for Convivial Society

Strategic Objective

Creation of Basic Technology that Enables an Information Environment that is in Harmony with People

Research Supervisor

Toyoaki Nishida (Professor, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University)

ex-Research Supervisor (until December 2013)
Yoh’ich Tohkura (Professor, Deputy Director General, National Institute of Informatics)

Year Started

2009

Topics

2016/1/15
 The first half of the research area outcomes was published as a book from Springer.
 “Human-Harmonized Information Technology, Volume 1″

2015/9/8 Press Release
 Masataka Goto (Prime Senior Researcher, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)
 Publication of a Service That Allows Easy Production and Sharing of Videos with Lyrics Animated in Synchrony with Music

2013/5/15 Press Release
 Prof. Masatoshi Ishikawa(University of Tokyo)
 Visual and Tactile Cues for High-Speed Interaction

Outline

This research area aims for the establishment of fundamental technologies to achieve harmony between human beings and the information environment by integrating element technologies such as real-space communication, human interfaces, and media processing.
Specifically, this research area promotes trans-disciplinary approach among following research scopes to establish Human-Harmonized Information Technology.
・Recognition and comprehension of human behavior and real-space context by utilizing sensor networks and ubiquitous computing
・Technologies for facilitating man-machine communication by utilizing robots and ubiquitous networks
・Contents technologies related analysis, mining, integrating and structuring of a variety of different types of media, including text, voice, music, and picture images
Furthermore, this research area also promotes researches that create the breakthrough technologies for the harmonious interaction of human and information environments, and trans-disciplinary researches on cognition processes in the perspective of creating human harmonized information technologies.

Year Started : 2009

Life Log Infrastructure for Food

Research Director:

Kiyoharu Aizawa (Professor, The University of Tokyo)

Research Project Outline:

“Food” is one of the most important and regularly consumed factor in our daily life. However, so far, this has rarely been viewed as an object of information processing. In this research, we aim at developing an infrastructure for life log, with emphasis on food and food-related activities in our daily life. We investigate capture, analysis, visualization and interfacing of multimedia logs of food and related experiences. Making use of this data collection, we further investigate potential community discovery, support for communications, standardization of life log data, and privacy control issues. We also investigate applications such as healthcare.

Dynamic Information Space based on High-speed Sensor Technology

Research Director:

Masatoshi Ishikawa (Professor, The University of Tokyo)

Research Project Outline:

We attempt construction of a new information space allowing humans to recognize phenomena exceeding the limitations of the human senses.
Crucial to this effort are: (1) perfect detection of underlying dynamics and (2) a new model of sensory-motor integration drawn from work with kHz-rate sensor and display technologies. Within the information space the sampling rate is matched with the dynamics of the physical world; so humans are able to deterministically predict attributes of the surrounding, rapidly-evolving environment. This leads to a new type of interaction, where the learning rate and capacity of our recognition system are augmented.

Developing a communication environment by decoding and controlling implicit interpersonal information

Research Director:

Makio Kashino (Group Leader, NTT Corporation)

Research Project Outline:

Smooth and effective interpersonal communication depends strongly on implicit, non-symbolic information that emerges from the interaction between partners (Implicit InterPersonal Information, IIPI). Our goal is to develop new methods to improve the quality of communication by (1) decoding IIPI from brain activities, physiological responses and body movements, and (2) controlling IIPI by sensorimotor stimulation and non-invasive brain stimulation.

Smart seminar room baesd on multi-modal recognition of verbal and non-verbal information

Research Director:

Tatsuya Kawahara (Professor, Kyoto University)

Research Project Outline:

Based on a multi-modal analysis and modeling of speech communication used for human intellectual activities, we design IT-enhanced environments for seminars and meetings, which provide real-time supports to participants and make their effective archive for later reference. In addition to the conventional approach to process main speaker’s utterances, a novel indexing approach focusing on audience reaction is incorporated.

Elucidation of perceptual illusion and development of secse-centered human interface

Research Director:

Yasuharu Koike (Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Research Project Outline:

Tele-existence is trying to replicate physically plausible information by providing with a real sensation of presence. In this project, we aim to elucidate the mechanisms of the perceptual illusion for visco-elastic function in the brain. Perceptual illusion would realize new human interface without elaborate system.

Sensing and controlling human gaze in daily living space for human-harmonized information environments

Research Director:

Yoichi Sato (Professor, The University of Tokyo)

Research Project Outline:

The goal of this project is to develop novel technologies for sensing and controlling human gaze non-invasively in daily living space. Such technologies are the key to realize human-harmonized information environments which can provide us various kinds of supports more effectively without distracting our activities.

Modeling and detecting overtrust from behavior signals

Research Director:

Kazuya Takeda (Professor, Nagoya University)

Research Project Outline:

Based on large signal corpora, this project studies the mathematical modeling of human behaviors through mapping the behaviors onto two discrete-continuous hybrid systems, i.e., the cognition-decision process and the decision-action process. This research aims at building such a behavior model that can relate the human internal state and the observed behavior signals. Research results will be applied to and evaluated through detecting overtrust caused by misunderstandings between human and machines in real environments.

Construction and Utilization of Human-harmonized “Tangible” Information Environment

Research Director:

Susumu Tachi (Professor, Keio University)

Research Project Outline:

This project aims to construct an intelligent information environment that is both visible and tangible, where real-space communication, human-machine interface and media processing are integrated. The goal is to create a human-harmonized “tangible information environment” that allows human beings to obtain and understand haptic information in the real space, to transmit thus obtained haptic space, and to actively interact with other people using the transmitted haptic space. The tangible environment enables telecommunication, tele-experience, and pseudo-experience with the sensation of working as though in a natural environment. It also enables humans to engage in creative activities such as design and creation as though they were in the real environment.

Year Started : 2010

Studies on cellphone-type teleoperated androids transmitting human presence

Research Director:

Hiroshi Ishiguro (Visiting group leader, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International)

Research Project Outline:

This project will realize cellphone-type teleoperated androids “Elfoid” (the common name is “Geminoid cellphone”). It is a new communication method that can transmit human presence anytime and anywhere. The user can transmit his/her presence to the distant place by the Elfoid and the conversation partner in the place can talk to the Elfoid as if it is the user. In addition to the personal computers and smartphones, the Efloid will be new information media that harmonize information technologies with people.

Development of a sound field sharing system for creating and exchanging music

Research Director:

Shiro Ise (Professor, Tokyo Denki University)

Research Project Outline:

The purpose of this study is to build an information communication environment that supports the exchange of music, a universal language, with high fidelity. We develop a sound field sharing system that will help music professionals such as musicians, acoustic engineers, music educators, and music critics to enhance their skills and further explore their creativity by providing them with the means to experience 3D sound in a telecommunication environment. This innovative form of music production using communication technology also provides the general public a platform for a new experience of entertainment.

Enabling a mobile social robot to adapt to a public space in a city.

Research Director:

Takayuki Kanda (Senior Research Scientist, Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International)

Research Project Outline:

This project is aimed to realize a future city environment in which a social robot roams in a public space and offers useful services, such as information-providing and physical assistance.
In order to realize this project, two kinds of research will be conducted. The first one will be aimed at achieving a technique based on a sensor network that will be able to understand how the humans use a public place. The second investigation will be aimed at enabling a robot to roam the environment without hindering the movement of people, while talking kindly to walking people.

Development of Fundamental Technologies for Innovative Use of Character/Document Media and Their Application to Creating Human Harmonized Information Environment

Research Director:

Koichi Kise (Professor, Osaka Prefecture University)

Research Project Outline:

This project is to transfigure traditional media of characters and documents to new active media by using technologies such as high-speed character recognition and document image retrieval. The new media allow us to navigate the user based on the description of signboards and posters, as well as to retrieve and display necessary information based on a log of reading (reading lifelog) and the part the user is reading.

Behavior Understanding based on Intention-Gait Model

Research Director:

Yasushi Yagi (Executive Vice President, Osaka University)

Research Project Outline:

The main purpose of this project is to develop technologies for estimating intention, a mental and physical condition, and human relations from gait patterns.
We also investigate how human-harmonized information environments can be built using the technologies.

Year Started : 2011

Building a Similarity-aware Information Environment for a Content-Symbiotic Society

Research Director:

Masataka Goto (Prime Senior Researcher, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST))

Research Project Outline:

The purpose of this project is to develop fundamental technologies for building a similarity-aware information environment in which people are able to know similarities among vast amounts of media content. This environment will help establish a “content-symbiotic society” in which media content such as music and video can be created and used in innovative, but ethical ways. Furthermore, by developing technologies for enhancing content creation and appreciation, we aim to promote a society in which anyone can actively engage in content creation and appreciation, and a content culture that respects past content and emphasizes experiencing emotion.

Pedagogical Machine: Developmental cognitive science approach to create teaching/teachable machines

Research Director:

Kazuo Hiraki (Professor, The University of Tokyo)

Research Project Outline:

This project aims to construct a pedagogical machine – an artifact that can help and enhance human learning. To that end, we adopt a developmental cognitive science approach revealing the mechanism of real human learning in communicative situations (e.g. mother-infant interaction). Multiple and integrative methods – behavioral experiments, brain imaging, internet research – are used to specify the features that the machine must have. The machine will be tested in a realistic situation accumulating scientific knowledge for the future education.

User Generated Dialogue Systems: uDialogue

Research Director:

Keiichi Tokuda (Professor, Nagoya Institute of Technology)

Research Project Outline:

In developing spoken dialogue systems, it is important to construct attractive content that gives users positive motivation to talk to a system. Recently, user-generated content has been successfully used in many web services such as Wikipedia and YouTube. In this project, we apply the idea of user-generated content to spoken dialogue systems, and empirically clarify the mechanism and conditions that the systems work in practical situations.

Harmonized Inter-Personal Display Based on Position and Direction Control

Research Director:

Takeshi Naemura (Professor, The University of Tokyo)

Research Project Outline:

The aim of this study is to implement harmonized inter-personal display technology based on the premise that it will be used in gathering places frequented by several people. This technology will be geared toward facilitating face-to-face communication while superimposing a world of information on the real world. Hitherto, superposition techniques (augmented reality) have mainly been used within the information terminal displays of individual users. In this study, we go beyond this framework by embedding information in light and sound which is presented to users while controlling the locality and directionality for the real world, thereby allowing people to freely access information that is spread out spatially rather than being held within the confines of a display screen.

Research Area Advisors

・Tomonori AOYAMA Ph.D.
  Visiting Professor
  Keio University
  Faculty of Science and Technology

・Kazuo ASAKAWA Ph.D.
  Fellow
  FUJITSU LABORATORIES LTD.

・Hiroshi ISHII Ph.D.
  Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
  Associate Director of MIT Media Laboratory

・Dr.Eng.Tohru IFUKUBE
  Project Research Fellow
  Professor Emeritus of The University of Tokyo & Hokkaido University

・SUZUKI,Yoiti Dr.ENG.
  Professor
  Tohoku University
  Research Institute of Electrical Communication

・EISAKU MAEDA Ph.D.
  Director
  NTT Communication Science Laboratories

・Taro MAEDA Ph.D.
  PROFESSOR
  DEPARTMENT OF BIOINFOMATIC ENGINEERING
  GRADUATE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
  OSAKA UNIVERSITY

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