Lab Retreat in Yoshino (吉野)

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Hi everyone!　Nice to meet you, I’m M1 Nieda!

This time we had a lab camp at Taiko-ban Hanamu Hanamu in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture for two days on November 11 and 12.

I would like to introduce how the two days went!

Day 1 (M2 students present their research and new members introduce themselves)

M2 students presented their research and new members (Md Mustafizur Rahman, Tuwaemuesa Thapakorn, and intern Liu Jiayin) introduced themselves.

自己紹介の様子

Day 2 (Demonstration presentations by M1 and doctoral students)

In pairs, M1 students and PhD students challenged themselves to “create a demonstration of an interesting and fun idea” and gave presentations.

発表の様子

デモ展示の様子

感想

It was a good opportunity for us to communicate with professors, doctoral students, international students, and other people with whom it is usually difficult to communicate.

During free time, we went sightseeing in Yoshino and enjoyed the vast nature, famous places, and local specialties.

I regret a little that we visited Yoshino just before the autumn leaves turned red….

Finally, we would like to hold the camp again next year.

See you again.

Prof. Kato received ISMAR 2023 Career Impact Award

Prof. Kato received ISMAR 2023 Career Impact Award.

Congratulations, Prof.

・授賞団体/学会：The 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2023)

・学会・イベントの概要、主旨、開催日
IEEE ISMARは、拡張現実感（AR）、複合現実感（MR）、仮想現実感（VR）に関する最高峰の会議であり、学術界と産業界の両方から世界有数の研究者が集まります。
IEEE ISMAR is the premier conference for Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR), which attracts the world’s leading researchers from both academia and industry.

・受賞名： ISMAR 2023 Career Impact Award

・受賞日：2023/10/18

・受賞者 加藤博一 Hirokazu Karo

・受賞の概要
この度、加藤教授の長年にわたる研究が当該分野へ多大な影響を与えたことが評価され、Career Impact Awardが贈られました。
In recognition for the significant impact his lifelong research has had to the field of Augmented Reality

・受賞コメント　等
拡張現実感に関する研究に９８年から２５年間取り組んできましたが、このような形で評価いただき、光栄に思います。
短かったようにも感じますが、当時は実験システムの構築だけで一苦労だったのが、
今では誰もが持っているスマートフォンにその技術が搭載されており、技術の進化を実感できます。
拡張現実感技術の発展に少しは貢献できたことを嬉しく思います。
“I am very honored to receive this award.
I have been working on research on augmented reality for 25 years since 1998.
When I started this research, even building the experimental system was challenging.
However, this technology is now installed in the smartphones that everyone owns, and I can truly see the evolution of technology.
I’m glad that I was able to make a small contribution to the development of augmented reality technology.”

HCII at Denmark

Hi this is Prof. Sawabe.

I attended HCII2023 and gave a presentation.

This was my first time attending HCII and my first time in Copenhagen, Denmark (the venue).

I arrived in Denmark after a 19-hour flight via Doha (transit).

What is this conference about?:

HCI INTERNATIONAL 2023 25TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION AC Bella Sky Hotel and Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark

The parallel sessions were held from morning (around 8:00) to evening (around 18:00).
Of course, you can freely attend any session you like, so you can pick up only the presentations you are interested in.

Through the lectures I attended and the ones I presented, I found that various efforts are being made around the world on the topic of ICT for the elderly, and some of the services are actually being used by elderly users.

The content of my presentation was about the operation of a service that uses smartphone agents to listen to how people use their smartphones and their smartphone problems, but there are not many approaches using agents (characters) yet. (I felt that most research assumes that elderly users already have smartphones and use them normally. I think there is a big challenge here!)

Denmark itself is a very laid-back country, and the temperature outside was cool (about 20 degrees Celsius on average, while it was about 35 degrees Celsius in Japan at that time…). It was also cool (or cold) inside the hotel, so we had to buy clothes locally. The tax rate was so high that even a set of Mac🙆D cost about 2,000 yen (!!!!). The LEGO store was very crowded, as you would expect from the birthplace of LEGO.

Former IMD member research student visited us!

A former IMD member, Mr. Daniel Eckhoff (currently at City University of Hong Kong, formerly at Universitat Oldenburg) visited us from Hong Kong (where he is currently working).

He gave a lecture on his research, which was a rare opportunity for M1 and M2 students to interact with outside researchers.

Daniel’s research is on pseudo-tactile sensation, and he presented his research on perception in the area of human touch and changing the appearance of hands (showing the effect of 🔥).

(Maybe I can be a real Ende⚪︎- (My Hero AOOOemia) in the future?)

I hope to see you in Hong Kong next time.

Open Campus Day 2023

Nihao(你好), everybody!

I’m your friendly lab mate, Ma, from IMD Lab!
Glad to be writing my first blog post and getting to know all of you!

We had this OpenCampus event on May 13th, and our lab was lit up with many demos. So many curious minds dropped by for a look-see, thank you very much!

On the first floor, Akiyoshi, Noguchi, and Ueda were hustling, showing off our poster to the crowd.

We’ve sometimes had that heart-racing moment of talking to strangers, right? Yoneyama’s research might just be the key to soothe your nerves!

Ever been stuck in a speech without feedback, clueless about your performance? Takahama is on the case to tackle this problem!

Then there’s Akira, diving deep into object recognition in the environment. 2D recognition is a piece of cake, but 3D, especially with not-so-powerful devices like HMD, now that’s the real challenge. But Akira is trying his best to cover!

And like magic, with Geert’s research, your iPad or phone screen can become transparent! As your head position changes, so does your screen display!

Ever wondered if praise during gameplay pumps you up or is it the other way around? Taguchi’s demo focuses on utilizing conversation robots in gaming.

Noguchi’s research is pretty cool. Estimating a sprinter’s posture through a 3D camera provides an even more detailed basis for athletic training.

Soshiro and Matoba are developing a general-purpose AR work support system. Sure, the idea of AR aiding work is now mature, but creating such a system is tough as nails! With our system, you can swiftly whip up an AR work support system.

IMD is also into human-computer interaction research!

And guess what? We’ve got the only autonomous vehicle in NAIST. The biggest roadblock to the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles might not be technology, but psychology! Our goal is to reduce the psychological stress of passengers riding in highly autonomous vehicles, promote the adoption of autonomous vehicle technology, and enhance passenger comfort. Ma and Shimizu are in the garage, eager to share this research!

Up on the seventh floor, Nieda and Liu are introducing haptic robots. Paired with AR or VR systems, these robots can offer you an entirely different experience!

IMD Lab is brimming with exciting research topics. If you’re interested, we’d love to have you pop in!

Last but not least, big thanks to our intern Guo for snapping some awesome photos!

Did you have fun at the Open Campus?! We hope to see you around IMD again!

ISMAR2022

Hi everyone,

IMD lab, D3 student, Sid here!

Last October 17-21, I was given the opportunity to attend in person ISMAR2022 in Singapore.

I presented my work entitled “Application of Participatory Design Methodology in AR: Developing Prototypes for Two Context Scenarios” as a workshop paper in Design and User Research in AR/VR/MR.

I really learned a lot attending the conference and listening to the different research presented, and I was especially inspired by the Keynote speech of Henry Fuchs where he shared his story on what the purpose of AR is. It is indeed endearing that one of the brightest man could have such pure wishes, as his dream is for AR to be the bridge of interaction between him and his beloved ones at times when they are physically apart (as video calls is simply not enough).

Although the schedule between each sessions were very hectic, I was able to keep my focus with the help of unlimited coffee, snacks, and meals they have provided. It was also a golden opportunity for me to connect and interact with different kinds of people in my field of study.

Broadcast on Nanikore Chinhyakkei(ナニコレ珍百景)

Hi, I am Keishi Tainaka, doctor student.

Our research using TSUNDERE that was one of Japanese sub-cultures was broadcast on “Nanikore Chinhyakkei”!!
This is one of the most famous and popular TV programs in Japan.

It usually introduces unusual or interesting things and landscapes that you have never seen before.

In this program, it introduced our research that motivates workers using TSUNDERE characteristics.


In the program, They introduced the good points of NAIST, AR and VR technologies, and our research (TSUNDERE) in a very amusing way.

When I watched it live, I felt very happy that the contents were more complete and impressive than I had imagined.

Finally, if the three program committees feel it interesting and unusual, it will be registered as “Chinhyakkei”. (“Chinhyakkei” means 100 unusual and interesting views.)

Finally, our research was registered as “Chinhyakkei”.

We are proud to appear in such a program and get this title.

Thank you.

CNR 2022.07

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Hello, I am Keishi Tainaka, D3 student.

I attended a research group of Cloud Network Robotics (CNR) with Asst Prof. Sawabe at Okinawa on this July.

He presented “Evaluation of VR appearance changes and comfort impressions of multimodal interactive agents that ‘talk while stroking’.”

I presented my research of TSUNDERE at the award ceremony since I received the “Student Presentation Award” for my previous presentation “TSUNDERE Interaction – Investigation of the Influence of a Stroking AR Agent on Behavior Modification” last year.

At my presentation, during the 20 minutes I could speak freely, I talked mainly about my activities in the last year and future work. The audience seemed tired since the presentation was given in the evening, but “TSUNDERE” made them unexpectedly fun, and I was very satisfied with the presentation.

Also, listening to the other presentations, there were researchers who were focusing on “behavior modification using agents” from different viewpoints from ours, and it was very helpful to us.

I got to eat Okinawa’s specialties like root beer, hamburgers, and Soki soba!
The weather was perfect, we went snorkeling in a beautiful sea!

After all, it’s nice to present onsite!
I hope the corona will calm down and onsite presentation will become usual~!

Cloud Network Robotics Research Group (CNR) 2022-3

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Hello, this is Yamauchi, M1.

At the recent Cloud Network Robotics Research (CNR) meeting held on 3/3~3/4, I gave a presentation on the topic of “analyzing human ‘talking and stroking’ behavior for touch care robots”.

MVE and the Biometrics Research Group (BioX) also co-sponsored this year’s event.

The conference was originally planned to be held in Tokyo, but due to the current climate, it was decided to hold the conference online.

Although the proceedings did not run as smoothly as they did onsite, we received many comments from the moderator and participants during the Q&A session regarding “realization of robots with interactivity” and other topics, which motivated us to continue our research.

Based on the opinions and words we received this time, we would like to connect them to new learning.

HRI 2022

Hello, this is Kanda, M1.

I presented my research in Late-Breaking Reports at HRI (ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction) held from 3/7 to 3/10.

The title is “A Communication Robot for Playing Video Games Together to Boost Motivation for Daily-use.”

HRI2022 was held online, and Late-Breaking Reports was presented in a style where participants visited my presentation booth online, viewed slides and videos, and engaged in discussions.

The presentation time was from 7:55 in the morning Japan time, so it was a bit difficult to wake up early and prepare for the presentation, but I was able to finish it successfully, and I am glad that I was able to present at my first international conference.