InnoUvators

Videos

See Our InnoUvators in Action

See More

Meet our InnoUvators

Find out More About Our Esteemed InnoUvators

Development of a "Glowing Pupil's" Interface to Attract People

2018

Yoshihiro Sejima was born in 1982. He received his Ph.D. from Okayama Prefectural University in 2010. He is currently an associate professor at Kansai University. His research interests include human-robot interaction and social robotics. He received the ‘KAZUO TANIE AWARD (Most Outstanding Research Award)’ at IEEE RO-MAN2015. Related URL: - <a href ="http://www2.kansai-u.ac.jp/hri/" target="_blank">http://www2.kansai-u.ac.jp/hri/</a>

Profile Page

"Wasted Creation" YouTube Channel

2019

Marina Fujiwara uses her keen sense of creativity to make seemingly 'useless' products to share on social networking sites. Her YouTube channel, 無駄づくり(MUDAZUKURI), meaning 'Wasted Creation', has amassed over 80, 000 subscribers, where she shares her artistic 'useless machines' to the world. Her work has been exhibited internationally and her videos have been viewed millions of times across the web.

Profile Page

Solid Knitting Machine - The Machine Which Makes Physical Objects Updatable

2018

Yuichi Hirose conducted research on digital fabrication at Hiroya Tanaka Laboratory in Keio University. After finishing his Master’s Degree there, he worked for Roland DG as a mechanical engineer on 3D milling machines. Now, he has left the company and currently develops a Solid Knitting Machine, which automates Solid Knitting, a method he invented to knit solid objects from 3D data. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoKSMabXirurhL8UbVTO1JA" target="_blank">YouTube Channel </a>

Profile Page

A Highly Reliable Embedded OS / Biogroup Control

2015

Yosuke Furusawa was born in Takizawa, Iwate in 1982. He has been involved in the launch of the production design and development of the welfare and medical Robot-suit HAL since he started working for CYBERDYNE Inc, including the acquisition of ISO13482 and ISO13485 certifications. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, he retired from his company and returned to his hometown in Iwate to establish Homura Heavy Industries Corporation.

Profile Page

A Humanoid Table Tennis Robot to Read the Movements of Humans

2018

Kazutoshi Tanaka is a researcher who develops robots that can play sports. Born in Tokyo prefecture in 1987, he received his PhD from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, in 2017. He is a senior researcher of OMRON SINIC X Corporation. He received ‘The 33rd Young Investigation Excellence Award’ in 2018 from The Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ). Related URLs: - <a href ="https://youtu.be/oS-9mCfKIeY" target="_blank">Diabolo Robot </a> - <a href ="https://youtu.be/AHWflhBlX9A" target="_blank">Humanoid robot plays volleyball </a> - <a href ="https://note.com/sports_robot/n/n1842ccdafc14" target="_blank">A Robot that Reproduces the Tricks of an Ancient Martial Arts Master </a>

Profile Page

The Digital Shaman Project

2016

Etsuko Ichihara is a media artist and “inventor who turns delusions into reality.” She has a bachelor’s degree from Waseda University’s School of Culture, Media and Society, where she majored in the Studies of Media, Body and Image. She left Yahoo! Japan in 2016 and has since worked as a freelancer. She has been creating artworks that interpret Japanese culture, customs and beliefs from a unique point of view, and present new, technology-based approaches. She has been featured across the globe for her work. Ichihara also received the Excellence Award at the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival, and won an Honorary Mention (Interactive Art+) in PRIX Ars Electronica 2018. She has recently been appointed as an expert committee member for the "Workshop on Basic Concepts of the Japan Pavilion" for the Japan Pavilion at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

Profile Page

The Pursuit of Realistic Building Destruction Videos using CG

2016

Miyake was born in Tokyo in 2000 and has entered the Department of Composite Culture, Faculty of Education, Waseda University. The VFX film "2045," which was released in his third year of junior high school, has been viewed over 1.5 million times. He is currently working part-time at a video production company in Tokyo. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCht6pU8sj3T8QEZHW5rllIw" target="_blank">YouTube</a>

Profile Page

The Urinary Incontinence Experience Device

2018

Kajimoto Laboratory, The University of Electro-Communications, D1. Established the “Incontinence Study Group” in 2014, and has since developed incontinence experience devices as a representative. His specialty field is VR, especially elucidation of the mechanism of the tactile perception and development of haptics devices. Related URL: - <a href ="http://kaji-lab.jp/en/index.php?kameoka" target="_blank">Personal Page at his Laboratory </a>

Profile Page
See More

Interviews

2021/02/17 19:30

Yosuke Furusawa

The “Aquaman” of Japan

Breaking down the barrier separating reality and fantasy by manipulating the movement of fish

Furusawa isn’t a fisherman or a farmer, but you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise as he emerges from one of his giant water tanks clad in chest-high rubber waders. He’s an engineer, and he has created something that evokes comparisons to that American comic-book superhero of old, Aquaman. Furusawa has invented a way to talk to fish. It doesn’t use words, of course, but rather carefully crafted underwater electrical fields to direct and corral schools of fish like a sheepdog herds its flock. This might not sound like much of a superpower, but the device’s potential impact on the world is in fact supersized.

Read More
The “Aquaman” of Japan

2020/06/05 18:00

Takahito Aoto

“Soft thinking” – a camera to capture softness

Dr. Takahito Aoto (University of Tsukuba) is working to develop a device that can measure the exact softness of materials without actually touching them

Is it gelatinous or doughy or simply limp...? The only way to determine the softness (and elasticity) of an object is by touching it and feeling for yourself. However, Dr. Aoto is currently engaged in research on a special kind of camera—a camera that “captures softness.” Since it accomplishes this simply by filming objects, the camera is, of course, non-contact, non-destructive, and non-invasive. It can determine how springy an object is based solely on the visual data that it collects.

Read More
“Soft thinking” – a camera to capture softness

2020/05/22 18:00

Yusuke Nakano

Chicks, Sex and Tech

Using AI to solve the growing issue in the chick sexing industry

Yusuke Nakano is a specialist in making the invisible visible. Be he’s no mad scientist or magician – he’s a video-streaming expert with a trick up his sleeve.

Read More
Chicks, Sex and Tech
See More

What is InnoUvators?

InnoUvators are individuals in society that have a mindset of continually undertaking challenges without fear of failure.

They are the creators of "something new from nothing," forming and implementing original ideas without being bound by preconceptions. In Japan, there are efforts to find and support such InnoUvators. This site introduces those visionaries, and the technologies born of their challenges.


Follow us!