InnoUvators | The Next Wave of Strange Science & Unusual Technology

2021/10/13

This is the development of a unit module device that presents different luminescent colors to the viewer according to the viewer's viewing direction and time. By constructing a three-dimensional object with this module device like Lego blocks, it is possible to model a three-dimensional object whose surface color changes according to the line of sight and the passage of time. This makes it possible to create new textures in navigation systems, digital signs, and 3D modeling that present different moving images depending on the line of sight. In this research, we aim to develop a module that plays the role of atoms that determine the intrinsic material properties of three-dimensional objects.

2021/01/01

I think "SFX" is part of traditional Japanese culture. Sci-fi destruction of buildings, but as video technology changes from special effects to CG, it is no longer easy to create destruction scenes, requiring complicated calculations by computers. I consider the trend itself a problem. However, since CG software is difficult to handle, creating a real destructive image requires a great deal of trial and error, which itself becomes the subject of engineering. In this study, the pursuit is the first task. The second task is to release the model data and processes created by solving the first problem in the form of making and tutorials, in hopes that junior and senior high school students will help to create CG images.

2021/01/01

I want to create a robot that provides human security, secures human safety, supports human work, does housework, and can play with humans. In addition to the robotic technology estimating the intention of the human and predicting their next move, it also allows the human to estimate and predict the intentions and movements of the robot. For this reason, the challenge is to develop a humanoid table tennis robot that can read and interpret human movement based on interpersonal sports competitions in which humans read each other's actions. Here, the mechanical system and the control system that perform sports motion, the recognition system that predicts human motion, and the action system that makes humans predict movement are studied and integrated.

2021/01/01

By introducing a pressurized fluid to a container filled with a particulate substance, the substance can be liquefied. This phenomenon is called a “fluidized bed" and has been used in many industrial fields for things such as incinerators, but has not been used in interface applications that humans directly get involved with. For example, by using sand as the powder/granular material and air as the fluid, and then projecting an image on the surface of the sand, you can create something that can walk on or swim through the sand at the flip of a switch. We study how to use various combinations of particulate and liquid substances to develop new, never-before-experienced interfaces that allow free control of solid and liquid phases.

2021/01/01

Using ears that are said to be functional until the end, even if they are older or have a problem with their body, they say, "It's fun to use", researching and developing an earring-type computer that satisfies the following conditions: "Relax, take care of your health, and move your heart." At INNO-vation, we are studying a function that is not yet developed that can be mounted on the earpiece-type computer and that can be used to sense and control the human five senses.

2021/01/01

Though the automation of egg production has been progressing, skilled workers who separate male and female baby chicks are still essential. As the populations in Southeastern Asian countries such as India and Indonesia grow, so does the demand for low-cost, high-nutrition eggs accessible to a range of religious beliefs. Training specialists in this field has started to become a challenge. Expanding the production of eggs, which are a vital source of protein, will help realize the solution of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) #2: Zero Hunger.

2021/01/01

A space in which a person can instantaneously recognize various objects in all directions around a person and the distance to the objects through the tactile sensation of the human skin in all directions simultaneously in order to avoid danger through objects that reach the person. To create a superhumanized suit that can feel other objects.

2021/01/01

As the performance of semiconductors (MPUs) has improved, embedded OSs have gradually become more bloated. At the same time, ultra-small MPUs, just a few millimeters in size, have been developed and ubiquitous computing has become a reality. However, despite MPUs small enough to be embedded in living bodies appearing, there has been no embedded OS with an ultra-small, lightweight implementation - a technological white space has arisen. Therefore, with INNO-vation, we aimed to develop a reliable embedded OS that can be implemented into robots & organisms alike. Unlike conventional OSs, we intend to apply the OS to an ultra-lightweight implementation and ultra-small MPU. We aim to enter a field where no similar OS has existed before. Although we were not able to obtain a third-party certification as proof of high reliability, we aimed to apply our findings to organisms. As such, we developed a system to guide living organisms like robots and named it Biological Swarm Control (R). Currently, we are aiming to commercialize this technology into aquaculture to target underwater organisms (such as fish). For example, by automatically guiding the fish the system can automate the catching process. In the future, we hope to expand this tech outside of just aquatic animals and have a method of controlling any living creature like a robot, not only underwater but also on land and in the air.