Meet our InnoUvators

Development of an "Fluidized Bed Interface" Using the Fluidized Bed Phenomenon to Liquefy Granular Material
2017 INNO-vation Disruptive Challenger

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.

Interview

Instant Liquefaction with the Fluidized Bed Interface (Part 1)

Yasushi Matoba

President, Motoba Lab (Sole Proprietorship)

Yasushi Matoba graduated from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, and went on to work at Honda Institute of Technology where he researched automobile materials in addition to operating a care facility for those suffering from dementia. In addition, he enrolled as a visiting professor at Monozukuri University. He is currently a visiting professor at the Monozukuri University and involved with Ochanomizu University Undergraduate Education and is a Research Associate there.

Matoba is researching a new interface to fuse the virtual world with real objects. He has had a number of achievements including exhibitions at ACM SIGGRAPH Art Gallery in 2000, 2007), Emerging Technologies (2011, 2012, & 2013), and Ars Electronica (1999), and awards at events such as Digital Content Grand Prix's Interactive Art Award (2001), the Laval Virtual Awards Grand Prix (2013), CEDEC's Interactive Award (2017), METI's Innovative Technologies Special Award (2013 & 2017) and TV Tokyo's WBS Trend Tamago Grand Prize of the Year (2013 & 2017), as well as other awards and recognitions.

Fluidized Bed Interface Video Collection 2016 ~ 2020　https://youtu.be/UKTyXc6qeAU

YouTube Channel　https://www.youtube.com/user/yasumato/videos