Category: Publication

In the field of AR, smartphones are often used for navigation, but since the hands are occupied and the immersive experience is compromised, it is preferable to use a stand-alone HMD for AR. However, AR navigation using HMDs is easily affected by the external environment, which inhibits immersion and realism. In addition, the only way to know the traces of a person who was there in the past is to view two-dimensional content, which does not provide a sense of presence or realism. In this research, we aim to implement an AR navigation system that enables interaction with avatars by eliminating factors that impair the sense of presence and realism. As a preliminary step, we investigated how to display avatars with a sense of presence, using HoloLens 2, and experimented with three levels of abstraction, each with motion, superimposed on the Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus. The results suggest that the avatar with the lowest level of abstraction and the appearance closest to that of a human being has a greater presence on certain questions. We also observed the “uncanny valley phenomenon,” in which people feel fear and discomfort toward the Avatar when its appearance is closer to reality.

In this study, we analyzed what kind of animal-like qualities are important in the acceptance of partner robots in households. The questionnaire surveyed the animal-like qualities of visual, auditory and tactile elements, and analyzed the relation between the partial animal-like qualities of each element and the duration of use. We also showed what aspects of the robot’s animal-like nature the user perceived by analyzing the relationship between the animal-like nature of each element of the robot and the sense of living things.
The results suggest that items such as the intelligence of the robot and the animal-like shape of the robot might be factors in acceptance. It was also suggested that the smoothness of the robot’s movement and the animal-like sound of the volume other than the robot’s voice were factors that made users feel a sense of living-likeness toward the robot.

In today’s era, the security and authenticity of information have always received extensive attention, especially when people have doubts about the authenticity of data. Hence, a traceable data storage platform with the feature that theoretically cannot be tampered with becomes extremely important. Under such demands, the deployment of smart contracts can effectively trace the source and discover problems. This article introduces an environmental data detection platform based on blockchain technology and smart contracts. It aims to record the data continuously and verify the authority of each transaction.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Japanese.

Sorry, this entry is only available in 日本語.

Sorry, this entry is only available in 日本語.

The miniaturization and decreasing cost of networking computers, along with the advancement of cloud infrastructure has eased the implementation of it in commercial products. However, it is difficult to give such function to the simple products like daily necessities, thus having devices such as
Smart Speakers providing wide variety of information. In this research, we propose v-IoT system, the
approach which add information-giving functions to consumables such as plastic bottles using augmented
reality technology. This system will determine the information and the action suggested the user to take
based on the verb and function of the object. The closest associable pairs of suggested action and object will be determined with reference to the Associative Concept Dictionary, enabling v-IoT to offer a notification system that is apparent and intelligible. The result showed proposed system can select objects which is easy to associate action for users.

Telepresence robots using traditional video chats do not yet fully represent the presence of a remote user. To enhance that presence, we propose a novel approach that replaces the background of the remote user with a real-time captured image of the area behind the robot. We assumed that the background of the remote user, which was visible on the telepresence robot’s display, was one reason for the reduction in presence because it might remind local viewers that the remote user is in another place. We found that our approach effectively enhanced the presence of remote user and reduced the negative impression of a delay. In this paper, we describe the new approach, its implementation, and an evaluation of the system. We evaluated the subjective impressions of communication through the proposed system. This approach also protects the privacy of the remote user and makes it more acceptable to people using telepresence robots from private places, e.g., a sickroom in a hospital.

Sorry, this entry is only available in 日本語.

Sorry, this entry is only available in 日本語.