著者
Masahiko Inami Hiroyasu Iwata Minao Kukita Yuichi Kurita Kouta Minamizawa Masaaki Mochimaru Takuji Narumi Junichi Rekimoto Kenji Suzuki
出版者
Fuji Technology Press Ltd.
雑誌
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (ISSN:09153942)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.33, no.5, pp.985-986, 2021-10-20 (Released:2021-10-20)

Information technologies, such as IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality (VR), have seen so much development that there is now a wide variety of digital equipment incorporated into the infrastructure of daily life. From the agrarian society (Society 1.0) through the information society (Society 4.0), humankind has created farmlands and cities by structuring natural environments physically and has built information environments by structuring them informationally. However, despite the rapid development of information environments, it may be fair to say that the perspectives of the human body have not changed at all since the industrial revolution.In the context of these recent technological developments, greater attention is being paid to human augmentation studies. These studies aim for a new embodiment of “human-computer integration,” one which can physically and informationally compensate or augment our innate sensory functions, motor functions, and intellectual processing functions by using digital equipment and information systems at will, as if they were our hands and feet. It has also been proposed that the technical systems that enable us to freely do what we want by utilizing human augmentations be called “JIZAI” (freedomization) as opposed to “automation.”The term “JIZAI body” used in these studies represents the new body image of humans who will utilize engineering and informatics technologies to act at will in the upcoming “super smart society” or “Society 5.0.” In these studies, human augmentation technologies are an important component of JIZAI, but JIZAI is not the same as human augmentation. JIZAI is different in scope from human augmentation, as it aims to enable humans to move freely among the five new human body images: “strengthened sense” (augmented perception), “strengthened physical body” (body augmentation), “separately-designed mind and body” (out of body transform), “shadow cloning,” and “assembling.” In the society of the future where JIZAI bodies widely prevail, we will use technologies that enable us to do what we have failed at or given up due to limitations of our physical bodies. We believe that a future society, one in which aging does not reduce our capabilities but instead increased options give us hope, can be realized. This special issue, consisting of two review papers and twelve research papers, deals with diverse and wide-ranging areas, including human augmentation, robotics, virtual reality, and others. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the authors and reviewers of the papers contributed to this special issue and to the editorial committee of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics for their gracious cooperation.
著者
Ryo Hanashima Takumi Tokuda Masaaki Mochimaru Junji Ohyama
出版者
Fuji Technology Press Ltd.
雑誌
International Journal of Automation Technology (ISSN:18817629)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.17, no.3, pp.248-261, 2023-05-05 (Released:2023-05-05)
参考文献数
45
被引用文献数
1

Posture learning is required in rehabilitation and in sports such as yoga and martial arts. Virtual reality (VR) systems are being used to learn posture by superimposing the postures of the learner and instructor in cyberspace using avatars. In this study, we examined whether the presented perspective of the avatar (first-person vs. third-person perspective) and visuo-tactile feedback (tactile correct feedback + visual feedback vs. tactile incorrect feedback + visual feedback vs. visual only feedback) are effective for the posture learning. The results of an experiment (N = 24) suggested that use of the third-person perspective may result in accurate learning of the head position as compared with first-person perspective. Visuo-tactile feedback was found to improve the subjective rating on the ease of learning, while the presentation method in which tactile feedback is given when body position is correct was found to be more effective than tactile feedback given when body position is incorrect. The sense of agency was maintained at a high level under all conditions for perspective and visuo-tactile feedback and may have improved the learning accuracy of posture. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to the design of effective perspective and tactile presentation in VR-based motor learning.