Silver
Evolution
Creative Technology
| Entrant: | Dentsu Inc., Tokyo |
| Brand: | NTT Human Informatics Laboratories |
| Title: | "Project Humanity" |
| Corporate Name of Client: | NTT |
| Client Company: | NTT, Tokyo |
| Client Company Senior Research Engineer, Supervisor: | Mariko Nakamura |
| Client Company Senior Research Engineer: | Ryosuke Aoki |
| Client Company Researcher: | Masato Shindo |
| PR Companies: | dentsu Austria, Vienna/Putz & Stingl Event, Public Relations & Werbung, Vienna/Platinum inc., Tokyo/Dentsu Creative, London |
| PR Company Senior Manager MarCom: | Yvonne Zvara |
| PR Company Head of MarCom: | Petra Hofstätter |
| PR Company Public Relations: | Nina Greimel |
| PR Company PR Director: | Hana Moriwaki |
| PR Companies PR Planners: | Shiori Kakumoto/Shogo Inamoto |
| PR Company Global Communications Director: | Antonia Collins |
| PR Company Marketing Executive: | Katie McNaughton |
| Agency: | Dentsu Inc., Tokyo |
| Executive Creative Director: | Naoki Tanaka |
| Copywriter: | Tina Toda |
| Art Director: | Yusuke Koyanagi |
| Agency Producers: | Kohei Ai/Nozomi Koseki/Miyuki Fujishima/Hironobu Sato/Humihito Anzai/Yuri Takahashi/Wakayu Sato |
| Agency Creative Technologists: | Yuma Shingai/Shintaro Murakami/Kazuya Kishimoto/Ryo Suetomi/ Keita Kuki/ Ken Haga/ Kou Mikuni/ Atsushi Fukuda/ Kai Yokoyama/ Yusaku Wakazono |
| Agency Account Team: | Naoki Tanaka/Keishu Joi |
| Digital Companies: | BASSDRUM Inc., tokyo/Dentsu Creative Cube Inc., Tokyo/momonga, Berlin |
| Digital Technical Directors: | Yuto Kumon/Shunki Hasegawa/Ken Murayama/Yota Odaka/Kazunari Takashima/Mao Komatsu |
| Production Company: | WITH ALS, Tokyo |
| Director: | Ryo Koshimizu |
| Producers: | Shinya Inagawa/Kiyoshi Runze |
| Production Company Communication Creator: | Masatane Muto |
| Sound Design Company: | invisi Ltd., Tokyo |
| Sound Design Producer: | Kenjiro Matsuo |
| Sound Design Company Technical Director/Design Engineer: | Tsuyoshi Otabe |
| Sound Design Company Project Manager/Music Director: | Yoichiro Hatakeyama |
| Sound Design Company Technical Sound Designer: | Taito Otani |
| Sound Designer: | Nozom Yoneda |
| Music Production Company: | y's connection Inc., Tokyo |
| Music Producer: | Hiroyuki Nasu |
| Design Companies: | WOW Inc., Tokyo/TAKI CORPORATION, Tokyo/Woo Inc., Tokyo |
| Design Director: | Hiroshi Takagishi |
| Designers: | Ippei Morimoto/Tae Yatomi/Ryohei Onchi/Jiro Watanabe |
| Creative Producers: | Yasuaki Matsui/Masahito Kodama |
| Design Companies CG Designers: | Takuma Sasaki/Takafumi Matsunaga |
Description:
Our vision is a society where physical limitations do not become social limitations. NTT Human Informatics Laboratories is a research institute where new possibilities for the human-computer interface are studied.
They are seeking the way to implement their research regarding technologies for people with disabilities in the real society and accelerate their research. We've started our action from fulfilling aspiration of people living with ALS, which is a major disease causes physical impairments, by leveraging NTT's technology to create a novel communication tool.
By empowering them to express themselves physically, we envision a future where they no longer need to relinquish their physicality and can enhance their well-being. Although MASA, an artist living with ALS, cannot raise his arms, we found that electromyography signals still occur inside his body.
We then developed a UI and system that connects the EMG signals in the neck, arms, and legs to the digital avatar. Then we decided to demonstrate our system by creating iconic performance utilizing this system.
The performance was first presented on 8th September 2023, at Ars Electronica Center. MASA then waved, walked, clapped, and responded to the audience from Tokyo by transmitting his EMG signals. A major advantage of this UI is its ability to seamlessly connect with a wide range of tools and platforms such as Minecraft, Fortnite, VR Chat, etc.
This allows people with physical impairments can intuitively control their avatars in those digital worlds. Some metaverse / gaming platforms are used for education, and some allow people to get income on the platforms. Empowering people with disabilities to participate those platforms has potential to increase their financial independence.