Our challenges for the New Normals
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 infection, various industry trends and daily life have changed dramatically since the spring of 2020. With our slogan "In Society, for Society," we first addressed the immediate needs and the social changes at the time. Now, we are exploring how our Information Technology and Human Factors research from IT infrastructure to applications can support a "With Corona Society," a co-existence with the virus, and the "post-corona society" that converges and changes society as a whole.
This proposal is the result of examining our contributions to create a new normal that makes this social change sustainable. We summarized the proposals in the following three sections.
- "Tele-work" to work remotely
- "Tele-life" to live remotely
- "Social Distancing" to safely distance people apart from each other
It is a proposal for technological development to achieve a new daily life that balances infection prevention and economic activity.
Social change caused by COVID-19 infection
As of June 2020, the COVID-19 infection continues to spread around the world. On the other hand, as society becomes more urbanized, the density of people gathering and working together increases. With economic development, a society in which goods and people move more actively has developed. The working style of gathering in an office is expected to change. Rapid changes in logistics, for example, have made it impossible to predict operations based on previous statistics. There are many everyday life facilities designed for the gathering of people like schools and shopping malls, and entertainment venues such as movie theaters and live music halls. The need to avoid closed spaces and close contact has transformed our way of life. At the same time, some of these changes are expected to be permanent.
What is happening now that will call for significant changes in various aspects of work and life?
Industry, Working style
- Tele-work, Expansion of electronic office procedures
- Food surpluses for school lunches and restaurants
- Rapid changes in supply and demand in manufacturing and logistics
- Reduction in tourism, events, cultural and sporting activities
Daily life
- School's temporary closure, online class
- Expansion of food and drink delivery services
- Increased time spent at home
Medical care
- Overwhelmed medical care system, Hospital infection control
- Insufficient medical supplies of masks, gowns, and disinfectant
- Difficulty in determining the necessity to go or postpone a visit to the hospital
- Online medical interview, Online medical treatment
Using these examples of how we are required to make significant changes in various aspects of our work and lives, the following is a summary of the technologies that can contribute to the new everyday life with our research in Information Technology and Human Factor
The Age of Infectious Diseases
In 1980, the WHO issued the “Declaration on the Eradication of Smallpox,” and was convinced it was a complete victory for human infectious diseases. However, ironically, just one year later, HIV that attacks the immune system, the H1N1 subtype in 2010, and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 appeared. There is also concern that highly virulent H5N1 strains may occur in the near future. In particular, SARS-CoV-2 and H5N1 deaths are caused by the cytokine storm, an immune system run amok, which is a threat even to young, healthy people. Conventional medical care and nursing care, called "treatment," increases the risk of infection, so "touchless" medical care and nursing care are required. New viral infections require new infection control measures, standard precautions, and patient management methods to prevent disease. Also, the cytokine storm, which is the cause of the disease's exacerbation, requires evaluation and management methods for an immune function that include not only vaccines and antiviral drugs, but also patient psychology and the environment. Today, we can say that we live in an era of infectious diseases changing the shape of our nation and society.
"Tele-work" to work remotely
- (Tele-meeting) Recognizes the mental and physical state of the other partner using physiological indicators and facial movements and responds accordingly. By recognizing gestures and measuring 3D mockups, it enables dialogues with gestures and the sharing of 3D data. Overcome time differences by superimposing behavioral history when asynchronous.
- (Tele-operation) Remote control technology, 3D environmental measurement technology, and intent understanding technology have been used to improve the quality of life in factories, construction sites, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, etc. The system can be operated remotely at sites where physical work is required. In particular, the operation can be performed by the elderly and disabled, as well as by people in the region and overseas.
- (Tele-technical transfer) VR presents the remote environment, and the wearable device transmits information such as movement and tactile sensations. Skilled people can transfer skills such as operating medical equipment, care work, and skilled work.
- (Tele-creation) It enables the appreciation and creation of music, videos, etc. in a distributed environment through human-human co-creativity support technology and human-AI co-creativity support technology.
- (Service types and design methods) Increase productivity of interpersonal services by developing a typology of services and compatible relationship maps and redesigning service processes to accommodate extended telework.
- (Online collaboration with other professions) Eliminate the need for a multidisciplinary care certification review board by reading assessment data across multiple professions and developing technology to determine care needs automatically.
- (Identity verification for teleworkers) Key management technology that enables dynamic access and control for identity authentication and technology for preserving evidence of transfer of authority enables secure and flexible identity verification and transactions online.
- (Tele-work stress management) Structure analysis of frustration due to limited mobility, electroencephalography (EEG) analysis by machine learning, and automatic lifelogging to understand the state of stress, health management, and interventions for improvement through tele-work.
"Tele-life" that lives remotely
- (Tele-shopping) The remote interaction, store VR representation, automatic customer service, and payment processing technology, etc., makes it possible for customers to remotely shop at the actual store. Design, production, and transportation of a variety of products in small quantities and on-demand are enabled by the production network-shopping system. Develop a web-based sales system equivalent to a physical store by collecting and analyzing actual data and a calculation model of the value evaluation structure. It achieves seamless cooperation between the physical store and the web store.
- (Tele-training) Physical movement measurement and analysis, motion function change prediction, optimal intervention design, and multimodal sensory presentation enable remote exercise training, instruction, and outcome data management for multiple trainees.
- (Tele-tourism services) By generating realistic field-of-view images from 360-degree images measured by robots and drones, we can realize a practical visit to a tourist destination from a remote location.
- (Tele-education) Evaluate students' interest and motivation through eye measurement and visual recognition to realize tele-education that is less physically demanding and more like a real classroom.
- (Avatar by proxy) A human-like humanoid robot is remotely controlled to attend weddings, graduations, and other events on behalf of the company.
- (Virtual homecoming) VR technology for tactile and olfactory stimulation and a humanoid robot that performs whole-body exercises on behalf of the user enable virtual home-return and remote skin-to-skin contact.
- (Care services that connect people, communities and society) Action recognition, emotion recognition, and automated dialogue technology recognize the human condition of the person in need. It supports the independent living of people in need of support from a distance. Achieve support care in the community by providing a platform for monitoring technology, extended telework technology, and health management in the city.
Social distancing
- (Pedestrian Tracking and Analysis) Monitoring of human density and physical distance to neighboring people by measuring, recording, and analyzing human flows through communication logs, cameras, drones, and other external measurements. Predict the number of people infected, identify people in close contact with the infected, and analyze the factors of changes in human activity and behavior when people refrain from going out. For example, monitoring the location, fatigue, vitals, etc. of workers in a distribution warehouse to ensure both social distancing and work efficiency.
- (Avatar Robots to Prevent Infection) Touchless work can be achieved by measuring vitality with sensors and remote nursing care with remote control, emergency response, and nursing care work with a remote-controlled robot, transportation in hospitals and nursing homes, and short distances outdoors with an automated wheelchair, and trash collection work on behalf of others.
- (Emergency Medical Network) The construction of a medical network for the centralized management of the situation of local medical facilities, accommodations for the slightly ill, and information on home care will help to avoid medical collapse by enabling the prompt and accurate acquisition of medical information.
- (Security without being misled by fake information) Secure hardware that is difficult to analyze and forge, load shedding for covert communication, security assurance, and an adaptive evolutionary logistic model enable risk management by Dynamic management of "threshold." To avoid being misled by fake information, it allows control through information analysis, security assessment, and cyber risk assessment models.