Experience Details and Titles Determined for Four New Permanent Exhibitions (opening on Wednesday, November 22, 2023)
Themes: "Robots", "Global Environment", and "Aging"
Detailed information, including exhibition titles, has been finalized for new Permanent Exhibitions opening on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 under the themes of "Robots", "Global Environment", and "Aging". "Robots" will be split into two spaces, creating a total of four Permanent Exhibitions. Each of the three themes will explore the best ways to deal with and solve various social issues through hands-on exhibits based on the latest science and technology.
The new "Robots" exhibitions look at how we relate to and connect with robots as they integrate more and more into our lives. In the first exhibition, Hello! Robots, visitors can learn about a variety of robot technologies, and experience their potential through interactions with communication robots and introductions to the latest robotics research. The second exhibition, Nanairo Quest — The Stories of the Future of Living with Robots, allows visitors to participate in a story set in a city where humans and robots live side-by-side. While using special tablets to resolve issues that have arisen in the city, visitors will encounter a variety of human-robot relationships. At the end of the exhibition, visitors will deepen their perspectives by sharing their diverse values and perspectives.
Planetary Crisis — To Continue Living on This Earth is a new exhibition under the theme of "Global Environment." It begins by letting visitors experience the lives of people in the Republic of Fiji, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean affected by climate change, with a large-scale video experience that uses sound, vibration, and other effects, as well as highly realistic images recorded on site. Using scientific data to create a snapshot of the rapidly changing global environment, this exhibition helps visitors understand the many environmental problems caused by our current lifestyle, and explores what we can do now to help.
Park of Aging is a new exhibition that takes up the theme of "Aging". Through six different experiential exhibits, this exhibition simulates the changes to the eyes, ears, motor system, and brain that occur with aging. While introducing the mechanisms that cause aging, the current countermeasures generally taken, and support technologies currently under development that may be available in the near future, this exhibition helps visitors consider the best way for each person to live and to handle aging in a fulfilling way.
Prior to the opening of these exhibitions, Chief Executive Director Asakawa Chieko, Ph. D. said: "Our society faces a variety of challenges. It is my hope that these four exhibitions will allow visitors to experience a variety of diverse perspectives as they familiarize themselves with new science and technology, so we can work together to find the way to a better future. I would also like to see these exhibitions used as a venue for STEAM education and inquiry-based learning."
- Opening Day
- Wednesday, November 22, 2023
- Exhibition area
- Permanent Exhibition Zone (3F-5F)
Details
New exhibition 1: Hello! Robots (Theme: "Robots")
Through contact with robots and an introduction to the latest in robotics research, visitors can discover new possibilities and envision a future lifestyle that incorporates a variety of different robots.
In the designated area, you can enjoy contact and speech interactions with a robot designed for therapy and human communication. At our introduction to the latest in robotics research, regular updates ensure that the most up-to-date research and notable robots are on display. Using research that comes to life through a wide range of real objects, we challenge our visitors' image of robots by showing types most haven't seen before. Through these experiences, we'll expand your image of the relationship between humans and robots, and deepen how you think about interacting with future technology.
Scientific Advisor: Motegi Tsuyoshi
Fellow, Center for Research and Development Strategy, Japan Science and Technology Agency
●Contributers
Okada Michio（Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology,）
Kamide Hiroko (Designated Associate Professor, Institutes of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University)
Sano Akihito (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology)
Sejima Yoshihiro (Associate Professor, Faculty of Informatics, Kansai University)
Tadakuma Kenjiro (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Tohoku University)
Masuda Yoichi (Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka University)
●Robot Exhibition Contributers
GROOVE X, Inc.
Sony Group Corporation
Intelligent System Co., Ltd.
Shibata Takanori (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)
●Character Robot Technical Cooperation
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION.
●Design/production
NOMURA Co., Ltd.
●Installation area
Permanent Exhibition Zone (Create your future)
New exhibition 2: Nanairo Quest — The Stories of the Future of Living with Robots (Theme: "Robots")
Robot technology will continue to advance and is likely to be increasingly used in our daily lives. What kind of relationship with robots is the best if we are to achieve a happy life for all of us?
In this exhibition, you'll search the exhibition space with a special tablet to fix problems in Nanairo City, a future city where humans and robots live side-by-side. Using conversations with residents and information on robots active in the city as clues, you'll encounter the various ways that humans and robots interact. At the end, you'll reach an area where you can freely post your impressions and ideas. Along with leaving your own thoughts, you might also come away with some new realizations as you see the wide variety of viewpoints left by other visitors.
Supervisor of Robotics: Ando Takeshi
Visiting Reseacher, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University
Supervision of Questions and User Experience: Shiose Takayuki
The Kyoto University Museum Associate Professor
●Creators
Based on a story: Anno Takahiro(Sci-fi Writer, AI Engineer)
Content Planning: SCRAP Co., Ltd.
Music: Tomggg
Artwork: MontBlanc Pictures Co.,Ltd.
●Design/production
NOMURA Co., Ltd.
●Installation area
Permanent Exhibition Zone (Create your future)
New exhibition 3: Planetary Crisis — To Continue Living on This Earth (Theme: "Global Environment")
While many are aware of the crisis the global environment is facing, only a limited number of people are taking concrete action. What should we do now to continue living on this Earth?
In this exhibition, you'll experience the lifestyles of people living in regions already impacted by the climate change crisis, and, using a summary of current scientific data from our rapidly changing global environment, you'll come to understand how our lifestyles are causing a variety of environmental problems. In the final part of the experience, we'll consider what we can do now to help, looking at real-world examples of people who are tackling these environmental problems. By taking a multifaceted look at the global environment and our daily lives through this hands-on experience, we can, together, explore how to take a positive step forward for our future.
Supervisor: Takeuchi Kazuhiko
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Supervisor: Emori Seita
Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo / National Institute for Environmental Studies
●Design & Production
Tsumura Kogei Co., Ltd. P.I.C.S. Co., Ltd.
[Exhibition Planning] Nakahara Takashi, Tanio Takeshi, Hirato Takashi
[Space Direction＆Design] VUILD, inc.
●Installation area
Permanent Exhibition Zone (Explore the frontiers)
*Among the global environmental problems facing humanity, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and pollution are given special note as the "three planetary crises."
New exhibition 4: Park of Aging (Theme: "Aging")
As we head toward a super-aging society, how should we deal with aging? As we search for ways to live and age in ways that are true to ourselves and fulfilling, how can we use science and technology to achieve that goal?
In this exhibition, you'll first encounter simulations of four phenomena of aging that are easy for most to recognize (the eyes, the ears, the motor system, and the brain), allowing you to experience the aging that comes to us all. We'll introduce visitors to our current understanding of aging mechanisms and countermeasures, the research and development currently underway into support technologies utilizing robotics and more, and the choices available from a scientific standpoint as we tackle aging. By learning about how people who are already facing aging view their lives, we'll explore the best ways that each individual can age well and lead a fulfilling life.
Supervisor: Arai Hidenori
President, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology
●Scientific Advisors
[Vision]Inatomi Tsutomu (Director,Center of Sensory Orgen / Director, Department of Ophthalmology, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontolog )
[Hearing]Uchida Yasue (Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery,Aichi Medical University)
[Cognitive function]Sakurai Takashi(Director-General of Research Institute, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology)
●Contributers
Sony Group Corporation, Ito Gabin, etc
●Design/production
NOMURA Co., Ltd. , Whatever Co.
●Installation area
Permanent Exhibition Zone (Create your future)