Akira Matsuda

A Consideration of Public Archaeology Theories

It is possible to identify four approaches to public archaeology: educational, public relations, pluralist, and critical. The most significant divide in the discourse of public archaeology over the last few decades has existed between the educational and public relations approaches on one side, and the pluralist and critical approaches on the other. Today, however, the dividing line in these four approaches is gradually shifting, as the pluralist and critical approaches, which have so far tended to be grouped together as a more theoretical and post-processual category, are progressively splitting apart. What is emerging, as a result, is a new divide between the educational, public relations, and pluralist approaches on the one side, and the critical approach on the other. This shift seems to be caused by economic neo-liberalism which demands that archaeology be more viable in economic terms. The more archaeology seeks economic viability, however, the more it alienates itself from critical reflection. The critical approach is, thus, faced with the danger of being regarded as a detriment to the sustainability of archaeology. What seems to be crucially needed today, then, is to reconfigure public archaeology, so that it can cope with the presently dominant economic paradigm, while at the same time continuing to keep critiquing it.

ScalableBody: A Telepresence Robot Supporting Socially Acceptable Interactions and Human Augmentation through Vertical Actuation

Most telepresence robots have a fixed-size body, and are unable to change the camera or display position. Therefore, although making eye contact is important in human expression, current fixed-size telepresence robots fail to achieve this. We propose a novel telepresence robot called ScalableBody, which enables users to make eye contact during conversations by changing its height. ScalableBody extends its body to modify the position of its camera or display. This approach provides eye contacts in remote conversations, thus creating almost same situation when the remote and local users make conversation like a real meeting. As for the remote users, this approach also enables them to experience having a conversation from different heights, such as being a giant or a dwarf. This technique extends the possibilities of remote communication by telepresence robots.

ScalableBody: a telepresence robot that supports face position matching using a vertical actuator

Seeing ones partners face during remote conversation is one of the most important factors for effective communication. When using a telepresence robot, matching face positions with ones partner is sometimes difficult, because face position varies in different situations (e.g., standing or sitting). However, existing telepresence robots cannot change their height. Moreover, due to limited camera angle, the conversation partners face is often partly cut off in the camera view. Therefore, users cannot communicate while seeing each others faces. To overcome these problems, we designed a telepresence robot called ScalableBody. ScalableBody has a vertical actuator that allows it to change its height and an omnidirectional camera that provides a wide view. The robot facilitates communication for different contexts using vertical actuation to match the conversation partners face positions. Furthermore, the operator can see a partners face in any direction through an omnidirectional camera. This approach can also provide users with the experience of being a different height, as if a giant or a child. In this paper, we describe the vertical actuator mechanism and report our user study on the telepresence robot.

CASPER: A Haptic Enhanced Telepresence Exercise System for Elderly People

Although the necessity and importance of exercise support for the elderly people is largely recognized, the lack of skilled and adequate instructors often limits such activities physically. Remote exercise systems can be a solution for this problem because they may be able to support exercise activities even when instructors and participants are in separate locations. However, when simply using normal video-conferencing systems, instructors and participants have difficulty understanding each sides situation, particularly during guided physical actions. In addition, remote exercise systems cannot support the adjustment of the position of each user, a task that is quite naturally performed in normal exercise activities. Our system, called CASPER, solves these problems by proposing a mirror-like image composition method in which all the participants and the instructor are shown on the same screen so that both sides can understand the situation clearly. We also introduce an airy haptic device to remotely send tactile feedback for further enhancing sensations. In this paper, we describe the system design and its evaluation. The evaluation confirms that our system could effectively allow users to perform exercise activities even at remote locations.

Augmented jump: a backpack multirotor system for jumping ability augmentation

This paper introduces Augmented Jump, a backpack multirotor system for jumping ability augmentation. Augmented Jump hovers and supports users weight by a constant upward power of thrust. Users can jump higher and stay in the air for a longer time than usual with Augmented Jump. We designed and developed our first proof-of-concept prototype that can be controlled as an octocopter and support users weight by 50kg at maximum. In our experiments, it is found that the system enabled the user to perform jumping in simulated 75% reduced gravity. From user study, the results showed that our system was effective for extending the height and the duration of jumping.

Demulti Display: A Multiplayer Gaming Environment for Mitigating the Skills Gap

Although doing sports and games together is effective to create good social connections, a large skill gap among players reduces the enjoyment in such activities. In this research, we technologically enhance sports and gaming activities in the real world. The gaming environment is aimed at mitigating the differences in ability without reducing the enjoyment. For the initial approach of the research, we implemented a setup for enhancing table games by using a liquid crystals display. The system shows different images to each player using a polarization-based technique. As the application, we implemented an augmented PONG game. The game has a function to support players depending on their scores in the match. This setup can apply to a projector for a wider gaming field for enhancing game activities requiring body movements such as Table Tennis and Air Hockey.