Naoko Tosa

Pattern recognition of emotion with neural network

Proposes an emotion model for communication which also transfers personality and character information. The emotion model customizes to individual human communication partners by learning. Learning is achieved by neural networks converting input voice signals to an emotion state. The emotion state decides the response of the partner. The emotion state is divided into four categories: sadness; cheerfulness; happiness; and anger. For example, a loud voice causes the emotion of anger. This paper also discusses the emotion model as network agent between two human communication partners.

ZENetic Computer : Exploring Japanese Culture

The authors present ZENetic Computer as a means of cultural translation using scientific methods to represent essential aspects of Japanese culture. Using imagesderiving from Buddhism and other Asian concepts, sansui (landscape) paintings, poetry and kimonos that have not heretofore been the focus of computing, the authors project the style of communication developed by Zen schools over hundreds of years into an exotic computing world that users can explore. Through encounters with Zen koans and haiku, the user is constantly and sharply forced to confirm his or her selfawareness for purposes of the story. There is no one right answer to be found anywhere.

Construction of interactive movie system for multi-person participation

Interactive movies have emerged as a new type of media that implements interaction capabilities into movies. In interactive movies, people enter cyberspace and enjoy the development of a story by interacting with characters in the story. We first explain the concept of interactive movies and briefly describe the prototype system we have developed. We then describe the construction of a second system, which we are currently developing, as well as several improvements incorporated in it.

Interactive movie system with multi-person participation and anytime interaction capabilities

1. ABSTRACT Interactive movies, in which interaction capabilities are introduced into movies, is considered to be a new type of media that integrates various media, including telecommunications, movies, and video games. In interactive movies, people enter cyberspace and enjoy the development of a story there by interacting with the characters in the story. In this paper, we first explain the concept of interactive movies using examples of movies developed on a prototype system, then describe techniques for improving the interactivity. The current system incorporates two significant improvements for multimedia interactivity: the introduction of interaction at any time and two-person participation through the use of network communications. The software and hardware configurations of the system are briefly summarized. The paper concludes with an example of an interactive

Unconscious flow

The disturbance or disintegration of symmetry is a basic generator of new constructions and relations. My artwork is always the result of a calculation. At the same time, however, it is not a mathematical art but rather an expression of my artistic experience. The rules I invent reflect my thinking and feelings. It is not necessarily the system or logic of my work I want to present, but the visual invention that results from it. My artistic goal is reached when a finished work can dissociate itself from its logical content and stand convincingly as an independent abstract entity. Algorithms can become very complex, that is to say, complicated and difficult to survey. In order to master this problem, in 1969 I decided that a computer would be necessary in my work. Only in this way is it possible to superimpose multiple rules without losing track of the general concept. It is inevitable that the results—that is, my images—are difficult to understand at first glance. The information is deeply buried, and a certain participation is demanded from the viewer —a readiness to interrogate this material. Each artwork is based on a subset of a defined structure, ranging from cubes to 6D hypercubes. Unable to detect the complete system, the viewer nevertheless notices a strong visual force holding everything together. This force is created by the logic of the inherent relationships in the underlying structure. This is a critical point. Some viewers will panic and reject this unknown and “inhuman” force, whereas others will gladly acknowledge it as a reassuring starting point. Even though all my work can be verified and rationally understood, it does not mean that there is no room for imaginative associations. On the contrary, the rational part of my work is basically limited to its production. What the viewer experiences, understands, learns, interprets, or imagines because of the presence of the artwork remains very personal. An artwork is only a starting point, a principle of order, an artist’s guideline, intended to provoke the viewer to continue the investigation.

Interactive poem system

&ABSTRACT We propose a new type of speech-based ~nteractionsystem called “Interactive Poem. ” Gmventiomd speech-based interaction systems have only focused on the transmission of logical meaning involved in speech. The application of such systems has been restricted to business services such as making reservations or data retrieval. In the Interactive Poem system, however, a human and a computer agent create a poetic worId by exchanging poetic phrases, thus realizing Kansei-based communications between computers and humans. This paper first proposes the concept of “Interactive Poem”. Mthen describes the details of the system we have developed, including the software and the hardware configurations as well as the interaction mechanism.

Active immersion: the goal of communications with interactive agents

The creation of interactive animated agents is one of the most active research areas for researchers who are trying to develop various kinds of technologies that give such agents human-like behaviors. However, there are other important issues concerning the agents. One is the introduction of narratives into the behaviors of the agents. Since narratives are the basic way movies and novels take us into cyberspace, they can be effective for creating really human-like agents. Based on this idea, we have developed an interactive movie system (R. Nakatsu and N. Tosa, 1997) in which people can act the main roles and enjoy the story development. At the same time, we have learned that the existence of spontaneous interactions is also the key to the success of this new media. Based on this lesson, we have developed a second system (R. Nakatsu et al., 1999), where we tried to achieve a good balance between narrative-based and spontaneous interactions. In the first part of the paper we introduce our interactive movie system by focusing on how we achieved an integration of narrative-based and spontaneous interactions. Also, there is the important question: what is the objective of creating interactive animated agents? Although the technological aspects of such agents have been studied and discussed in detail, this critical question has rarely been discussed. In the latter part of the paper, we discuss what is the ultimate goal of interactions with interactive agents.

Projection Mapping Celebrating RIMPA 400th Anniversary

2015 is the year of 400th anniversary of RIMPA, one of famous Japanese art schools. To celebrate this special year, the authors organized a projection mapping event at Kyoto National Museum in March 2015. As this is an event to commemorate RIMPA school, the authors tried to create contents based on the concept of RIMPA. At the same time, to appeal that RIMPA should expand into the future, they tried to introduce cutting-edge technologies to create the content. Therefore this event is a good example of how culture and technologies could be integrated together. In this paper both cultural aspect and technical aspect of this event will be described.

Interactive poem

Interaction The face of the Greek goddess Muse appears on a large screen and speaks short, emotional poetic phrases. Hearing these words, the participant is able to enter the world of the poem and, at the same time speak to Muse. Through this process of exchanging poetic words, the interactive system allows the user and the computer to work together to build the world of an improvised poem filled with inspiration, feeling, and emotion.

New Approach of Cultural Aesthetic Using Sound and Image

With the help of science and technology, many interesting works of art can be created, including transforming sound into images. If we combine these images with cultural elements, new approaches to preserve existing cultures can be developed. We put some viscous liquid on rubber film which covers a speaker and played various sound. We then see marvelous shapes simulating the sounds that usually cannot be seen with the help of a high speed camera. I studied how the frequency of sound and liquid materials (water, pigment, foam, jelly) influence these shapes. High liquid viscosity reduces the liquids jump height and maintains a consistent shape, low liquid viscosity enables higher jumps and transformations into small spherical drops. At the frequency of 32hz, liquid jumps are expected to reach the greatest heights. Sine wave sounds can propel liquid further than zigzag waves. I also made some interesting discoveries. If we use this approach to reveal ancient culture, it would be an innovative approach to revive the sounds and images of disappearing ancient cultures.