Motivation
As a child have you ever dreamed of having superpowers: flying through the air, being invisible or climbing straight up walls? During childhood, we often role-play and pretend we have super powers. Motivated by these episodes, this workshop brings together experts different computing and engineering disciplines focusing on how we might use AR/VR and other augmentation technologies to make some of these powers a reality. With Superhuman Sports, we want to create an application area to explore AR/VR technologies to enhance human abilities in a playful way. The field of superhuman sports combines competition and physical elements from traditional sports with technology to overcome the somatic and spatial limitations of our human bodies. The focus is on improving cognitive and physical functions of the human body, creating artificial senses and reflexes to participate in sports competitions: creating and exploring new experiences with these novel senses and reflexes by augmenting old sports, designing new sports, enhancing the training, and sharing with the audience locally and remotely.
Sensory Augmentation
Any type of technology that augments and enhances human senses.
Sports Field Enhancements
Digital tools that change the actual sports field or extend it into virtual reality.
Training Technologies
Improving and amplifying training for conventional or new sports.
Novel AR/VR Sports
Conceptual ideas on how to use virtual reality and other technologies to create novel sports.
Spectator Augmentation
Topics and research that improves the experience of watching sports.
Program
09:00 Welcome and Introductions 09:30 Ignite Keynote by Prof. Masahiko Inami 10:15 Break 10:45-12:00 Paper Session: Novel Actuation (10 min talk + 5 min QA per paper plus 25 min discussion) Muscleblazer: Force-Feedback Suit for Immersive Experience HeatSense – Thermal Sensory Supplementation for Superhuman Sports Physical Objects in AR Games – Offering a Tangible Experience 12:00 - 13:30 Lunch Break 13:30 - 14:45 Paper Session: Applications and Mixed Reality (10 min talk + 5 min QA per paper plus 25 min discussion) Superhuman sports in mixed reality: the multi-player game League of Lasers Star Tag: a Superhuman Sport to Promote Physical Activity Evaluation of Visual Perception Manipulation in Virtual Reality Training Environments to Improve Golf Performance 14:45 - 15:45 Demonstrations and Discussions 15:45 - 16:00 Closing
Keynote
Speaker
Prof. Masahiko Inami
Title
From Physical Cyborg to Virtual Cyborg
Abstract
The social revolutions have accompanied innovation of the view of the body. If we regard the information revolution as establishment of a virtual society against the real society, it is necessary to design a new view of body "JIZAI body (Virtual Cyborg)", which can adapt freely to the change of social structure, and establish a new view of the body. In this talk, we discuss how we understand of basic knowledge about the body editing for construction of JIZAI body (Virtual Cyborg) based on VR, AR and Robotics. Superhuman Sports: Applying Human Augmentation to Physical Exercise. This talk will also present Superhuman Sports, a form of "Human-Computer Integration” to overcome somatic and spatial limitation of humanity by merging technology with the body. In Japan, official home of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics , we hope to create a future of sports where everyone, strong or weak, young or old, non-disabled or disabled, can play and enjoy playing without being disadvantaged.
Bio
Masahiko (Masa) Inami is a Professor in the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He is also directing the Inami JIZAI Body Project, JST ERATO. His research interest is in Augmented Human, human I/O enhancement technologies including perception, HCI and robotics. He received BE and MS degrees in bioengineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and PhD in the Department of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) from the University of Tokyo in 1999. He joined the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tokyo, and in 1999, he moved to the University of Electro-Communications. In April 2008, he joined Keio University, where he served as a Professor of the Graduate School of Media Design and the Vice-director of the International Virtual Reality Center till October 2015. In November 2015, he rejoined the University of Tokyo. His installations have appeared at Ars Electronica Center. He proposed and organized the Superhuman Sports Society.