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Digital Nature Development Research Center
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A lab that uses ultrasound, VR, and AI to pursue an ecosystem in which humans and computers coexist.
AboutAbout the lab
Digital Nature offers diverse options between humans and machines, and between the material and the virtual.
The Digital Nature Lab conducts research with an eye toward the arrival of "Digital Nature" beyond ubiquitous computing.
Digital Nature is a view of nature from the perspective of computer science, which treats everything, including both humans and computers, as computable, autonomous nature.
Using the methods of computer science, the lab implements the options that computer applications create between the material world and the virtual world, and takes on problem solving in industry, academia, and the arts.
On the lab's website, it is introduced under the name "Digital Nature Lab".
Key terms
- Digital Nature
- A view of nature from the perspective of computer science that treats everything, including both humans and computers, as computable, autonomous nature
- Mixed Reality
- A technology that overlays virtual selves and others onto real space. Also written as MR
- Digital Human
- An intelligent virtual agent (IVA) with a face and a voice
NewsLab news
Guidance on lab assignment for 2027 graduation research. An informal discussion session will be held (10/15)
Research on levitating objects with ultrasound accepted by Physical Review Letters
The See-Through Captions team received the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Development Category)
Recruiting new ARE students for FY2026 (undergraduate years 1–3)
ResearchResearch themes
The lab implements the options that computer applications create between humans and machines, and between the material and the virtual, aiming to create new cultural value among people, computers, and nature. Its research is spatial research and development using wave engineering, digital fabrication, and artificial intelligence technology.
*Illustrative imageManipulating Objects in Mid-Air with Ultrasound
The lab studies ultrasound, mechanics, closed-loop control, optimization, and information media devices. In 2026, a result showing that ultrasound applied from just one side can levitate and move an object in the air about 40 cm from the sound source was accepted by the journal Physical Review Letters.
*Illustrative imageHuman–AI Collaboration and Access to Information
The lab studies collaboration between human intelligence and artificial intelligence, as well as AI-based accessibility. As an example, it proposes the design of an interface that helps people with visual impairments obtain information from images: AI-generated descriptions are conveyed through synthesized speech, and the shape of an object can be checked on a dot display.
*Illustrative imageCommunication Design and User Evaluation
The lab studies communication design, digital exhibitions, and user evaluation of digital media. As an example, one study has people design digital humans themselves and then have those digital humans debate without the designers being able to intervene in their speech during the actual debate, observing how the designers perceive responsibility.
*Illustrative imageKendo Practice in Mixed Reality
The lab studies kendo practice in which virtual selves and others are overlaid on real space using mixed reality (MR). The researcher practices alone with a digital human app modeled on the researcher, records the experience as an autoethnography, and considers the potential of practice that involves confronting oneself.
MembersFaculty
The lab's members consist of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, research students, collaborating students, and secretaries.As of 2026
- ProfessorYoichi Ochiai
- Assistant ProfessorTatsuki Fushimi
- Assistant ProfessorJingjing Li
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Sensorify Interactive Art Installation, 2023” Zafeirious / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Manipulating Objects in Mid-Air with Ultrasound: “October 19, 2012- Acoustic Levitation for Medicine ( )” ENERGY.GOV / Public domain (cropped)
- Human–AI Collaboration and Access to Information: “Refreshable Braille display” Eddau / CC0 (cropped)
- Communication Design and User Evaluation: “-App-for-interactive-Installations” Einsgoeins / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Kendo Practice in Mixed Reality: “Kendo” en:user:Ajma / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Interactive Programming Lab): “Lake Contour loudspeaker management units, and their touchscreen GUI” Binksternet / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Physically Based Computer Graphics Lab): “Rendering techniques example, path tracing, high quality, Blender Cycles” KaiaVintr / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hybrid Social Interaction Lab): “Mindpark Helsingborg bottenvåning Open Space” Karstendc / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Interaction Lab): “Wiki Conference 2020 zoom meeting” Ssr / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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