Experience the wonder of optical illusions, where what you see may differ from what others see, or where shifting your perspective reveals something entirely new. Ask those around you, “I see this, but what do you see?” You might be surprised to find that others see something completely different. Just as in this exhibit, our everyday perceptions may vary greatly from person to person. Embrace and enjoy these differences as we explore a world of “hyper-diversity” together. Now, step into this world of infinite perspectives and enjoy the journey!

Would you like to see the world through the eyes of different creatures? Just as humans have unique perspectives, so do other living things. Learn about biodiversity through quizzes and apps. The app allows you to explore the world from the perspective of living things, highlighting these differences. Experience the diversity of the world together by considering all living things, not just humans.

Imagine a system that detects how people are feeling—happy, sad, or excited. Our “Multimodal Emotion Estimation System” utilizes brain waves (EEG), heartbeats (ECG), and facial expressions to gauge emotions based on two key dimensions: arousal (excitement or calmness) and valence (pleasantness or unpleasantness). By analyzing these signals, we can see how facial expressions reveal visible emotional cues, while EEG and ECG signals provide insights into internal emotional states. This allows us to identify the variability in emotional experiences among individuals. Our system enhances the understanding of how different brain and body processes contribute to the diversity of emotional experiences.

T​he world we usually see and perceive is only a small part of the whole. In our daily lives, we tend to focus on the people, situations, and values that are most familiar and easiest to imagine.
To truly consider the people we seldom interact with, those we may meet in the future, or those we wish to reach and communicate with, it is important to step beyond these “usual frames of imagination” and take in a wider world where cultures, environments, values, and perspectives intersect.
This Diversity Warming-Up Tool is intended to help you recognize the frames you may be unconsciously shaping, and to encourage you to take that first step beyond them.
We warmly invite you to stop by our booth and share your thoughts with us!

We are often reduced to broad labels: “because you are a woman,” “because you are a man,” “because you study humanities,” “because you study science,” “because you are Gen Z.” Intersectionality highlights how elements such as race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, generation, and ability and disability intersect to shape experiences. This exhibit takes female university students’ everyday lives—public spaces, commuting, school, and leisure—as an entry point. Visitors are invited to reflect on and share diverse experiences, deepening both self-understanding and mutual understanding.

What does it feel like to hold a baby in your arms?
Step into the world of VR and experience putting a baby to sleep. While holding a baby doll in your arms, you can feel the gentle heartbeat and warmth of a baby.
This experience is open not only to those who rarely spend time with babies, but also to parents who have raised children. From different perspectives, encountering a “moment of parenting” may bring new discoveries and reflections.
We invite you to pause and share a tender, meaningful moment with a baby in this immersive VR experience.

At this exhibit, a brief survey and a game based on psychological methods let you experience and visualize your personal way of choosing. You’ll repeatedly select one of two slot machines, aiming to maximize your total points. As you play, you’ll discover and understand your own choice tendencies. Estimated time: 15–20 minutes. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Reading is experienced differently by each person. For people with dyslexia, even small changes in font, spacing, or size can make text either readable or difficult. At our booth, you can explore layouts and fonts, selecting the ones that feel most comfortable for you. Your chosen “personal font and layout” will be printed on a receipt printer to take home as a souvenir. This exhibition offers a fun and intuitive way to experience the everyday diversity felt by people with dyslexia. Through this activity, we invite you to discover that reading, too, has many different styles and possibilities.

Neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), frequently experience anxiety, panic attacks, meltdowns, and emotional dysregulation due to societal pressures and inadequate accommodations. These challenges are especially pronounced for neurodivergent women and non-binary individuals navigating intersecting barriers of neurological differences and gender expectations. This research investigates virtual reality (VR) as a portable safe space for emotional regulation, addressing challenges of sensory overload and motion sickness while enhancing relaxation capabilities.

We communicate with many different people in our daily lives.
But is your communication “normal”?
By the way, what does “normal” really mean?
In this exhibit, we use VR to recreate a world where your sense of “normal” communication might not be so “normal.”
Experience how diverse communication and human connection can be—and how the idea of “normal” might just be an illusion.
Take a moment to reflect: what does communication mean to you?

Have you ever heard someone say that it is too bright or their eyes hurt when they go outside? Many people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience sensory hypersensitivity in vision, hearing, or touch. Here, we demonstrate the “ASD Sensory Experience Simulator.” By quantitatively analyzing these subjective experiences, we can understand when and where sensory hypersensitivity occurs. This ASD Sensory Experience Simulator enables us to understand how people with ASD perceive the world, why noisy places are challenging, and why it is hard for them to understand others’ mind.

You can experience scenes from “Life with a Grandmother with Dementia” through interactive dialogue with an AI agent. By facing simulated difficult situations, you can learn how to respond and behave. Through this experience, you will develop empathy, adaptability, and practical knowledge about caregiving.

You can experience a “Job Interview” scene by interacting with an AI agent acting as an interviewer. In a simulated setting, you can practice how to introduce yourself and present your strengths, even in a slightly tense situation. Through this experience, you will become more familiar with the interview atmosphere while building communication skills, self-expression, and confidence.

①In human communication, physical contact plays a vital role in building trust and providing a sense of security. While remote communication technologies capable of conveying haptic sensations have been developed in recent years, current systems primarily transmit the sensation of vibration. This system converts not only vibration but also temperature information into audio signals for transmission during video conferences, enabling the conveyance of human skin warmth, texture, and the immersive feel of a space. Advancements in this technology enable new lifestyles, such as staying connected with family members living far away and experiencing products through online shopping.

Symptoms associated with women’s menstrual cycles vary widely, including abdominal pain, menstrual bleeding, and feelings of depression, with significant individual differences. Consequently, gaining understanding from others remains a challenge. This system replicates menstrual cramps caused by excessive uterine muscle contractions by using EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) to contract the abdominal muscles. This helps deepen understanding of the discomfort associated with menstruation, which is often difficult to verbalize or quantify. Currently, training programs utilizing this system are gaining attention as a way to help people understand the pain and discomfort others experience (Osaka Heat Cool Co., Ltd., Linkage Co., Ltd.).

We will present two types of demo exhibitions featuring our unique interface technology, “Shokkan Tech”:
– A sound-based interface that alters food texture to enhance the enjoyment of meals.
– An electricity-based interface that modifies tactile sensations to explore the mysteries of the human body.
In the actual experience, you will use wearable devices that change the texture of “eating” or the tactile feeling of “touching.”

VR is a technology that enables users to experience others’ everyday realities as their own. This exhibition features two VR systems that allow users to simulate others’ cognitive functions through spatial information manipulation. The first system simulates unilateral spatial neglect by reducing visual information on one side, inducing head movements, and manipulating spatial sound. Users can experience this through a whack-a-mole game. The second system targets memory impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. During a VR experience of making instant coffee, the surrounding VR environment is manipulated to create differences between the user’s memory and the surroundings.

As a concept for future content, NHK STRL is introducing the image of content that expands spatially and sensorily through 3D displays and haptics/scent displays. You can experience 3D content that will become possible to be enjoyed interactively with various senses.

Around us are countless invisible odors that shape our daily lives. This exhibition introduces cutting-edge research that harnesses the extraordinary sense of smell found in insect antennae, converting odors into electrical signals for use in sensors and robots. A highlight is the “odor-detecting drone,” a bio-hybrid system that combines silkworm moth antennae with a small drone. Visitors can experience how the drone detects and follows odor sources, and imagine its future applications in disaster rescue and safety management. Discover technologies that explore the unseen world and envision a future where living organisms and machines work together.

This is an interactive exhibition featuring a robot that facilitates communication between people with visual impairments and those with sight.
In communication, the two groups use physical cues such as head orientation and gaze differently, which can sometimes lead to misunderstandings.
Through this exhibition, visitors can experience both perspectives—those of visually impaired and sighted individuals—via a robot that complements and conveys such differences in bodily expressions, thereby helping to understand how the robot bridges the two sides.

Hug a plushie that moves with your heartbeat and discover your hidden stress through rhythm.

A fun workshop using cute cards like ‘Zuki-zuki’ and ‘Gabuuu’ to express and understand pain!

Gastation and vision are completely different senses, whereas we can feel a common impression both in flavor and visual form. If this is the case, visual form can express flavor by medium of impression. BTW, if the identical food tastes completely different, does that change our impressions of the food? Let’s try it!

We touch countless things every day. Through our sense of touch, we perceive texture, temperature, and hardness. Even when we touch the same objects, our sensations differ from person to person. Like fingerprints, each of us has unique skin softness, finger size, ways of touching objects, and how much force we use for exploration — creating distinct vibration patterns at our fingertips. What does your “touch” look like? In this demonstration, you can experience and visualize a partial of your “touch” by tracing the rough and soft sides of Velcro.

Using a wheelchair-type body extension device equipped with electric assist that allows omnidirectional movement and drifting, we will conduct a racing competition where participants can enjoy new athletic abilities regardless of lower limb physical diversity.

The human brain consists of about 86 billion neurons intricately connected into a vast network. The behavior of each neuron can be described by mathematical equations, which computers can solve numerically. By programming the equations of all neurons and simulating them on a supercomputer, we can reproduce brain activity digitally, effectively creating a digital replica of the brain. We present our work conducted under MEXT Program for Promoting Researches on the Supercomputer Fugaku and AMED Brain/MINDS 2.0.

For blind and visually impaired people, “tactile maps” that can be read by touch are used. In these maps, roads, buildings, and other features are raised, allowing the users to touch them. Besides road maps, there are various types of tactile maps such as station and building floor plans, city boundary maps, railway route maps, and world maps. We have developed tactile map creation apps and, since 2010, have provided a tactile map creating service. At the venue, you can touch these maps, try making one by yourself, and literally get a feel for the world of tactile maps.

Imagine if you could put another mysterious world on top of the one you always see — what could you do? XR (Cross Reality) is like magic—it mixes the real world with the virtual world to create amazing new experiences. In this exhibition, people wearing goggles can explore a world where the real and the virtual come together. But even if you don’t wear goggles, you can still join in! You can watch the same XR world on a computer, and even move things around together. You can pick up virtual 3D objects, spin them around, or change their size however you like. So come on—jump into “another world” and find out what you can do!

Our lab has created a “facial-expression-enhanced avatar” to make communication in virtual reality more engaging. This avatar enhances your facial expressions, helping your thoughts and feelings come across more clearly to others. In our experiments, two people communicating with this avatar felt more positive toward each other and showed synchronized brain activity. At the event, you can try three avatars—without facial expressions, with natural facial expressions, and with enhanced facial expressions—to see how the impressions of communication change. We hope this avatar will help everyone, including those who find speaking difficult, enjoy better communication.

It feels much better to think “I can do it!” than to feel “This is impossible for me.” In psychology, this sense of “I can do it” is called self-efficacy. It is known to increase through experiences and encouragement from the outside world.
In this VR demonstration, you can try simple exercises such as throwing a ball. The difficulty level changes according to your performance, allowing you to build up small successes step by step.
As you play, you may find your own “I can do it!” feeling getting stronger. Come and experience how your sense of confidence can grow!

Conversational agents are becoming increasingly prevalent in modern society, but what would happen if these agents could reflect your emotions? A mirroring agent uses facial expression detection to discern your emotional state, with the resulting responses manifesting in its facial expressions, voice quality, and reply content. Through this agent, users aim to gain real-time self-feedback that is difficult to obtain independently, fostering new insights and understanding of one’s own emotional expressions and states.

People commonly feel fear or anxiety, but when those feelings become too strong, everyday activities can become difficult. Agoraphobia is a disorder in which a person experiences intense fear or anxiety in places where it is hard to get out soon, such as Shinkansen or elevators. We study “VR Symptomatic Therapy” that eases fear and anxiety by using VR technology to alter what a person sees and how they perceive space. In this study, we introduce a VR Symptomatic Therapy system designed for vehicles with windows, such as trains, that helps users experience the space as wider and more open.

As I am a developmental clinical psychologist, “the eyes speak as much as the mouth”. Recent studies have shown that eye movements tell us a lot about your mind and insight. In our lab, we use these techniques and try to identify the difficulties in academic and social skills, especially for children with developmental disabilities. At this event, we want you to experience the joy of mastering something new and the frustration of struggling with something you can’t do by measuring eye movements. Let’s start meeting to know different people’s minds from the outside and understand them more deeply!

We usually see light reflected from people or objects. Holography reproduces this light to create realistic 3D images, offering ultimate control over how visuals appear.
Our research focuses on compressing and transmitting holographic data, aiming to make holography accessible on everyday computers and usable for remote 3D communication.
For this exhibition, we’ve developed a head-mounted display to play back transmitted color holographic motion images. Please enjoy the experience!

For what reason do you wear eyeglasses? Eyeglasses originated as a tool to aid an individual’s vision, but they have expanded their role. Today, there are glasses that block blue light and ultraviolet rays and glasses that read text when you wear them. In addition, many people enjoy customizing the frames of their eyeglasses, wearing date glasses and colored sunglasses as a part of fashion. Technology has the potential to not only complement and assist the individual, but to extend the individual and become part of the individual’s personal tastes and preferences.

The familiar red, yellow, and green traffic lights we see every day. However, for some, these colors might appear differently. At this booth, we invite you to understand how traffic light colors might be perceived from a perspective different from “your normal” and to consider the possibility of making changes from the environment’s side. What colors would be easy or difficult for everyone to see? Come and experience these variations in traffic light colors from a new perspective at our booth. Let’s think together about a future society that’s kinder to all of our diverse viewpoints.

In this exhibit, you will experience how changes in the environment impact an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. We have provided both a familiar tricycle with wheels and a less commonly seen tricycle with square wheels. While the tricycle with wheels moves forward better on flat ground, how about on uneven terrain? The result might surprise you. Even if our characteristics remain unchanged, how will they manifest when the environment shifts? Come and find out for yourself!

Do you know how your family members are doing when they live apart? Checking in daily via social media can be burdensome for everyone. This system places robots at each family member’s location, accumulating records of their daily conversations. It then sends a summary of this content—for example, once a week—to the distant family members. By focusing the summary on “positive experiences,” it enhances the family’s overall sense of appiness. It’s a system designed to create opportunities for family reunions.

Would you like to create different “feelings of touch” on a simple sheet of white paper?
By using static electricity to alter its friction, you can experience a surprising sense of bumps and ridges on a seemingly flat surface.
And by adjusting the waveforms of the electrical signals, you can draw out a wide range of textures—rough, smooth, or silky.
Come and explore this new world of tactile expression, where invisible sensations are imagined, created, and shared through touch.

Are you worried about what others think or struggle to express yourself? EuLa is an online middle school that cherishes each student’s individuality. Our classroom is a 2D metaverse with nostalgic pixel art, offering “another school” accessible from anywhere with a PC. You can be your avatar self—no need to show your face or use your voice. Communicate at your own pace through chat and gestures. More than just a safe space, EuLa helps you develop vital self-regulation skills with psychology experts. Please visit our booth to experience this new world of learning.

AT&D Lab. collects regional issues, analyzes them, develops solutions, and returns them to the community. From this process, we created two tools: Braille Translation App “Cesarine” and Braille Typing Practice Device “Ototen-kun.” Cesarine was developed for teachers at schools for the blind who cannot read Braille but want smoother communication with students. With this app, teachers can instantly read Braille diaries and give feedback. Ototen-kun is designed for Braille typing practice, offering voice feedback and portability so students can learn anytime, anywhere.

We present Inkjet 4D Print, a method to automatically fold planar sheets into 3D shapes by heat. By printing origami patterns on both sides of a heat-shrinkable film, we can achieve computationally designed shapes such as a cap and a bunny. Compared to directly 3D printing a shape, the method of printing a 2D sheet and self-folding it into a 3D shape contributes to sustainable fabrication with less printing time, less material waste, and less storage space.

Tremors of the limbs or voice can greatly disrupt daily life. We are developing new medical technologies that reduce these tremors by applying rhythmic stimulation to the brain. For gait problems, we provide step-synchronized sounds to help improve walking patterns. For vocal tremor, we capture the voice in real time and deliver tailored electrical stimulation to the cerebellum to steady speech. At our booth, you can experience these approaches firsthand: try walking in time with rhythmic sounds and watch your own voice converted into stimulation waveforms. Discover how adding rhythm to daily actions can make movement and speech easier.

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Our “dabot” is a chatbot (automated response system) that offers solutions through cute characters when you face unique challenges in daily life. It provides ideas for communication, reading/writing, schedule management, and more. Dabot also includes tools to help you identify where you struggle compared to others. At the exhibition, you can try dabot on your own smartphone or other device. We also have cute character stickers and charms representing developmental disabilities, designed for children to enjoy.

Poverty, abuse, bullying, isolation, suicide… To ensure that every child facing hardship is identified and supported, a social system is needed that screens all children for risk and connects them to preventative support. Our school screening system, “YOSS”, is a mechanism that promotes children’s social inclusion through the power of SCHOOLs × TECHNOLOGY × SOCIAL RESOURCEs. Just as in the medical field, we aim to create a new world in which prevention, early detection, and early care are commonplace in child welfare and education.

At the Ritsumeikan University Spoken Language Laboratory, we introduce our research on speech recognition and emotion recognition, which enable computers to identify spoken content and emotions from voice. Our demonstrations include studies on recognizing speech from individuals with articulation disordersOur demonstrations include studies on recognizing speech from individuals with articulation disorders, which is difficult for conventional speech recognition systems, and research on real-time recognition of emotions such as joy and anger, which continuously change from moment to moment.

The Neurodiversity Award celebrates innovative ideas, technologies, products, and events that discover new possibilities for neurodiversity. Projects across three categories—Social Implementation, Research and Development, and Planning—were submitted by students, researchers, and companies. This exhibition showcases the winners, whose outstanding contributions advance the understanding and promotion of neurodiversity in society. Each displayed project demonstrates how neurodiversity can be harnessed to create a more inclusive world. Please explore the groundbreaking work of these award recipients and learn how they are making a difference.

Would you like to share which areas of the venue evoked certain emotions in you? At this booth, using color-coded stickers and notes based on emotions, you can visualize your event experience. Your feedback will serve as valuable insight to understand which parts of the venue are most appealing to everyone, and which might need some improvements. Emotions might vary from person to person. Why not map out your unique feelings and share your impressions with others?

We possess a diverse range of senses through our nose, ears, mouth, eyes, and skin, and we receive numerous stimuli from them daily. At this booth, by writing and attaching your past experiences and daily emotions to a body map, we aim to visualize the feelings everyone experiences through their bodies. You might discover others who feel the same way as you do or realize that you’re not alone in how you feel! Whether it’s something trivial or something you’re concerned about, everything counts. Please share with us how you feel.

Experience the Future of Inclusive Gaming！
Discover games that don’t rely on sight—where sound, touch, and intuition lead the way. This exhibit invites you to explore accessible eSports and game designs that welcome players of all abilities. Through hands-on experiences, we highlight how play can open doors to a more inclusive society. Let your senses guide you into a world where everyone can join the game.

Would you like to experience what it’s like to have low vision?
For people who are blind or have low vision, relying on braille blocks and understanding the surrounding information is very important when walking alone. In this activity, you will wear glasses that simulate low vision and experience which color combinations of braille blocks are easier to find. Next, you will try the “Coded Braille Blocks (talking braille blocks),” which provide guidance about the surrounding environment simply by pointing a smartphone at them. While using a white cane to trace the braille blocks, you will also challenge yourself to walk. This is an opportunity for awareness and learning.

Listen to the voices of individuals with developmental disabilities, and the “eye-friendly notebook” that was born from it.

Mahora is a seemingly simple notebook.
But within it are the wishes of many people packed inside.
“Reduces light reflection for eye comfort”
“Easily distinguishable lines”
“Simple design”
These were all created based on the voices of individuals with developmental disabilities.
Please take it in your hands and give it a try. I’m sure it will become your “regular notebook” from that day on.
And may this notebook become the standard from now on.

Smartphones are equipped with various functions such as sensing, feedback, and communication. The shape and design of smartphone cases can also be customized. We have combined these elements to build multiple table tennis-derived systems. For example, we developed a racket-shaped smartphone case that recognizes the number of rallies via its accelerometer, with the smartphone racket itself announcing the rally count. Another system provides the sensation of rallying through sound and vibration when the smartphone racket is swung in sync with the timing. Would you like to join us in designing new table tennis systems that contribute to the world of neurodiversity?

The advancement of neurotechnology brings with it many possibilities. Concurrently, the effective utilization of improved neurotechnology requires to consider Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI). This exhibition introduces the ELSI discussions surrounding neurotechnology and presents the “Guidelines for Developing and Utilizing AI Technology that Uses Brain Data to Estimate Perceptual Information”, created by the Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet).