Brain World 2024 for Everyone – Super Diversified!

On October 12 and 13, 2024, the “Brain World 2024 for Everyone – Super Diverse” exhibit was held at Tokyo Port City Takeshiba. Expanding on last year’s 33 contents, this year’s exhibition brought together 55 interactive contents from industry, government, and academia from all over Japan, as well as talk sessions and workshops. The event was held within the “Interesting Future a Little Bit Ahead (Chomoro). and was held at the same time as the “Chomoro,” attracting a total of 16,252 visitors over the two days at the venue!

55 contents from various leading Japanese universities, research institutes and companies will be exhibited.

A total of 55 contents from industry, academia, and government were exhibited at Brain World 2024 for Everyone – Super Diversity, and were experienced by a wide range of visitors, from children to adults. As in the previous year, the exhibition was divided into five areas, and visitors were encouraged to understand neurodiversity by touring each of them.

A Diverse World

At the entrance is the “Diverse Worlds” area. In this area, visitors can learn how we perceive the world and what kind of differences there are in the world we perceive, using familiar examples. A total of 12 exhibits include an optical illusion, in which we see things differently when we look at them differently, different animals see colors in different ways, and the perspectives and senses of the people involved, allowing visitors to experience a diverse world that is different from their own.

• Experience the Difference! Diversity in the way we see (B Lab)
• Why do they look so different? Let’s experience the wonder of visual illusions (B Lab)
• Rethinking the “everyday” from the perspective of intersectionality (Shibaba Laboratory, Jissen Women’s University)
• Multisensory Emotion Estimation System (Laboratory of Cognitive and Developmental Robotics, The University of Tokyo)
• Changing Stance Freely? Stance Poker” (Department of Art Science, Osaka University of Arts)
• Your Way of Seeing Things” captured by brain waves (NTT Human Information Laboratories)
• Asymmetric communication using a naked-eye stereoscopic display (Inami/Kadouchi Laboratory, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo)
• What You See, What I See – Communication for Each Person ( JST Future Society Creation Project: Realization of a Society Optimized for Individuals, “Interactive Support for Communication in a Neurodiversity Environment”)
• Embodiment Simulation: Let’s look at the world from the point of view of the people involved! Moonshot Objective 1 Project Cybernetic being (Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University)
• LGBTech: VR for Therapy (Minds1020Lab (COI-NEXT, Yokohama City University + Embodied Media Project, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University + Juntendo University)
• Emotion-sharing viewing experience by air tactile transmission (Junji Watanabe (NTT Communication Science Laboratories))
• Workshop “Heart Picnic” to touch the heartbeat (Junji Watanabe (NTT Communication Science Laboratories))

A variety of senses

The next area is the area of the five diverse senses.
The concept of this area is to learn about the different senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and others, to look at one’s own senses, to realize the diversity of each person’s different senses, to respect each other’s differences, and to deepen our connections.
A total of 11 exhibits were presented, including one that measured one’s own sense of touch as if it were hearing, one that focused on the sense of taste, one that relied on the sense of touch to guess what was happening inside a box, and a tour around the venue to record stimuli on a map.

• Invisible ‘pain’ is visible! Pepepe Pain Card Experience (WiTH PAiN)
• Sweet and Bitter Shapes – Visualization of Flavor (Multisensory and Cognitive Design Laboratory, Ritsumeikan University)
• What’s going on inside this thing? (NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories)
• ASD Perceptual Experience Simulator (Laboratory of Cognitive and Developmental Robotics, The University of Tokyo)
• Feel Consciousness and Unconsciousness (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (with Moonshot Goal 3 Shimoda Project))
• Tactile Force Testing (B Lab / Nagoya Institute of Technology Haptics Laboratory / Inamori Science Research Organization Embodied Media Project, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University)
• Let’s experience sensory integration – the brain’s function to organize various senses – through VR (Kuzuoka-Tanikawa-Narumi Laboratory, The University of Tokyo, and Sensory Hypersensitivity Laboratory, Crystal Road Inc.)
• Sensory Tour (Crystal Road Sensory Sensitivity Institute, Inc.)
• Your World as Seen by the Brain” (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Brain-Information-Communication Fusion Research Center, Future ICT Research Institute)
• Sensory Detective Stamp Rally (Policy Project + B Lab)
• Feel the scenery you want to see with sound (KDDI R&D Laboratories, Inc.)

Extension of the individual

After learning about the diversity of individual senses, there is an “Individual Expansion” area where visitors can experience how technology can expand the power of the individual.

In this area, a total of 17 exhibits were presented, including a wheelchair that can drift, games that can be operated using brain waves, a robot that can walk around the venue and interact with avatars remotely, and a near-future-feeling exhibit in which the robot can work with other pilots to make ceramics.

• Slide Lift (AXEREAL Corporation, Superhuman Sports Project)
• Hakkaku (AXEREAL Corporation, Chojin Sports Project)
• Spirit Overflow (AXEREAL Corporation, Superhuman Sports Project)
• What do you mean by personal expansion? (B Lab)
• Zizai Faith (Inami/Kadouchi Laboratory, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo)
• Let’s control games with brain waves! (NTT Human Information Laboratories)
• Brainwave Racing Game (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Brain Information and Communication Fusion Research Center, Future ICT Research Institute)
• Real and virtual, parent-child cooperation! (Kuzuoka, Tanikawa & Narumi Laboratory, The University of Tokyo)
• Working freely in “another body” (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (Oly Institute))
• Extend your body and push your limits (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (Keio University KMD + Oly Institute) x WITH ALS x NOUPATHY x Dentsu Science Jam)
• Experience the skills of others and learn with your own body (Moonshot Objective 1: Project Cybernetic being (Nagoya Institute of Technology + Keio University KMD) x Japan Craftsmen’s Association x Iku-To-En)
• Assist physical movement to overcome decline (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (Nagoya Institute of Technology + Nagoya University School of Medicine + Tokai University))
• Touch the digitally augmented world (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (Keio University KMD) x NTT DOCOMO x commissure x SPLINE DESIGN HUB)
• Walking in the digitally augmented world (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (KMD, Keio University))
• Connect with avatar through whole body sensation (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (Keio University KMD) x Synesthesia Lab (Enhance Experience Inc.))
• Manipulating a robot body to surpass oneself (moonshot goal 1 Project Cybernetic being (Meiji University + Sony CSL + Tokai University))
• Cybernetic being expands Kokoro (moonshot goal 1) Project Cybernetic being (University of Tokyo)

Adjustment of environment

The “Adjustment of Environment” area was developed as an area for visitors to learn that they have the option of “changing their environment” as opposed to extending their personal characteristics. Here, a total of six exhibits were displayed, including an automatic door that can change its opening and closing speed depending on who passes by, and a bicycle with square tires.

• Color glasses and color simulator (Howdy Corporation/ViXion Corporation)
• What do you mean it depends on the environment? (B Lab) What if the traffic light is not red or green? (B Lab)
• Atsumare Music Forest（Minds1020Lab (Yokohama City University COI-NEXT))
• Japanese Snoezelen（Policy Project + B Lab)
• Mirailo Door, an automatic door friendly to everyone (Howdy Co., Ltd. / Furutech Corporation / Mirailo Co., Ltd.)
• Smiral-Robo” – A smile for a donation (One Smile Foundation + ugo)

Creating Society

The last area is the “Create a Society” area, which provides an opportunity to think about what kind of society is a society in which everyone can demonstrate their individual strengths based on what they have experienced and learned so far.

A total of seven items were displayed, including one that provides an opportunity to learn about your child’s characteristics, one that allows everyone to translate their own personal problems into easy-to-understand language, and a calming down room with a high sound insulation function.

• Creating the future together from stories “Neu World” (Moonshot Goal 1 Kanai Project Internet of Brains)
• Understanding Your Child by His or Her Characteristics: L ITALICO Developmental Characteristics Test (LITALICO Corporation)
• How can we all work together (Laboratory of Experimental Economics, Meiji Gakuin University + Center for Integrated Area of Information Science, Meiji Gakuin University + Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas(B): Creation of Digital Embodied Economics (Completed in FY2023)
• Translation of the word “kokomigoto ” (B Lab)
• Body Map: Let’s write your feelings as you feel them! (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas of Science (B) Creation of Digital Embodiment Economics (Completed in FY2023) + B Lab)
• Environment Map: Share your findings! (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas of Science (B) Creation of Digital Embodiment Economics (Completed in FY2023) + B Lab)
• Neurodiversity Award (B Lab)

Visitors commented that it was the first time they had heard of the term “neurodiversity” and that they felt they understood a little more about the world of families (parties involved) by learning about various senses.

On the other hand, exhibitors commented that “it was good to have a wide range of people, from people of all ages and specialties to the general public, experience the technology and see their reactions before their eyes,” and “it was a great opportunity to engage with many researchers, leading to collaboration,” and received positive feedback as a research outreach venue and We received positive feedback as a place for research outreach and as a community.

Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the exhibitors, participants, and supporters of this event.
We hope to continue to contribute to the realization of a neurodiverse society through hands-on programs and exhibits, aiming to make “Brain World for Everyone – Super Diversity” a place where visitors can deepen their understanding of their own characteristics and those of others by experiencing diverse senses and perspectives.

For inquiries about this matter, please contact: info at neuro-diversity.world