3D City Models Accelerate the Creation of Smart Cities and Digital Twins, Data-Driven Efforts in Electronics

Sophisticated 3D city models are indispensable for creating smart cities and digital twins. Many countries are developing and establishing open data compatible with the international standard CityGML. This article presents various applications of sophisticated 3D city models—including city planning, disaster prevention planning, and simulating the installation and operation of electronic equipment—using Plateau, Japan’s CityGML-compatible 3D city model considered to be the most extensive in the world.

• Smart City
• Digital twin
• DX
• Sensors
• Data-driven
• VR/AR

Digital Technologies That Realize the Diversification of Primary Industries

The diversification of primary industries refers to the aim to have producers (primary industries) also perform processing (secondary industries) and distribution and sales (tertiary industries) in order to diversify their management. The purpose of this is to curb price fluctuations with the wholesale of produce to increase added value and to improve the income of producers while revitalizing regions at the same time.

• Agriculture
• IoT
• Sensors

Today's Evolving Beauty Tech

The number of people working from home and taking part in online meetings is increasing. This has led to an increase in the number of women omitting makeup, which until then had been a part of their daily routine. Against this backdrop, products referred to as "beauty tech" that utilize AI, IoT, and other technologies are breathing new life into the cosmetics industry.

• AI
• Sensors
• IoT

Considering Air Quality to Reduce the Risk of COVID Infection (Part 2)—How to choose CO2 sensors to visualize air quality

For society to recover and progress in this post-pandemic era, we need to reduce the risk of infection at schools, offices, and other places where people gather. As indicators of the quality of ventilation, CO2 sensors should be chosen with care.

• CO2 sensors
• Developer Interview
• COVID-19
• Sensors
• Education

Considering Air Quality to Reduce the Risk of COVID Infection (Part 1)—Measuring CO2 Concentration to Visualize Air Quality and Ensure Proper Ventilation

For society to recover and progress in this post-pandemic era, we need to reduce the risk of infection at schools, offices, and other places where people gather. To achieve this, we must avoid the three Cs: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. Toward that end, ventilation is especially important for preventing airborne infections. A new method of discerning and announcing the proper timing for ventilation is gaining attention: using CO2 sensors to visualize air quality.

• CO2 sensors
• Developer Interview
• COVID-19
• Sensors
• Solution

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Technology to quantify an individual's mental state

Sensors and AI can now be used to numerically measure our feelings, including happiness, satisfaction, and motivation. In this section, we introduce some new possibilities made possible through understanding human feelings.

• Sensors
• AI
• Happy technology
• DX

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Expanding the scope of remote work using VR/AR and 5G technologies

VR/AR technology fuses the virtual with the actual, while 5G technology allows for massive amounts of data to be transmitted. Advances continue to be made in both areas. In this section, we introduce some examples of how these technologies are expanding the scope of remote work.

• Sensors
• AI
• IoT
• VR/AR
• Work style reform
• 5G
• Solution

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Using digital technology to see how experts work and build systems

Wearable sensors and image recognition technology now make it possible to see exactly how experts work. In this section, we introduce some examples of how expert skills can be passed on to the next generation, and how work can be automated.

• Sensors
• AI
• IoT
• Smart Factory
• Solution

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Sensors that watch over and care for people

We can now use sensors and AI to determine a person's state of health or to objectively detect the mood of a situation. In this section, we introduce some examples of how these technologies can be used to improve the quality of our lives and work.

• Sensors
• AI
• IoT
• Smart City
• Solution

Bringing humans and machines even closer with sensors and AI

Haptics, and reaching a state of "unity of operator and machine"

Sensors and haptics carry great potential for creating new human-machine interfaces that bring humans and machines even closer together. We discuss why and present some possible scenarios below.

• Sensors
• AI
• Haptics
• Robot
• HMI