In recent years, the need for computer vision systems is increasing in various fields, such as security monitoring and visual inspection. It is crucial to realize simple and high-speed vision systems especially for practical usage. This paper addresses the author's theoretical research and its applications developed thus far in working toward this goal. First, the problems of the conventional approach are pointed out, and the general framework of pattern recognition, in particular the feature extraction theory, is explained as the theoretical foundation of the present research. Then a scheme of adaptive vision system with learning capability is presented, which comprises two stages of feature extraction, namely, Higher-order Local Auto-Correlation and multivariate data analysis. Several applications are demonstrated, showing the flexible and effective performance of the proposed scheme.

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A significant feature of humanoid robots is their potential to make various expressions as humans do, and this feature will allow the use of humanoid robots as assemblies of content technologies. Technical issues required for the practical use of humanoid robots are discussed in terms of robot hardware, motion expression generation, vocal expression generation and integrated GUI (Graphical User Interface), and the development of technologies to solve the issues and their integration have been carried out. As a result, we have produced HRP-4C, a life-size biped humanoid robot with realistic human-like appearance, and Choreonoid, an integrated software interface that allows us to choreograph motions with robots as done with CG characters. Experiments on creating contents with these technologies verified the potential of humanoid robots as assemblies of content technologies.

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A thermoelectric hydrogen gas sensor developed for leak detection in hydrogen stations has shown good hydrogen selectivity and wide hydrogen detection concentration ranging from 0.5 ppm to 5 %. We have demonstrated high sensitivity and reliability of the sensor exceeding conventional technology through a field test of one year. We could optimize the following three constituent technology elements to meet the social needs, i.e. new principle integrating catalytic combustion and thermoelectric conversion technology, micro-fabrication technology to realize the principle and high performance ceramic catalyst for gas combustion. In addition, the sensor performance evaluation technology established during the development has been proposed for ISO standardization.

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In order to overcome the limitatin of low-power-consumption and communication capacity of the equipment forming the present communication network, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has carried out a demonstration of a new prototype optical path network to support the ultra high-definition large-capacity image contents era, in collaboration with five IT-related companies and with the support of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology(NICT) and Nippon Hoso Kyokai Science and Technology Research Laboratories (NHK/STRL) . The experiment was a trial to demonstrate the performance of the dynamic optical path network developed mainly by AIST under practical conditions, using a network testbed of field optical fiber links connecting Akihabara, Otemachi and Koganei offices in Tokyo. The demonstration included the cross-border-connection with the optical packet and circuit integrated network realized by NICT and transmission of ultra high-definition video signals developed by NHK. In this paper, we describe the objectives, targets, technology syntheses based on the elemental technologies for the demonstration, and outcomes.

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[in Japanese]

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