ADVANCES IN PROGRESS

As a student, Tatsuya Honda was just being nice when he helped a deaf man who had gotten lost at a festival at Future University Hakodate in Hokkaido in 2009. But he never imagined that the encounter would grow into two things — a friendship ...

What could be the next big thing in technology after the digital revolution? According to Chuo University engineering professor, the answer could come from Mother Nature. "Traditionally, people wanted industrial robots to be able to work precisely to help with mass production. But today, demand is ...

Virtual reality, more often than not, is touted as a feature of state-of-the-art video games with headsets that allow players to see all around them, beyond the boundaries of their monitors. But the technology's potential extends beyond games. A team led by Masahiko Sumitani, head of ...

As virtual reality makes strides in the tech world, the next big thing is tipped to be a visual technology that can capture and show what people see in 360 degrees. "It's like in the 1920s with Hollywood and film: There was just the brand ...

Businesses small and large are looking to cash in on the potential for smartphones and wearable devices as health care trends toward the digital age. They are especially interested in preventive medicine, an area that could ultimately help rapidly graying Japan slash its ballooning medical ...

Just as text messaging has become a mainstream form of communication, attention is shifting to the chatbot as the next big thing for information management and customer service. Chatbots are computer programs that interpret human speech or written inquiries and decide which information is being ...

Since making its first public appearance last October, Sharp Corp.'s humanoid robot smartphone, RoBoHoN, has created a lot of buzz. But the eye-catching 19.5-cm-tall robot, which can walk, talk and dance but still works as a phone, has also left many people wondering why a ...

In an increasingly digital society, acquiring power to keep our smartphones, laptop computers and electric vehicles running is becoming essential to stay in communication and to get around. To make gadgets and appliances last longer as well as run smaller, thinner devices, Japanese manufacturers are ...

Carbon fiber may often be dubbed the next-generation material, but it's another product — cellulose nanofiber — that is increasingly attracting attention among manufacturers. A low-weight, high-strength material, cellulose nanofiber has potential use in a wide range of products, including auto parts, food packaging, clothing, ...