Hiroshi Ishiguro (M’) received a Ph. D. in systems engineering from the Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University (2009-) and Visiting Director (2011-) of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR).
He is also Distinguished Professor of Osaka University and an ATR fellow (one of six fellows). His research interests are interactive robotics, avatar technology, and android science. He has developed many interactive humanoids and androids, called Robovie, Repliee, Geminoid, Telenoid, Elfoid, CommU, ERICA, and Ibuki. These robots have been reported by media such as Discovery Channel, NHK, and BBC. In particular, Android research and development is world-famous. In 2011, he won the Osaka Cultural Award. In 2015, he received the Prize for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). He was also awarded the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award in Dubai in 2015. Tateisi Award in 2020, and honorary doctorate of Aarhus university in 2021.

Avatar and the future society

In this lecture, the speaker will introduce the technologies of autonomous robots and avatars (teleoperated robots and CG characters) that he has developed, and discuss how the avatar technology will change the world. It is important to enable people with various backgrounds and values, such as those who need to care for or raise children or the elderly, to participate in diverse activities according to their own lifestyles, and to realize a society in which people are free from the constraints of body, brain, space, and time. Avatar is the realization of such a society. The speaker is engaged in research, development, and business with the aim of enabling anyone to freely and remotely control multiple avatars and participate in diverse work, educational, medical, and everyday social activities without having to go to the field.