ISSN 0915-3160

通巻百四十号

No.

4Vol. 35 October 2023
AutumnS pec i a l Feat u reSmart House Latest Trends

Toward IoT Smart Homes That Make People Happy
Communication Robotics

Sekisui Heim Smart Houses: Latest technology trends

HOMETACT: The Cutting Edge Smart-home Platform in JapanDIY Smart Home for the Elderly: Implement wellness monitoring for parents living
elsewhere using IoT

New Breeze Vol. 35 No.4 Autumn

New Breeze

October 2023

C O N T E N T S

ISSN 0915-3160

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Toward IoT Smart Homes That Make People Happy

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Communication Robotics— Life technologies to catch, communicate and connect —HOMETACT: The Cutting Edge Smart-home Platform in JapanDIY Smart Home for the Elderly: Implement wellness monitoringfor parents living elsewhere using IoT		Column
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Toward IoT Smart Homes That Make People Happy

Masao Isshiki

Director
Smart House Research Center
Kanagawa Institute of Technology

1. Introduction

Kanagawa Institute of Technology Smart House ResearchCenter is conducting research on “IoT smart homes that makepeople happy.” There are two aspects regarding IoT smart homes
as residences. The first is the “smart” aspect, i.e., using energy
intelligently (energy savings and conserving electricity). The
second is providing residences that promote prosperous lifestyles
for people. Both aspects are advancing daily with Internet ofThings (IoT) technology. IoT means the use of Internet
technologies that connect various devices while creating newvalue.
This article describes how IoT smart homes will evolve in the
future with respect to the latest government policies on residences.

2. N ew Basic Housing Plan (revised after
five years) with “new normal” and “DXpromotion” as key words

In March 2021, the Basic Housing Plan was revised after
five years[1]. This plan is a basic policy on housing to achieve

Yuji Sasagawa

Research Staff
Smart House Research Center
Kanagawa Institute of Technology

prosperous lives in homes based on a law called the Basic Act for
Housing, which was enacted in 2006. It sets housing targets forthe next ten years, and is revised every five years. It is referred to as
a compass for housing policy for the near future. An outline of the
new Basic Housing Plan is shown in Figure 1.
Several new notable themes are shown in Figure 1 regarding
the current issues with housing, such as climate change, newlifestyles, and digital transformation (DX) promotion. The new
Basic Housing Plan introduced three new goals to address theseissues. From the viewpoint of the social-environmental change,
goals 1 and 2 were set to indicate policy directions for handling“new normal” and disasters such as heavy rainstorms. From theviewpoint of housing stock and the housing industry, goal 6 was
set to indicate policy directions for achieving carbon neutrality by
2050.
For goal 1, which denotes new daily life and DX, the following
two directions were devised to achieve new lives in homes.
(1) Promote the diversification of residential styles to meet
people’s new thoughts on living and the f lexibility for■ Figure 1: Overview of new Basic Housing Plan

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residential location choices according to people’s living
conditions.
(2) Promote DX of housing contracts and trade processes andof house construction and management processes using
new technologies.
Regarding direction (1), the background on the issues withhousing for “new normal” is the increasing interest in new anddiversifying ways of living prompted by reforming of working
practices and the aftermath of COVID-19. New residential
situations, such as the increase in suburban and rural living owing
to the increase of telework, or having multiple residences are
becoming common. To adapt to these new situations, schemes,such as promoting environmental arrangements, have been set as
basic policy to support telework and other new working practices.
Regarding direction (2), the background includes advancesin new services and technology on the basis of 5G installationand expanding social and economic DX. It also includes the
rapidly expanding DX in the field of housing, such as remoteand non-contact customer handling and digitalization prompted
due to the aftermath of COVID-19. Schemes, such as AIassisted designing and all-stage DX, i.e., design, construction,
maintenance, management, and disposal, are listed as the basic
policy to promote the use of new technologies in housing-contract,
trade, construction, and management processes.
Note that in the Basic Housing Plan, DX promotion is
described from the perspective of housing suppliers or enterprises.
We describe our thoughts on housing DX in later sections.
For goal 2, which denotes establishing safe housing
and residential areas and securing houses to people aff licted
by increasingly frequent and intense disasters, installation offacilities such as renewable-energy equipment and storage batteries
is being promoted by government projects to support energysaving residences such as net-zero energy houses (ZEHs)[2], which
contributes to increasing resilience in housing. Note that thestandard equipment for a ZEH is the home energy management
system (HEMS), which is the infrastructure for managing energy
consumption and controlling home devices, such as appliances.
It can also contribute to goal 6 discussed below, with respect tosaving energy in the home.
For goal 6 which denotes building house recirculation systems
for a decarbonized society and forming good-quality housing
stock, the spread of energy-conserving houses such as ZEHs is an
important initiative toward achieving carbon-neutrality by 2050.
IoT smart homes will of course be equipped with HEMSs;
therefore, we believe that its expansion will contribute to achieving
these goals.

3. What is housing DX?

What is meant by DX? In Japan, the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry (METI) has published Digital GovernanceCode[3], which defines the DX as, “by use of data and digitaltechnology by enterprises in response to intensifying change

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

in business environments, reforming products, services andbusiness models based on the needs of customers and society,and also reforming the business itself: organization, processes,
and corporate culture and climate; to establish competitive
superiority,” indicating that enterprises should take initiatives.
However, the historically first definition is attributed to Prof. Erik
Stolterman of Umeå University in Sweden, who in 2004 proposed
it to mean “improvement in all aspects of people’s lives through thepermeation of IT[4]”. Perhaps housing DX fits this latter definition
better. Thus, we assume that promoting housing DX means“’fertilizing’ people’s lives.” We also expect that the use of digitaltechnologies for communication between residents and housing
suppliers or providers of residential services on the corporate side
will also contribute greatly to DX on the corporate side.

4. ECHONET Lite: key technology forpromoting housing DX

A ZEH, as described in the previous section, is equipped witha HEMS. The first objective of introducing HEMSs is to provide
visualization of the energy consumption of connected devices toencourage users to actively conserve energy. Therefore, a HEMS
requires more devices to be connected to it, so the communication
technology used for the interface (language) between devices is a
key issue. In November 2011, METI formed the “Smart House
Standardization Study Group” to study measures promoting
energy saving and conservation of electricity in homes, and thisstudy group recommended ECHONET Lite as the standard
communication interface between devices connected to a HEMS
in the home and smart meters (Figure 2)[5].
■ Figure 2: ECHONET Lite: HEMS communication interface

Homes have various appliances and other household
equipment, and in the past, most manufacturers used different
rules for communicating with their products, which resulted
in problems such as the inability to manage them centrally andservices no longer able to be used if a device was replaced witha product from a different manufacturer. A decision was madeto unify and standardize communication rules to resolve such
issues. This was a significant decision and became the rationale

for ECHONET Lite as the base communication technology forsmart homes and HEMSs. The features of ECHONET Lite areas follows.
1) It is a communication technology based on the Internet
Protocol (IP).
2) I t is a non-vendor-specific communication technology.
3) It defines detailed control commands at the level of handy
remote controllers (defining more than 100 types of devices)4) It can use various standard transmission media (wired LAN(Ethernet), wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), etc.).
5) I t is an international standard (ISO/IEC 14543-4-3).
6) The specifications are open to the public (in Japanese andEnglish).
As stated in 1), ECHONET Lite is based on IP, so
connectivity to the Internet is assumed; thus, all ECHONET
Lite devices can be called IoT devices. With the ECHONET Lite
recommendation as the communication technology for HEMS in
Japan, the infrastructure for conversion to IoT has already been
built.
To what extent have ECHONET Lite devices spreadthroughout the world? The ECHONET Consortium, which
created the ECHONET Lite specifications, has been publishingstatistics for shipped devices classified in the major productcategories since FY2013 on its web site[6] (Figure 3). In FY2013,
there was approximately 4.7 million units shipped, while in
FY2022 there was approximately 140 million units shipped. The
residential smart meters, that accounts a good portion of thestatistics, have been installed in basically all homes in Japan. The
consortium has voiced the direction to expand healthcare-related
products and will contribute to IoT transformation of homes.

5. State of housing DX expansion

Next we examine the expansion of ZEHs, which are homes■ Figure 3: Cumulative numbers of shipped or scheduled
ECHONET-Lite-compliant devices

equipped with HEMS and ECHONET Lite devices. Figure 4
shows the year-to-year progress in the percentages of ZEHs
among newly built and scheduled homes up to FY2021. The
government target for FY2020 for the spread of ZEHs was that
50% or more of newly built or scheduled houses by home builders
should be ZEHs, and, as shown in this figure, this target wasachieved in FY2020 (56.3%). However, it should be noted that a
ZEH is not the same as housing DX. A ZEH only means thata platform for housing DX has been installed, and 70–80% of
homes in Japan are still built by local contractors, so the spread of
ZEHs is just beginning. However, the government’s declaration
for carbon neutrality by 2050 is expected to strengthen policy
for residential energy saving, and we expect this to promote thespread of ZEHs. COVID-19 has also resulted in trends suchas increased telework, so the number of residences with goodInternet environments has been increasing steadily, and we expect
this will also result in the advance of housing DX.

■ Figure 4: Percentages of ZEHs as newly built and scheduled homes

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6. Housing also entering “Software First” era

There is a manufacturing approach called “Software First”,
in which products are manufactured with the assumption thatthey will be updated. Familiar examples of devices manufactured
with this approach are PCs and smartphones. Both hardware andsoftware (services) had been basically developed together, but by
updating software, improvements can be made such as updating
the user interface or providing new services, even if using the same
hardware. With the development of Internet technologies, thespeed of software advances has exceeded that of hardware, which
is a major driving factor for the approach. Of course, hardware
also needs to be updated periodically, so it still provides value thatcannot be improved through software, but the important role
software plays in improving the utilization of that hardware isundeniable.
Actually, it seems that this “Software First” concept isgradually entering development in the automobile industry, so
perhaps this approach will also become more important in housing
in the future (Figure 5). Also in housing policy, themes such as
promoting long-term high-quality housing, increasing activity
in the used/older/resale housing markets, building long-lasting
housing, and utilizing existing housing are becoming important.
Considering such conditions, it seems that software development
can play an important role in housing, supporting changes inthe social environment and lifestyles. Of course, it is importantto have ease-of-use so that those not proficient in information
technology will not be left behind. Key points include userfriendly design and low-cost, so that anyone can use features easily.
For Japan, with its aging population, it is even more important to
prepare environments so that all, including both the child-rearing
generation and the elderly, can enjoy the benefits.
■ Figure 5: Updatable homes

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

7. Conclusion

With the aftermath of COVID-19, advancing DX has becomea target of housing policy, and we expect various residential
services to emerge through the Internet in the future. We also
expect this to become a design assumption for the “hardware”
of housing. Through the promotion of energy-saving housing,many household appliances and residential equipment and devices
have become IoT compliant. Houses are used over many years
and change gradually over long periods, but the environment forbuilding “Software First” housing seems to be falling into place.
In the future, enterprises supplying housing and residential service
providers are expected to promote housing DX. We hope to also
be able to contribute to this effort through collaborative researchwith enterprises. We hope that housing DX will lead to homebuilding initiatives that bring happiness to everyone.
References[1] Basic Housing Plan (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism)
https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/house/jutakukentiku_house_tk2_000032.html (inJapanese)[2] N et-zero energy house (ZEH) related published information (Agency for Natural Resources
and Energy):
https://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/category/saving_and_new/saving/general/housing/index03.html (in Japanese)[3] D
 igital Governance Code (Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry, 2022/9/13)
https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/it_policy/investment/dgc/dgc.html4) Erik Stolterman,
Anna Croon Fors (2004) “Information technology and the good life”, Information Systems
Research Relevant Theory and Informed Practice[5] S mart House Building Standards Study Committee, Interim Summary (draft)
http://www.meti.go.jp/committee/summary/0004668/011_04_02.pdf (in Japanese)[6] E chonet Consortium web site
https://echonet.jp/shipments/ (in Japanese)[7] Sustainable Open Innovation Initiative, “Net-zero-energy House Demonstration Project
Study Presentation Documents, 2022/12/04 (in Japanese)
https://sii.or.jp/opendata/#prj6 (in Japanese)

Communication Robotics— Life technologies to catch, communicate and connect —Yoichi Yamazaki

Dept. of Home Electronics
Faculty of Creative Engineering
Kanagawa Institute of Technology

1. Introduction

With the spread of AI and IoT, homes and other living
environments are advancing daily, and the government has
designated its vision for Japanese society in the future as “Society
5.0.” In the government’s 2016 5th Science and Technology Basic
Plan, Society 5.0 is advocated as, “A human-centered societythat balances economic advancement with the resolution of social
problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace (virtual
space) and physical (real) space”[1]. In the 2021 6th Science,
Technology and Innovation Basic Plan, the image of society forSociety 5.0 was revised to reflect rapid changes in Japan andinternationally, and to emphasize the diversity in how people
pursue happiness, as: “Build sustainability and resilience for the
threats faced by society and uncertain conditions yet to come, toensure safety and security for citizens and a society where people
can achieve well-being in their own diverse ways” [2].
To realize this, people must be able to receive meticulous
services anywhere in society, accommodating their needs,
whatever the situation. This will require technologies that enrichdaily life in society, connecting people with systems, with places
and with each other. ICT, AI, IoT, virtual reality (VR), andalso human interface technologies will play a central role inthis. The author is from the Department of Home Electronics,
Faculty of Creative Engineering at Kanagawa Institute ofTechnology, where he conducts R&D in the Life Tech field.
This field connects various issues faced by people in life and workwith engineering, with three core elements of livelihood, social
environment and education. This article describes technologies■ Figure 1: Catch, Communicate and Connect technologies
and applications

that the Communication Robotics Laboratory is working on,
as examples of research to realize richer lifestyles for people, inthree themes: “Catch” technologies that help systems understandpeople, “Communicate” technologies that help robots show
emotion and intentions to people, and “Connect” technologies
that help people connect with each other through use of robots.
We also include examples of collaboration with enterprise on thesetechnologies. Examples of applications in these three themes,“Catch,” “Communicate,” and “Connect” are shown in Figure 1.

2. Life Tech Communication Robotics

As ICT, AI and IoT systems advance and spread, robots
are anticipated to serve as interfaces to these systems. In orderfor such robots will coexist with people in our living spaces,
direct communication such as speaking will be important, but
so will familiarity and non-verbal behaviors, and as we havewith ordinary communication, common rules for these will beneeded[3]. Communication Robotics is a field of research oncommon forms of behavior and expression for robots in contact
with humans, so they can convey information to humans. The
Communication Robotics Laboratory is developing technologies
for robotic movement, representations and systems to convey
information to humans in a casual manner, through developmentof robotic systems focused on expressing emotion and other forms
of non-verbal expression.
In this research, we have selected three technical issues
discussed below, as elemental technologies for realizing richlifestyles for people. The first issue is information technologythat will enable systems to handle emotion and other humanambiguities. General purpose technology for recognizing an
individual’s emotions already exists and in the future, frameworks
and technologies to determine conditions using data from multiple
people will be needed. The second is how to present information
to people. Considering the smart-house example, when a system
works with a person to control an appliance automatically, thesystem must present the actions it is planning to the person
casually, in a way that does not seem troublesome. The third issue
is technology to connect people to others and to spaces throughthe network. The entire living environment will be connected to
the network, providing communication experiences beyond video
calling and email, so that new lifestyles and experiences can beprovided through the internet.
The following sections of this article present technologies

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being developed to solve the problems described above on threethemes, which are “Catch” technologies that help systems that canunderstand people, “Communicate” technologies that help robots
show emotion and intention to people and “Connect” technologies
that use robots to help people connect with other people. In recent
years AI technology has also spread rapidly, and basic technologies
that have been accumulating are starting to be implemented inreal living spaces, so that cases of trial research with enterprise are
increasing. Some of these will also be introduced.

3. “Catch” technologies that help systems
understand people

With the spread of IoT, residences are also being converted
to smart houses rapidly, with living-space sensors and home
appliances being connected to networks, enabling them to use
each other. In such an environment, each appliance can beconsidered as an actuator able to control the living environment,
inf luencing not only superf icial physical aspects such astemperature and humidity, but also psychological features suchas the moods of people in the space. To do so, information
technology to enable systems to handle the ambiguity of people, as
well as know-how to apply it in real environments will be essential.
This section introduces an “atmosphere” recognition technologythat is able to understand people and conditions within a residence.
Technology that recognizes an individual’s emotion is alreadycommon; utilizing language and also various other approaches,such as speech rhythm, images and bodily information. However,to combine such emotional information from multiple people andquantify the atmosphere in a space requires a different theoreticalframework. The method for quantifying atmosphere describedin this article uses existing technologies for recognizing emotion
and adopts a bottom-up approach to compute the atmosphereof a space from the emotional information of multiple people.
To model an individual’s emotion, an aff inity-pleasurearousal space[4] is used, and we use a method from Onishi etal.[5] to transform emotional information from several people
to an atmosphere space with three axes indicating friendliness,
liveliness, and casualness. An overview of the living-room
atmosphere-recognition system is shown in Figure 2. Whenfitting ordinary emotion information into an emotion model, it
must be formulated according to the state of the environment,
which will be original know-how.
This technology is being applied in development of a smart
living room that uses a game device as a sensor and links withhome appliances to perform child care[6], in smart appliancesthat calm the atmosphere when watching a TV program, andin development of smart robots[7][8]. It can also be applied toconnect people in distant locations, to develop atmosphere-sharing
systems that connect people for telework, online lessons or otherapplications (Figure 3).

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

■ Figure 2: Living-room atmosphere-recognition systemusing emotion information from individuals■ Figure 3: Co-creative atmosfield and remote atmospheresharing for telework or online learning

4. Casual, non-verbal expression technologies
that “Communicate” to people

To implement services suited to people and conditions as
required for Society 5.0 will require presentation of detailed
information. On the other hand, conveying an excess of
information could seem annoying and troublesome to people. To
solve this problem requires careful examination and presentationof the minimal necessary information, and the information must
be presented in a casual and familiar way so that it does not
feel troublesome. This section introduces examples of casual
information presentation, focusing on non-verbal expression
technology for familiar information presentation.
4.1 Familiar information presentation
Familiarity is an important element in systems that
present information to people. This is more than showing theinformation concisely, and giving it familiarity can have effects
including increasing a person’s understanding and recall of theinformation[9]. For familiarity, emotional elements are particularly
important. This section introduces a home robot called AHOBO,
which provides on-going frailty care to the elderly in their homes
for everyday lives (Figure 4)[10].
Frailty refers to various changes in faculties and loss of ability
with advancing age, and prevention of frailty in the elderly, or■ Figure 4: Recognition training (left) and health support(right) given by AHOBO

frailty care, contributes to preventing illness and accidents in thehome. Frailty care requires continuous support in everyday life,
and the AHOBO robot was developed to provide such support.
AHOBO is a table-top communication robot that shows emotion
with its antennas and eyes, and implements two types of system tosupport daily life of the elderly, for physical health and to prevent
dementia. For physical health frailty care, AHOBO supports
measurement of blood pressure, and for psychological frailty care,it has a recreational function that provides cognitive training.
4.2 Casual information presentation
When too much information is presented to people at once,
they tend to feel it is troublesome, so it is necessary to present theminimal amount of information in a casual way. In particular,
while walking, driving or otherwise moving, it can be dangerous
to present too much information, so a safe means to convey
information is needed. This section introduces a method ofpresenting information when traveling that is not troublesome,using a device called “FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses.”
FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses are an information device
developed by Namae Megane Inc., that are glasses incorporating
full-color LEDs and a compact speaker. They are able to present
information linked to a smartphone in an intuitive way, using
sounds and LED lights that switch on and off [11]. An example of
FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses emitting light is shown in Figure 5.
By turning on LEDs in the frame of the glasses, the entire lens
glows, and this can be used to convey information.
The benefits of FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses include: (1)information can be checked while working, without looking awayfrom the work, (2) the information presented does not obstruct
the field of view, (3) information can be presented intuitively, with■ Figure 5: FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses■ Figure 6: Presenting bicycle riding conditions using
FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses■ Figure 7: Navigation system using FUN’IKI Ambient
Glasses

low cognitive load, using color and sound, and (4) it is possible
to present information to the surroundings at the same time aspresenting information to the wearer. This could be suitable fortypes of mobility that require a certain amount of attention, suchas walking or driving, because it requires less cognitive load thansmart glasses that display text. The FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses
have been used in applications such as visualizing conditions whenriding a bicycle[12], or providing map guidance when walking or
running[13].

5. T echnologies that “Connect” people withpeopleEntire living environments will become connected to
networks, creating environments with communication experiences
beyond video calling and email, making new lifestyles andexperiences possible through the internet. We are aiming tocreate disruptive innovation initiated in Japan, and to implementa cybernetic avatar platform that will enable anyone to participate
in various social activities, as part of goal 1 of the “Moon-shot
research and development program” being promoted: “To realize
a society in which people are freed of constraints of body, mind,
space and time, by 2050” [14]. More specifically, we aim to expand
the opportunities and potential for social activity by remotely
operating cybernetic avatars, which includes robots and virtual

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8avatars, as “additional bodies for the user.” This will require
technologies that connect people with other people, and people
with spaces, as discussed in Section 2. The technology introducedin Section 3 for sharing atmosphere for telework or online learning
is an example. This section describes trials of another example of a“Connect” technology, doing remote work and avatar work at theAvatar Robot Café, using avatar robots that OryLab is promoting
in collaboration with the authors.
Robots that operate from a remote location through theinternet in place of a person are called telepresence robots. Various
types of telepresence robot are being developed, such as thenewme (avatarin Inc.)[15], which emphasizes communication andcombines a mobile robot with a display, and humanoid robots thatemphasize a sense of presence.
Telepresence robots enable lifestyles in which people canbe transported instantly, overcoming constraints of space, butthey also have potential to extend a person’s bodily capabilities.
This is very significant, particularly for persons with disability.
OryLab Inc. has set its mission to eliminate loneliness throughtechnology, and is developing avatar robots that enable people
who have given up on communication due to disability, to go out
and communicate with people through the internet[16]. There
are two types of avatar robot: a table-top model called OriHime(Figure 8) and a mobile model called OriHime-D (Figure 9).
Both types of OriHime are equipped with a camera, microphoneand speaker and can be operated through the internet using a PC,
tablet or smartphone application (Figure 10). In addition to input
using a mouse or tablet, line-of-sight input using an intentioncommunication device (OriHime eye+Switch) is also available.
Providing OriHime at schools or companies can enable those withdisabilities that make it difficult to go out, to participate in society,attending school or work while they are at home or in the hospital.
OryLab has proposed Avatar work as a system that can enable
those with difficulty going out to perform remote work using
OriHime from home or hospital, and is operating a café space for■ Figure 9: OriHime-D■ Figure 8: OriHime■ Figure 11: Avatar Robot Cafe concept image

New Breeze Autumn 2023

■ Figure 10: OriHime-D operating systemavatar work called “Avatar Robot Café DAWN Ver. β,” as a trialsocial implementation[17]. A concept image of Avatar Robot Café
DAWN Ver. β is shown in Figure 11.
Avatar Robot Café DAWN Ver. β was opened as a timelimited-trial shop in November 2018, and after trials in various
regions, a permanent trial shop was opened in Nihonbashi, Tokyoin June 2021.
To work at Avatar Robot Café, operators (pilots) that havedifficulty leaving home provide service by operating OriHime
and OriHime-D robots remotely. OriHime are used to provide
customer services such as taking orders, and OriHime-D are used
to perform service tasks that require physical movement, such as
bringing drinks to the table.
One of the important benefits of avatar robots is the ability toshare the experience of a place with others using a physical robot.
By sharing an experience with the person in front of the avatar
robot through the robot, a person can get a real sense of actually
being in the place, even from a remote location. In research so far,working at the Avatar Robot Café has been shown to be mentally
fulfilling for pilots and has been suitable for many disabled people
desiring participation in society[18]. As with Avatar Robot Café,
by using avatar robots that expand bodily capabilities of people
with disabilities and by creating a society where avatar robots are
ubiquitous, we believe we could realize a society in which people
can participate in various activities, even if they are bedridden, forexample.

Smart Meter and Appliances in Home Energy Management System,” Proc. of the 2011IFSA World Congress and the 2011 AFSS(IFSA-AFSS 2011), RW-101, Jun.2011.
[10]	Yoichi Yamazaki, Masayuki Ishii, Takahiro Ito, and Takuya Hashimoto, “Frailty Care Robot
for Elderly and its Application for Physical and Psychological Support,” J. Adv. Comput.
Intell. Intell. Inform., Vol. 25, No.6 , pp. 944 -952 , 2021. DOI：10. 20965/jaciii.2021.p0944[11]	FUN’IKI Ambient Glasses (Namae Megane Inc.) http: /fun-iki.com/[12]	Wataru Kutsuzawa, Yoichi Yamazaki, Kei Shiratori, Shusaku Tane, Kazunori Kawamura,“Visualization of Driving Situation in Bicycle by LED Color of FUN’IKI Ambient Grasses,”
HCG Symposium 2017 Proceedings, HCG2017-B-4-3, 2017.12[13]	Takumi Ishikawa and Yoichi Yamazaki, “Distracted Walking Accident Prevention by LED
Color and Sound of Glasses-type Wearable Devices,” 2020 IEEE International Conference
on Consumer Electronics (ICCE), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2020, pp. 1-2, doi: 10.1109/
ICCE46568.2020.9043080.
[14]	Cabinet Office, “Moonshot Research and Development Program”, https://www8.cao.
go.jp/cstp/moonshot/[15]	newme (avatarin Inc.), https://about.avatarin.com/[16]	OriHime (OryLab Inc.), https://orihime.orylab.com/[17]	Avatar Robot Café “DAWN” Ver. β (OryLab Inc.), https://dawn2021.orylab.com/en/[18]	Kazuaki Takeuchi, Yoichi Yamazaki and Kentaro Yoshifuji, “Avatar Work: Telework for
Disabled People Unable to Go Outside by Using Avatar Robots “OriHime-D” and Its
Verification”. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human
Robot Interaction(HRI’20), March 23 26, 2020, Cambridge, UK. ACM, New York, NY, USA
8 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3371382.3380737

6. Conclusion

This article has introduced examples of communication
robotics research to enrich the lives of people in the three themesof “Catch” technologies, which help systems understand people;“Communicate” technologies, which help robots express intention
to people in familiar and casual ways; and “Connect” technologies,
which help people connect with others through use of robots,
including examples of collaboration with enterprise. These
technologies will contribute to creating the society that Japan isaiming for, in which each and every person can realize their own
version of well-being.
References[1] Cabinet Office, “5th Science and Technology Basic Plan,” 2016.
[2] Cabinet Office, “6th Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Plan,” 2021.
[3]	Yoichi Yamazaki, Yutaka Hatakeyama, Hajime Nobuhara, Kaoru Hirota, “Eyeball Robot
Proposal for Mascot Robot Systems,” IEICE Technical Report SIS 2005-70 (2006-03), pp.
61-64, 2006.
[4]	Yoichi Yamazaki, Yutaka Hatakeyama, et al., “Fuzzy Inference based Mentality Expression
for Eye Robot in Affinity Pleasure-Arousal Space,” Journal of Advanced Computational
Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics(JACIII), Vol.12 No.3, pp.304-313, 2008[5]	Kazuhiro Ohnishi, Yojiro Adachi, Yoichi Yamazaki, Fangyan Dong,Kaoru Hirota,“Transform Functions from Affinity Arousal-Pleasure Space into Atmosfield”, Proceedingsof the 28th Fuzzy systems Symposium, pp. 904-909 (TL2-1), 2012.9[6]	Yoichi Yamazaki, Takuya Hayama, Masanobu Nakamura, Wataru Kutsuzawa, Kazuaki
Takeuchi and Masao Isshiki, “Home Atmosphere Visualization Based on Motion Sensing
in Smart Living Room”, Proc. of 2020 IEEE 2nd Global Conference on Life Sciences andTechnologies (LifeTech), pp.280-281, Mar. 2020[7]	Naoki Sato, Kazuaki Takeuchi, Masao Isshiki, Yoichi Yamazaki, “Eye contact expression
promoting spontaneous behavior by robot using atmosphere estimation,” Proceedings ofthe 79th National Convention of IPSJ, pp. 3-509-510 (7V- 06), 2017.3[8]	Yoichi Yamazaki, Takuya Shinkai, and Masao Isshiki, “Smart Robot based on Web
Resource with Friendly Communication and Its Application to Library Guide,” Proc. ofInternational Workshop on Informatics 2017
(IWIN2017), pp.249-253, Sept. 2017.
[9]	Yoichi Yamazaki, Yasutaka Yoshida, Makoto Motoki, Takuya Hashimoto, Yutaka
Hatakeyama, Fangyan Dong, and Kaoru Hirota, “Qualitative Expression using AHOGE for

Cover Art
Yōrō Waterfall (Yōrō notaki), Mino Province,from Famous Views of the
60 Provinces

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Source: National Diet Library,NDL Image Bank(https://rnavi.ndl.go.jp/imagebank/)

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Sekisui Heim Smart Houses: Latest technology trends
Masato Oota

Doctor of Engineering
General Manager & Fellow
Marketing Department
Management Strategy Division
Housing Company
Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd.

1. Introduction

2. Sekisui Heim Deployment Achievements

As of November 9, 2021, 144 countries, including Japan, havepledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In April 2021, Japandeclared that it would aim to “reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
by 46% in 2030 compared to the level in 2013 and continue its
efforts to meet the lofty goal of cutting its emission by 50%” at themeeting of Japan’s Global Warming Prevention Headquarters, aswell as at the 2021 Leaders’ Summit on Climate. In particular, thetarget set for the household sector is the highest among all sectors
at about 66% (Figure 1). Energy-saving measures in the household
sector include improving insulation performance, improving
the efficiency of equipment through the Top Runner Program,and providing information on energy-saving equipment andenergy-saving measures. Japan is also promoting the constructionof net zero energy buildings (ZEB) and net zero energy houses(ZEH), which are designed to reduce the annual primary energy
consumption to net zero through the use of solar power and otherrenewable energy sources. In addition to energy conservation
through solar power generation and high thermal insulation,
the government is also urging captive consumption through theintroduction of storage batteries, electric vehicles (EVs), and heatpump water heaters to improve grid stability and resilience forrenewable energy, which fluctuates depending on the weather, andprovide added value to residents (according to the Sixth Strategic
Energy Plan (Draft) announced on July 21, 2021).

Given this situation, Sekisui Chemical has placed priority on
the resolution of environmental and other social issues and theestablishment of a solid management foundation as the driversof future business growth through its Sekisui Heim brand ofhouses, promoting ESG management by balancing customer
value and business value. To achieve a balance between economic
efficiency and environmental friendliness, the company has beenproactively proposing the use of photovoltaic power generation
systems (hereafter referred to as “PV”) in its houses since 1997.
In 2012, it launched the “Smart Heim” house equipped with
PV, home energy management system (HEMS), and household
storage battery. Further, in 2018, it adopted the ZEH standard as
the standard specification for its houses. In particular, 『ZEH』(ZEH with square brackets), which ranks highest in terms ofenvironmental contribution among its ZEH lineup, has been themost popular among house owners (Figure 2).
Sekisui Chemical has been promoting the use of renewableenergy in detached houses for 25 years, providing a total of morethan 229,000 PV houses＊1 since 1997 (Figure 3). The total
installed PV capacity has reached more than 1.25 M kW＊2, witha total annual power generation equivalent to the annual electricalenergy consumption＊3 of municipalities with a population of
500,000 (e.g., Tottori Prefecture and Hachioji City, Tokyo). This
has resulted to reduction in CO2 emissions by approximately■ Figure 1: CO2 reduction targets in the household sector■ Figure 2: ZEH categories

Reference: “ Plan for Global Warming Countermeasures” (Draft)published July 26, 2021

＊1 Number of PV houses sold, including new and renovated units, as of the end of March 2022 (based on our research).
＊2 Total installed PV capacity for all PV contracts, including new and renovated units, up to FY2021 (based on our research).
＊3	Electrical energy consumption was calculated from the national average in the “Household Energy Consumption (FY17)” report by the Ministry of the Environment. (Energy consumption does
not include gas or kerosene usage.)10

New Breeze Autumn 2023

■ Figure 3: Cumulative number of Sekisui Heim houses
equipped with PV■ Figure 5: Sekisui Heim ZEH deployment record (FY2021)

386,000 tons per year＊4, which is equivalent to CO2 absorption
by approximately 27 million cedar trees＊5 and to afforestation of
more than 31,000 hectares of land, an area similar to the artificial
forest area in Tokyo (ca. 35,000 hectares)＊6.
Along with the uptake of PV, early on, we have focused on
the spread and promotion of ZEH. Performance equivalent to thehighest rating (ZEH level) for the thermal insulation performance
rating and primary energy consumption rating, which were
newly established in April 2022 under the Housing Performance
Indication System, has been incorporated as part of the standard
specifications of Sekisui Heim houses in 2018＊7. Recognizingat the outset the growing need for energy conservation in the
future, we have continued to propose ZEH to our customers.
In particular, we are focusing on the promotion of 『ZEH』,
which ranks highest in the ZEH series in terms of environmental
contribution, setting a record high of 82%＊8 deployment ratio
for『ZEH』in FY2021. The overall deployment ratio for ZEH＊9
was 89% (Figures 4 and 5).

『ZEH』is designed to reduce primary energy consumption
by 100% or higher than the standard primar y energ yconsumption＊7, in addition to use of PV and other renewableenergy sources, whereas “Nearly ZEH” is designed to reduce
primary energy consumption by 75% or higher, and “ZEH
Oriented” by 20% or higher, excluding use of renewable energy.
Also, we are actively working to develop and popularize“energy self-sufficient houses”＊10 equipped with storage batteries
in response to rising energy prices and supply instability, as well as
to enable resilience against frequent natural disasters. The storage
battery deployment ratio in sales of newly built detached houses
increased for the fourth consecutive year, reaching 72% in fiscal
2021 at 47,000 houses in total＊11 (Figure 6). Going forward, we
will continue to promote the uptake of “energy self-sufficienthouses” along with『ZEH』.

■ Figure 4: Trends in Sekisui Heim ZEH deployment ratios■ Figure 6: Trendsin storage battery deployment ratio andtotal installed units

＊4
＊5
＊6
＊7

 ur calculation was based on the installed PV capacity for all PV contracts, including new and renovated units, up to FY2021.
O
Our calculation for cedar tree conversion was based on data from the Kanto Regional Forest Office.
The artificial forest area in Tokyo was based on the Natural and Artificial Forest Ratios by Prefecture (as of March 31, 2017) published by the Forestry Agency (MAFF).
Standard specifications were refined to meet the national ZEH external standard UA value of 0.6 or less (Regions 4 to 7). Depending on the plan, this may not be achieved if the
openings are too large.
＊8 『ZEH』 deployment ratio was aggregated based on the ZEH Builder reporting method.
＊9 In addition to『ZEH』, ZEH includes Nearly ZEH and ZEH Oriented models. ZEH deployment ratio was aggregated based on ZEH Builder reporting method.
＊10 Not all the electricity can be supplied. There is still a need to purchase power from a utility company.
＊11 This deployment ratio represents the contract-based deployment ratio for storage batteries (including V-to-H) from April 2021 to March 2022, and the cumulative number is the total
number of houses sold, including new and renovated units, as of the end of March 2022 (based on our research).

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3. Project with the Ministry of the Environment

The Ministry of the Environment implemented a project on“Development and Demonstration of Technologies Promoting
CO2 Emission Control Measures” in FY2021 (name changed
to “Development and Demonstration of Carbon Neutral
Technologies through Regional Co-Creation and CrossSectoral Collaboration” in FY2022), with priority theme (1)“Development, demonstration, and cost reduction of energy
self-sufficient decarbonized housing modules for dealing withworsening disasters and infectious diseases.” Under this project,
the “Development and Demonstration of Energy Self-Sufficient
Housing Units” Technology Development and Demonstration
Theme presented by Sekisui Chemical Housing Company incollaboration with Nichicon Corporation, the Central ResearchInstitute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), and the Universityof Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) was adopted by
the Ministry of the Environment in April 2021 (Figure 7). As
the representative business operator of this project, we started
technological development together with the three collaborators
in June 2021. With the “New Smart Power Station FR
GREENMODEL” (hereinafter, “New Green Model”) launchedin October, we conducted evaluation and verification throughtest house users to further enhance and spread this technology forpromoting energy self-sufficiency. Test houses based on the “NewGreen Model” released in October 2021 were also equipped withhigh-capacity PV, e-PocketGREEN (Tribrid Energy Storage
System), HEMS, and ventilation and air conditioning systems for
all rooms. Test house users have started to move in to the “NewGreen Model” houses from around April 2022. We have collected
electricity data via HEMS starting with users that have already

moved in and will interview and survey them after they haveactually lived in the houses.
Achieving a decarbonized society by 2050 entails the active
utilization of clean PV power and the promotion of an energy
self-sufficient＊10 lifestyle that avoids the purchase of electricity asmuch as possible. In this project, we will acquire and analyze dataon the amount of electricity used in real life and determine howmuch reduction in CO2 emissions can be achieved using houses
equipped with high-capacity PV and with the high-capacity
storage battery “e-PocketGREEN,” which were developed toachieve this lifestyle. e-PocketGREEN has a storage capacity of
12 kWh, which is about twice the capacity of conventional storage
batteries＊12. It also enables high output (4 kVA) even in the eventof a power outage. It uses a power conditioner with a Tribrid
specification that enables linkage with the V-to-H system sothat the combined use of EV further increases the power storage
capacity. In both normal times and during power outages, power
generated by the high-capacity PV can be stored and consumed
independently (Figure 8). In addition, both the storage battery■ Figure 8: Menu of systems installed at test houses anditems for evaluation and demonstration■ Figure 7: Evaluation and demonstration flow in the project andvision for future deployment＊12	Calculated from the storage capacity of the battery with the highest shipment volume, based on the “Net Zero Energy House Support Project Research Conference 2020” conducted by the
Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Storage battery capacity of 12 kWh is the catalog value and is different from the actual usable
capacity.

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

and power conditioner can be installed at high places to prevent
damage from flooding. The V-to-H system enables saving spaceby separating the V-to-H stand and the V-to-H pod that connects
to the EV, making it easy to install the equipment in parking
spaces. We will also collect feedback from the test house users andevaluate the resilience and convenience of installing these systems.
To realize a high-quality indoor environment, whichis indispensable for living in the new normal, in June 2021,
we developed the “Comfortable Airy T-SAS” ventilation andair conditioning system that provides the three functions ofventilation, air conditioning, and dust purification for all rooms.
For the second layer of the high-performance three-layer filter,
we used a HEPA filter that can capture 99.97% of pollen and fineparticles 0.3 μm or larger＊13 on a first-class ventilation system
for stably performing both exhaust and intake mechanically. For
the air-conditioning filter installed in the indoor air intake vent,
we used an antiviral filter＊14 that uses the antivirus processing
agent Viru-taker™. In this project, with the technical cooperationof the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology (AIST), we will verify the effectiveness of indoor
air purification and thermal performance using these advanced
technologies in comparison with generic systems (air conditioner
heating and cooling and third-class ventilation) through actual
measurements (Figure 9). We will also evaluate and verify the

relationship between health and performance through user surveys
and interviews.
To encourage energy-saving actions and reduce CO2 emissions
in daily life, we have standard-installed HEMS (Smart Heim
Navi) to approximately 66,000 houses to date. In addition to
analyzing the electricity usage data of these HEMS-equippedhouses and providing energy-saving consulting services tailoredto each house, we also included remote control and voice control
functions for household equipment (lighting, EcoCute system,
air conditioning, etc.), further enhancing daily life convenienceand reinforcing awareness on energy-saving behaviors. To
reduce CO2 emissions by further improving the convenienceof HEMS, we will develop a new application for smartphones.
We will create an “integrated user interface” to control homeequipment and appliances and verify its usability. Initially, we
will pre-release the application to owners of Sekisui Heim houses
already equipped with HEMS to investigate and analyze energysaving behavior during the winter (heating period). We will thenimprove the application from the results of the analysis. Next, we
will also verify the operation of the system during the summer(cooling period) through questionnaires and interviews, including
test house users. Further, we will improve and re-evaluate theapplication to enhance the integrated user interface.

■ Figure 9: High-performance ventilation system and integrated user interface
configuration diagram＊13 Pollen particle size was assumed to be 10 μm or larger, based on collection rate measurement results for atmospheric dust between 0.3 and 0.5 μm (based on research by Toray Industries,Ltd.). The value shows the initial performance of the filter at the time of delivery. It may be lower depending on the customer’s environment and other usage conditions. The filter needs to be
replaced (for a fee) once every five years (guide) to ensure performance. The value may be lower depending on the customer's environment and other usage conditions. It is not intended totreat or improve hay fever or respiratory diseases.
＊14	Tested on the basis of JIS standards (JIS L 1922:2016 (ISO 1818184) for suppression of viruses attached to the filter. The filter is not effective against all viruses. It is not intended to cure,improve, or prevent disease. Also, the antiviral function for air passing through the filter has not been tested.

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4. Latest Sekisui Heim Smart House

In anticipation of the risk of power outages due to frequent
natural disasters, since 2012, Sekisui Chemical has beenproactively proposing energy-self-sufficient houses＊10, which
are equipped with storage batteries and are aimed at enabling alifestyle that avoids the purchase of electricity as much as possible.
In 2021, we launched the New Green Model, the latest smart
power station house model equipped with the newly developed
high-capacity storage battery e-PocketGREEN＊15 and can supply
approximately 73% of annual electricity consumption (equivalent
to 260 days)＊16 with clean PV that does not emit CO2 during
power generation. In addition, we opened GREENMODEL
Park showrooms in 20 locations nationwide where customers
can have a hands-on experience of eco-friendly living in full-size
homes, strengthening our proposal capability for energy-selfsufficient homes (equipped with storage batteries). We recently
made proposals in anticipation of the risk of rising energy prices
due to geopolitical factors. As a result, we were able to convince
many customers of the importance of balancing environmental
contribution and economic efficiency and having a reliable energy
supply in times of disaster＊17. This led to a significant increase in
the number of GREENMODEL houses ordered in the second
half of fiscal 2021 to 280%＊18 compared to the previous year.
Consequently, the storage battery deployment ratio in sales of
newly built detached houses increased for the fourth consecutive
year to a record high of 72%. We have installed storage batteries toa total of more than 47,000 houses since 2012.

5. Conclusion

As a leading sustainable housing company, we are committed
to contributing to the reduction of environmental impact throughthe further promotion of 『ZEH』 and energy self-sufficienthouses＊2 (equipped with storage batteries). The smart housemarket, however, is still at an early stage of development andpenetration. The nationwide penetration rate of ZEH in Japanis only 20% in 2020, both for custom-built and built-for-salehouses (calculated from the Sustainable open Innovation Initiative(SII) “Net Zero Energy House Demonstration Project Research
Conference 2021” presentation material), pointing to an urgent
need to increase penetration. Further, since this is only for the
new detached house market, there is a need to also promote thepenetration of ZEH in the new housing complex and housing
stock markets. Also, collaboration and advancement of IoT
devices centered on HEMS will also be crucial in the evolutionof environment-friendly housing. This includes the automationof energy control, UI-based operation of home appliances andequipment, advancement of display systems, and the provision ofdata utilization businesses and services. Industry-wide co-creation
to drive this evolution and penetration is needed to maximize theadvantages for homeowners early on and accelerate the speed ofpenetration, both for new and existing houses.
References[1]	Press Release: Start of demonstration of the latest Sekisui Heim “Smart & Resilient”
Technology, October 29, 2021, Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.
[2]	Press Release: 『ZEH』, which ranks highest in terms of environmental contribution in the
ZEH series of newly built detached houses, reaches a new record high of 82% deployment
ratio in FY2021, April 25, 2022, Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.

＊15 e-PocketGREEN was jointly developed with Nichicon Corporation.
＊16	[Calculation conditions] Building site: Nagoya; Power contract: Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.; fully electrified; PV capacity, 9.72 kW; storage battery capacity, 12 kWh (green mode), airconditioning system in all rooms (Comfortable Airy (1st floor); EcoCute system; total floor area: 121 m2, UA value: 0.54; electricity usage: calculated based on HEMS data in an actual house.
This value may not be reached depending on the environment and other usage conditions.
＊17	Electricity can be used even in the event of a power outage only if the amount of PV power generated or the remaining charge of the storage battery exceeds the usage or output volume.
Some equipment may not be available depending on the weather, season, usage volume, and simultaneous usage (output) volume. Electricity cannot be used if the storage battery is empty.
＊18 Ratio of the number of GREENMODEL house contracts in 2H FY2020 and 2H FY2021 (based on our research).

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

HOMETACT: The Cutting Edge Smart-home Platform inJapan

Yoshihiro Tachibana

Director
Residential Business Planning Dept.
Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd.

1. Introduction ―What is HOMETACT? ―The HOMETACT integrated smart-home ser vice
was announced in November, 2021, consisting of a systemside that includes TACTCORE, an IoT platform for realestate management business, a HOMETACT application
and TACTBASE, a management portal function. It also has
integrated smart-home user support, which includes equipment
and configuration services and a call center (Figure 1). Systemdevelopment and platform operation is handled by Mitsubishi
Estate. It is built to be reliable, with integrated service support■ Figure 1: HOMETACT platform overview■ Figure 2: HOMETACT service provision organization

through collaboration with enterprises such as the Bic Camera
Group, it integrates smart-home related services that werepreviously fragmented by device or solution, and is provided
as a single package (Figure 2). As of November, 2021, many
manufacturers were participating, including home equipment
manufacturers such as Rinnai and IoT device manufactures inJapan and overseas. The HOMETACT ecosystem is expanding
rapidly, with further collaborations to be announced in the future.

2. W hy smart-home technology is not
penetrating the residential space in Japan

Currently, HOMETACT is gradually being introduced
into Mitsubishi Estate’s “The Parkhabio” series of leasehold
condominiums. Since the press release, there has been a strong
reaction, including discussion initiated with many manufacturersof residential equipment and IoT devices and inquiries frommany other developer companies in our own industry who are
considering adopting the system. As background to this response,
there are several obstacles to introducing smart-home technologies
in the residential space in Japan.
HOMETACT aims to eliminate the following obstacles tointroduction of smart- home technologies: (1) Applications forusing it are fragmented and they cannot be operated together(multiple applications assumed), (2) It is difficult for users to installand configure themselves (installation hurdles are high), and (3)User services such as call centers and emergency support are notwell developed. HOMETACT truly removes these barriers,
and aims to spread smart-home technology broadly in Japan.
Being an integrated developer and having a strong sense of these
difficulties are important factors that have enabled us to develop
HOMETACT. The fact that we have received inquiries fromother companies in this industry also suggests that this service
addresses some of the pain points felt in the real-estate industry.
To encourage penetration of smart-home technology in theJapanese market, it is extremely important that services are easy
for developers to adopt. A new approach that meets new customer
needs and is different than existing Home Energy Management
Systems (HEMS) is critical.
This article describes the strengths and extensibility ofthis service as an IoT platform and its user-interface and userexperience (UI/UX) design, starting with how HOMETACT
came to be developed, and then touches on HOMETACT’s goalof becoming the “new residential-space infrastructure.”

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3. History of HOMETACT development

As background to Mitsubishi Estate starting to develop an
IoT platform as an integrated developer, we go back to June,
2018, when the “Mitsubishi Estate Residence Club” membershiporganization was launched. Initially, as the person in chargeof promoting the project, I was working on the large project ofintegrating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for
each of the companies in our Residential Business Group withthe existing member organizations, which were separate. Afterthe launch, however, developers felt that the system’s content
capabilities were limited in terms of “building a digital customer
contact point.” Developers had initiatives to expand opportunities
for providing real-estate services such as renovations and agency
for buying and selling, to advance marketing with various sales
promotions, and to build customer loyalty (i.e. holding events,
presentations, etc.). To build a stronger customer contact point,
they felt a need for a digital system able to connect with customers
at a more basic, lifestyle level. Around 2017, we began seriously
considering introducing smart-home technology universally,
prompted by our interest in using smart locks as a customer
contact-point, but this beginning encountered many issues. At
the time, recognition of smart locks was very low compared tonow, and there were concerns that we no longer face (althoughsome hold deep-seated biases), such as “it seems dangerous,” “areal key would be safer,” and “what if it got hacked.” As such thehopes of the aforementioned Mitsubishi Estate Residence Cluband Mitsubishi Estate properties, to introduce and collaborate on
smart-home functions in our properties, did not come true.

4. Collaboration with YONOMI, Inc., including
American market survey

However, it became clear that the image of using smart locks
and smart-home systems as a digital customer contact point wasincreasing day-by-day, and market studies continued after the
Mitsubishi Estate Residence Club was established. In 2019, smarthome market surveys in the USA had become established. It wasthere that we encountered YONOMI, Inc., which was providing acloud-based IoT platform specializing in smart-home technology.
There are many smart-home platform developers in the USA,but the particularly unique point with YONOMI, Inc. is that,rather than developing their own applications, they provided
developers with know-how and an environment (service) able toconnect with a wide range of devices, like the YONOMI ONE
IoT collaboration platform. It provides IoT device API control
for implementing automation that others do not allow easily.
The shock when I first saw multiple manufacturers’ IoT devices
operating together in their offices is unforgettable. It convinced
them that “this is essential technology for implementing UX notseen before in Japan,” and triggered the start of more collaboration.
In that moment, the established notion of smart-hometechnology in Japan, which did not go beyond simple operations

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

through an infrared remote control and could only achieve space
productions such as lighting using high-end, wired devices,
was smashed resoundingly. Thus, the HOMETACT projectcame to life based on the theme of “Producing new smart-homeexperiences in Japan through API collaboration.”

5. Start of negotiation toward API
collaboration with manufacturers in Japan

YONOMI, Inc. is expanding collaboration with many majorinternational manufacturers of IoT appliances and devices that
already announced collaborations with HOMETACT, including
Philips Hue, SONOS, and Roomba, the robot vacuum cleanersfrom iRobot Inc., and we expect such collaborations to continue
to expand in the future. This is an extremely important aspect for
HOMETACT extensibility in the future. It will be important
for the company to build a network for API collaboration withmajor Japanese device manufacturers, to utilize this strength in the
future.
As you know, there are still few examples of platform or
device API collaboration among domestic manufacturers inJapan, and when we actually began negotiations, several major
manufacturers refused for various reasons such as, “we cannot
move forward on providing an API,” or “we have not adequatelyorganized our API.” In spite of this, HOMETACT has currently
announced collaboration with several manufacturers, who
sympathize with the HOMETACT vision of “creating new
smart-home experiences in Japan through API collaboration,” andwe have a history of promoting joint development through steadycollaborative effort (Figure 3).
■ Figure 3: HOMETACT supported devices/participatingcompany list

So why did domestic and international manufacturers approve
API collaboration and decide to participate with HOMETACT?
It became clear in discussion with each manufacturer that theirreal intention was to increase use of their IoT devices. Althougheach manufacturer was building cloud services and developing
applications, provision of these products was scattered andultimately, user registration rates were low and in many cases thefunctionality they had created was not being used.

Manufacturers were not able to obtain adequate usage data
either, and they were not able to expand potential business models
utilizing IoT. Of course, developers using the devices also could
not get feedback on user satisfaction, so in many cases users did
not continue using the IoT devices. In fact, the smart-homemarket in Japan was caught in a negative spiral.
With HOMETACT, users simply log in, and they can
immediately start using the IoT devices already installed andconfigured in the residential space. By using “Scenes” and“MyRules” as described below, they can configure their smart
home as they like within a matter of minutes. We do not think abetter UX exists from a user perspective. It has been implemented
at HOMETACT Lab Akasaka (a laboratory providing experienceof HOMETACT device linking and space production—details
below) and in our Group properties (The Parkhabio series ofMitsubishi Estate Residence leasehold apartments), and provides
a smooth home-automation experience like never before. The
following sections describe “Scenes” and “MyRules” supporting
home automation, which are key features of HOMETACT.

decided to provide the service without presets and assume users
would create their own freely. For both Scenes and MyRules,
users can select behaviors of the associated device intuitively(Figure 4), and there is no need to jump to the apps provided byeach manufacturer. A major feature of HOMETACT is that all
configuration can be completed within it.
■ Figure 4: Concept screen-shot of a “Scene” list

6. Get familiar with home automation using“Scenes” and “MyRules”

HOMETACT has two functions: “Scenes” and “MyRules”;
that form the core of home automation.
As its name implies, a “Scene” is a function that allows simple
linked control of IoT devices for a scenario in everyday life, such as“Good morning,” “I’m going out,” “I’m home,” or “Relax mode.”With HOMETACT, residents can freely combine “installed
devices” that were provided with their apartment with “bringyour-own devices” that they have purchased, such as SONOS
Wi-Fi audio speakers, Philips Hue smart lighting, or a Roomba
robotic vacuum cleaner, and configure linked operations easily.
In addition to operation from the app, Scenes can also be initiatedwith a voice operation, by linking with Google Assistant or Alexa.
A “MyRule” adds a trigger (condition) to device operations
without requiring an app or voice command, such as “When I
arrive at the nearest train station in the evening, turn on the air
conditioner cooling, start the bath, and turn on the lights andmusic,” (using the smartphone location and time as the trigger) or“Open the curtains and start the air conditioner cooling at sunrise”(starting multiple devices triggered by sunrise). This function iswhat implements “real” home automation (automated control).
Compared with “Scenes”, which can control groups of IoT devices
for a given scenario in daily life, “MyRules” are for somewhat
more-advanced users, but they are very effective for blending thesmart home into the user’s own life.
During the service launch, we considered including preset
Scenes and MyRules (for example, creating a typical “Good
Morning” setting, etc.), but when we conducted user testing,younger participants in particular were able to create their own
within one or two minutes, even without explanation, so we

In considering the HOMETACT UI/UX, we also designed
the operation buttons for each device to be simple and minimized
the linked functions as much as possible. For example, a hotwater heater remote control has a simple one-button design witha bathtub icon beside it to fill the bath automatically, which isthe button that we would push each day (Fig. 5). Each device
operation button is separated into a title and detailed functions(two or three levels), but supporting every function provided by the
manufacturer could be confusing for users, so we did not hesitate
to pare down the linked functions to make function selection
easier for users when creating Scenes and MyRules as describedabove. Although manufacturers put effort into creating theirfunction set, they tend to include functions users will not use. To
design the HOMETACT UI/UX from a user perspective, we
also collaborated with a team from an overseas design firm, andwe have had success with this type of implementation.
Of course, this UI/UX needs to be improved constantly. Often
in Japan, application services are not updated after they have beenlaunched, but users interact with their smart homes every day sothere is much feedback that must be collected carefully, and an
agile organization for improving functionality is essential. It is
now almost one year since the service began and we have beenissuing monthly updates of varying size to continuously improve
the service.

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17

■ Figure 5: Concept screen-shot of Rinnai “Bath remotecontrol”

7. Next generation space infrastructure

HOMETACT is currently being provided as a smart-homeservice focused on home automation, but it can also provide
solutions to various social issues in the smart-home domain.
One such area is extensibility in the field of real-estate tech.
There is little need to explain linking with smart locks as digitaltransformation (DX) for real-estate management work. The
inefficiency of managing physical keys is a heavy burden on
management companies, so use of smart locks is spreading as
companies work seriously on DX, and this is definitely a factor in
the increasing popularity and use of smart locks. HOMETACT
implements linking with smart locks, which enables developers
and real-estate management companies to increase property
value and customer satisfaction with smart-home technology,
and it can also be used for DX of management work. The global
trend toward smart locks is already irreversible, so we can expect
it to continue to increase. Combining smart locks and smarthome technology is also already becoming main-stream as a
new residential device in the USA. HOMETACT can also linkwith the Linough Inc. “Smart Preview” service, which supports
un-staffed previewing of properties, so by using HOMETACT
with that company’s smart lock (Ninja Lock M), managementcompanies can support keyless management and previews.
A second area is as an point of entry for lifestyle-related
services. Smart-home technology can make life more convenientwith home automation, but it can also have the role of connectingwith lifestyle-related services within the home. For example, asmart lock could be used to allow lifestyle-related services to enter
the home, such as for deliveries, for domestic help, or for nursing
care visits, and could provide opportunities for services such as

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

monitoring or health care for users (residents), based on datadetected by sensors and other devices.
Lifestyle-related services using IoT, like those described above,
will continue to spread, and considering that both hardware
and software IoT support will be needed in the residential spacein the future, developers providing residential spaces will not
simply be required to install the latest devices and appliances,it will be important for them to introduce services that haveongoing expandability in software. As software in the residential
space, HOMETACT is driving extensibility within the home by
expanding API linking with lifestyle-related services.
A third area is linking with the energy-management domain.
So far, HOMETACT has expanded its ecosystem with API
linking, but we are also considering linking with ECHONET
Lite, in anticipation of linking with Home Energy Management
Systems (HEMS) in the future. The trend to reduce CO2
emissions is recently considered to be an urgent issue by
developers, and user awareness of ecological issues has increased
dramatically, so contributing to reducing CO2 is recognized as anextremely important theme in this domain. We have received arange of industrial and academic support in studying this theme,
and as a company, we are working hard in this area to spread
HOMETACT as lifestyle infrastructure in the residential space
for the future.

8. Conclusion ― Building an ecosystem ―We have described HOMETACT from various perspectives,
and we hope that if you are an organization or enterprisedesiring to spread smart-home technology, you will make fulluse of HOMETACT. Even internationally, it is very rare tosee developers starting smart-home platform services, and tothe contrary, one could say that the Japanese market has been
instrumental in establishing such services. To develop the smarthome market in Japan, we cannot depend on the conventional
approach, in which developers combine and assemble functions
that manufacturers develop in fierce competition. A new
ecosystem must be built with collaboration among developers,
manufacturers and lifestyle-related service providers, as has been
put into practice with HOMETACT. To do so, collaboration
among industry, government and academia will also beessential, and we plan to continue developing HOMETACT
as next-generation lifestyle through many and various types ofcollaboration.

[Reference: HOMETACT installation example]
Installation is complete on three Parkhabio Series properties:
The Parkhabio Yoyogi Hatsudai, The Parkhabio Azabu Juban,
and The Parkhabio Koishikawa.
■ The Parkhabio Yoyogi Hatsudai[HOMETACT Tours]
Reservations are required for the “HOMETACT Lab
Akasaka” showroom, where HOMETACT can be experienced(in the Mitsubishi Estate Home Akasaka Housing Gallery,
Tokyo, Minato-ku, Akasaka 7-5-5). This is a laboratory where
people can have a smart-home experience like never before, as
described in this article. For a tour, please do not hesitate toinquire as indicated below.
■ HOMETACT Lab Akasaka■ The Parkhabio Azabu Juban

Inquiries: Yoshihiro Tachibana, Residential Business Planning
Dept., Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd.
smarthome@mec.co.jp■ The Parkhabio Koishikawa

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DIY Smart Home for the Elderly:Implement wellness
monitoring for parents living elsewhere using IoT

Akiko Wada

Wellness Monitoring Tech Coordinator

1. Smart home for the elderly

After my father passed away last year, I spent several months
converting our family home, where my 79-year-old mother lived
by herself, to a DIY smart home. My goal was to watch overmy mother, who is at risk for stroke, and to prevent falls andhyperthermia remotely. With early dementia, difficulties due tomistaking the date or day of the week is common, so I also wanted
to help her check the date and day of the week, and to check any
upcoming plans.
The results were beyond my expectations. The time andpsychological burden on family watching over her remotely was
greatly reduced, and being able to see inside the home enables us
to handle any trouble that occurs quickly. She also has difficulty
walking, so adding voice commands to appliances and lighting
also greatly reduced discomfort and inconvenience in daily life. I
found her playing songs from her favorite singers on YouTube andenjoying it.
It also changed me. Sometimes I would lose my patience andspeak harshly, “Mom! I’m always telling you, you have to checkthe date first!” and hate myself for it. But I am doing that less now,and when faced with a new difficulty, I now get excited thinking,“I’m sure I can solve this using IoT too!” I can handle visitors
remotely with the smart door bell that I installed, and I can use it
to connect with neighbors and my mother’s friends too.
This article introduces my initiatives to convert a family home
to a smart home to help and watch over an elderly person, somepoints of note from the installation, and some issues for the future.

2. First, a list of issues

The highest priority was to check wellness. Creating a system
to notice if something goes wrong in the house as quickly as
possible, helps reduce not only my concern, but also my mother’sconcerns. She has also suffered a mild stroke, and with vascularbrain disease, starting treatment as soon as possible after onset
can greatly affect the prognosis for life and recovery. There is also
increased risk of broken bones from a fall, and of hyperthermia
when remaining immobile for long periods of time during thesummer.
Regarding fall prevention, hand rails were already installed
and steps were eliminated, but falls could still happen easily if
she gets up during the night and moves around in the dark, or in
the early mornings when her body is stiff from the cold. She has
difficulty walking, and just getting up is onerous, so she has sat for20

New Breeze Autumn 2023

long periods after sunset without turning on the lights, and spent
the whole day without opening the curtains. These conditions are
not desirable for mental health.
She also has difficulty knowing the date and day-of-the week,
due to disorientation that occurs in the early stages of dementia.
As a result, she has called a taxi and travelled 30 km to thehospital on a day that she does not have an appointment, and often
has waited in the entry-way to meet the home care service person
for long periods on the wrong day. Hearing her grieve, “Is there
something wrong with my head?” was heartbreaking!

3. Cameras and other sensors: The eyes forwatching overI first worked on network cameras. I installed two camerasin the living room and the bedroom, where my mother spends
most of the day. These were from the American company, Arlo
Technologies, and originally intended for crime prevention. They
are connected to the network by Wi-Fi and automatically record
video for about 10 seconds before and after they detect movement,
which is stored in the cloud for a set period of time. This recorded
video and the live video can be checked using a smartphoneapp, so by just looking at the list of recorded videos, I can checkthat the daily routine is going smoothly, meals are being eaten,
interactions with home helpers are okay, and I get clues to any
changes in her bodily condition by watching how she moves
around the room. She has also fallen in front of the bathroom and■ Figure 1: “Arlo Pro 2” 130 degree, wide field of view
network camera

in the entryway, so I also installed a Xiaomi network camera witha lens that can rotate 360 degrees in the hallway.
To help with wellness monitoring using the cameras, I also
installed three sensors from SwitchBot Inc. One was a person
detector in the toilet. It is configured to notify my smartphoneeach time she uses the toilet, so I can check that everything is okay
without having to check the camera app frequently throughout theday.
I attached an opened-closed sensor to the front door. It also
has movement and light-level sensors, so I get notifications on
my smartphone if my mother approaches the door. If she is at theentrance getting ready to go out when there is no scheduled homecare or hospital appointment, I can talk to her through the speakerof the network camera in the hallway and let her know she ismistaken. I also get a notification when she returns home, so I cansay “Welcome home!” through the same camera.
I installed a networked temperature and humidity sensor
in the living room. This is configured to send a notification
to my smartphone if the room temperature exceeds a set value
during the summer, mainly to prevent hyperthermia. The price
was moderate, just under 2,000 yen, so I plan to add one to the
bedroom as well this year.

4. Smart remote controls for high costperformance

What my mother was most happy about were the “Google
Nest Hub” smart display and the “SwitchBot Hub Mini” smart
remote control. By registering the infrared remote controls of
existing home appliances, a smart remote can control all of theappliances at once from a smartphone. By also linking with asmart speaker or smart display with an AI assistant, such as
Google Assistant or Alexa, household electronics can be controlledwith voice commands such as, “OK Google, turn on the air
conditioner,” or “Alexa, turn off the television”.
All of the electronics in our family home are ten years old

or more, so they certainly do not support IoT. Nevertheless, byinstalling a smart remote control for only about 4,000 yen, the air
conditioner and ceiling lights can be turned on and off with voicecommands through a smart speaker, and I can also do it remotely.
It is an all-powerful device for home monitoring. The house is 40
years old, so there is no remote control for the ceiling lights, but
attaching a “finger robot” to the wall switch for about 2,000 yen,makes them smart. It is a marvelous device with a short arm thatcomes out and physically pushes the switch on the wall when it
receives a Bluetooth signal. I also attached a special device to thecurtain rods so I can say “OK Google, open the curtains half-way,”
to open the left and right curtains.
Doing complex actions, like opening the door to the livingroom and pushing the wall switch to turn on the light while
holding a coffee cup in one hand, can lead to a fall, so just adding
voice control for the lights can reduce this risk.
If she forgets to turn off the living room air conditioner, she
can do it from the bedroom, and by starting it automatically, theroom can be warmed up before she gets up.

5. A
 I assistant complements an elderly
person’s cognitive function

Someone asked me, “Can a 79-year-old use an AI assistant?”
Actually, I was also a bit skeptical, but advances in current speechrecognition technology have been great, and they can understandand answer questions even if they are a bit unclear. I also wrote
some common phrases, such as “Okay Google, turn on the lights,”
and “What is the schedule for today?” on tape using a magic
marker and attached them to the table and in the bedroom.
■ Figure 3: Voice commands needed to use the AI assistant■ Figure 2: Moving the curtains using the roller on the top

The AI assistant also actively manages her schedule and gives
reminders to take her medicines in the morning and evening. My
tasks were to create a Google account for her and enter plans suchas her hospital and rehabilitation appointments into the online
calendar. When she says “Okay Google, good morning,” theassistant reads out here plans for the day, and she can say “Whatare this week’s plans?” to check upcoming plans. After breakfast,

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it asks, “Did you take your medicine this morning?” Just having
this reminder greatly reduces the times she forgets to take themedicine. If a family member asks her each time, “Did you takeyour medicine?” she is likely to resist saying, “I know, I know! I
was just taking it now!” but it does not seem to hurt her self esteem
to be reminded by the AI assistant.
There is one more reason why voice commands are necessary.
As my mother’s cognitive and decision making functions havedeclined, she is having more difficulty with operations that require“pushing a lot of buttons,” in other words, with remote controls
and her smartphone. She has no trouble with voice commands.
Now, she can enjoy music on the smart display, just by
specifying a singer’s name, such as “Okay Google, play a song by
Ichiro Toba.” She is not aware that this is playback from YouTube
Music, so when I checked the app history, I noticed that she tried
to stop playback unsuccessfully several times with the command,“Okay Google, stop the CD.” I added a setting so that playbackwould also stop with the command “Stop the CD.”

6. Meet visitors remotely by making theentryway smart

The entryway is an important part of the house because it
connects the inside with the outside, but problems can also occur
there. My mother has difficulty getting to the door when visitors
ring the doorbell so increasingly often, she just pretends not tobe home. Thus, even people worried about her who come to visit
can get turned away. For this, I installed a smart lock and a smart
doorbell. Both connect to the internet by Wi-Fi, so I get notified
on my smartphone when someone comes to the door. I can checkusing the camera and respond if she is having a nap or otherwise
cannot. If it is a familiar delivery company or a neighbor, I cantemporarily unlock the door remotely and have them leave the■ Figure 4: Smart door bell screen in the smartphone app

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

parcel or a note in the entryway. If she falls out of bed and cannot
move, I can also unlock the door remotely and ask a neighbor tohelp her back into bed, or I could ask them to call an ambulance
if that was necessary. Before now, I had no way to know what
was happening in the house without going home, so I would nothave been able to call an ambulance either. Actually, there was atime when I stopped work and travelled three and a half hours to
the family home to find her fallen out of bed and had to call an
ambulance. She had been there more than half the day and wasdehydrated, so it was a dangerous situation.

7. F amily home smart-home conversion
exceeds expectations

I am still continuing by trial and error, but it has beenvery effective so far. Earlier, if the weather report said “Today
will be a mid-summer day,” I would worry all day long about
whether my mother had turned on the air conditioner properly.
If I called to ask her to turn it on, she might start an unpleasantargument saying, “Who do you think you’re worried about?”
Now, if the living room gets warmer than a set temperature, I
get a notification, and if she has not turned on the air conditioner
despite the higher risk of hyperthermia, I can do it remotely.
Increasingly, my mother cannot answer her mobile phonewhen I call, but this is not a problem because we can talk throughone of the cameras or smart speakers. I also see her smiling more
often in video calls.
It has improved my relationship with my mother. It takes timeto accept that parents are aging, even though you understand it
in your head. There can be even life-threatening risk so, while
I might have spoken harshly earlier, saying, “Mom! How manytimes do I have to tell you!” I have changed my mind-set now,
to saying, “It’s no longer reasonable to depend on her judgment
and cognitive ability, so maybe we can solve this with smart
technology.” Thinking about the best way to handle a situation
also feels a bit like a game challenge, so I can react more positively
to new difficulties than I did before.
Google Assistant has a bigger heart than her own daughter.
It answers brightly, without a hint of irritation, even if she asks,“What day is it today?” over and over. Looking at the logs, I
even saw interactions like “Okay Google, thanks a lot!” “You’rewelcome!” It acts like a personal valet for my mother, so I hope to
expand what it can do for her in the future.
Providing care to a parent whose physical and mental abilities
are weakening can be depressing because it can sow seeds of fear
and uncertainty regarding one’s own old age. Through these
efforts, I can now envision a brighter future. I now think, “I canuse IT to complement declining physical and mental abilities andto reduce inconvenience and disability somewhat,” “Technology
will continue to advance, so I should be able to have a comfortable
life even when I’m old,” and “Soon I’ll even be able to climb
Mount Everest in VR, even if I can’t leave the house!” This is
another result of converting our family home to a smart home.

8. Issues with smart homes for seniors

When I published stories of this experience on a web site
and SNS, they attracted interest and concern from people of mygeneration, saying things like, “I want to do the same thing in myfamily home,” and “One of my parents is also living alone, so I
have the same worries and needs.” Another person said, “I’ll needthis information in the near future too.”
Even if both parents are still healthy, just a small event canchange things quickly, so it may be good to start introducing thesetechnologies early, so they can get used to them.
Another issue is that smart home devices are now available
at volume appliance shops and net shops, so they are very easy
to obtain and set up. However, for elderly people to install themthemselves, the hurdles are high. Their children could also be in
their 50s or older, so not everyone will be skilled at setting themup, which consists mainly of configuring a smartphone app.
Since the person configuring it is not the user, it can bedifficult to know how to best link multiple user accounts, and it
takes effort to restore everything if trouble occurs.
Current apps for smart-home devices have not been createdwith “wellness monitoring” in mind either, so in some cases they
do not fit with what is needed. For example, when I installed theperson sensor in the toilet room, I needed an alert if a person was
not detected for over three hours, but when setting an automatic
notification for not detecting movement, the maximum time was
30 minutes. I suspect this was designed for applications such as
automatically turning off lights or air conditioning when a room isempty. The need to respond as quickly as possible if a parent has astroke and cannot move was not envisioned.
The preconception that the elderly cannot use the internet isalso a barrier to using smart technology. In fact, if the initial setup
can be done by someone who is comfortable with smartphone apps
and IT devices and can anticipate elderly people’s needs and risks,
the elderly person can manage well using voice commands. Family
can also use the devices for remote wellness monitoring. Many
older people with early-stage dementia may also find using voicecommands to be more fun than using a remote control covered
with buttons.
Of course, as dementia progresses further, voice commands
may also become difficult, but even in that case, devices canbe configured to turn on the air conditioner and read out the
day’s schedule with a single command, such as “Okay Google,
good morning.” Various sensors can also be configured to trigger
actions.

9. T he need for a wellness-monitoring Tech
CoordinatorI also received inquiries from people who wanted to set up
smart-home technology for their aging parents, but did not havethe time or know-how. There is a need for a so-called “Wellness
monitoring Tech,” a person who can provide advice on introducing
IT technologies and products for wellness monitoring for theelderly, and sometimes installing and configuring it. I could
use the experience and know-how I have gained converting
my family home with smart-home technology to provide freeconsultation online or if necessary, to start acting as an agent
or giving support for a fee. Just as it helped me, such an effort
would reduce the burden on those worrying about monitoring
wellness for parents who live apart from them using smart-hometechnology. It could also contribute to having fewer people left
behind in the unfortunate situation of dying in isolation, which isa heavy burden to bear.
Many products such as network cameras, smart door bells andsmart locks have been appearing on the market these past years. If
care managers and others involved in care and welfare of the aged
could get the necessary product information and knowledge to usethem, they could reach more of the people that need them. Family
homes without an internet connection are also an easy problem tosolve, using a low-cost SIM + mobile router, among other options.
■ Figure 5: Configuring to give a periodic reminder to takemedicine

10. Conclusion

How and where will we spend the final stages of life, perhaps
reaching 100 years of age? At the moment, my mother can justmanage life by herself in her home, and she earnestly desires to live
there with her pet cat, as she has become accustomed. She could
also move to an institution, but this is not what she wants and I do
not want to insist, just because it is dangerous to be alone. At thesame time, I do not want to quit work, return home, and devote
myself to her care.
Wellness monitoring tech is a powerful tool to enable elderly
people to live in their own homes safely and to reduce the burden
on family members watching over them. I look forward to further
advances in technology and seeing products and services on themarket that are optimized for wellness monitoring of the elderly.

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= A Serial Introduction Part 1 =Winners of ITU-AJ Encouragement Awards 2023
In May every year, The ITU Association of Japan (ITU-AJ) proudly presents ITU-AJ Encouragement Awards to people who have madeoutstanding contributions in the field of international standardization and have helped in the ongoing development of ICT.
These Awards are also an embodiment of our sincere desire to encourage further contributions from these individuals in the future.
If you happen to run into these winners at another meeting in the future, please say hello to them.
But first, as part of the introductory series of Award Winners, allow us to introduce some of those remarkable winners.

Kei Ando

NTT DOCOMO, INC.
https://www.docomo.ne.jp/english/
Fields of activity: 3
 GPP RAN, O-RAN

Contributions to 3GPP RAN and O-RAN Alliance standardization
I am ver y honored to have received this prestigious
encouragement award from the ITU Association of Japan. I would
like to express my sincere gratitude to all at ITU-AJ and everyone else
involved.
After I joined NTT DOCOMO in 2011 I worked for about
six and a half years on development of commercial mobile phonedevices and 3GPP standardization. At 3GPP, I was involved fromupdating LTE-Advanced to introducing the first edition of 5GNR, standardizing frequency bands among other things. The
intense technical discussions with various Japanese and international
companies to achieve better communication quality and global
harmonization of frequency bands left a strong impression on me.
Currently, I am working in the RAN Plenary to set NTT
DOCOMO’s standardization policy, mainly on frequency bands

Hidenori Iwashita

and RF topics. Since July 2022, I also participated in the O-RAN
Alliance, in planning of use cases using Open RAN solutions andin administration activities for releases. In work with the O-RAN
Alliance I am facing areas that are new to me, such as open interfaces,
intelligent functions and virtualization technology, so I am working
proactively and studying every day.
In the future at 3GPP, we expect to study the possibilities for
6G, with Release 20 in about 2025. As in the past with 3G, 4G and
5G, NTT DOCOMO will lead discussions on 6G standardization,
creating value for customers in the 2030s and contributing to 6G
implementation. As part of that effort, I will use the experience I havegained in standardization, from LTE-Advanced through to 5G NR,
and work to contribute even a small amount to 6G standardization
with 3GPP and the O-RAN Alliance.

NTT Space Environment and Energy Laboratories
https://group.ntt/en/
Fields of activity: ITU-T SG5

Standardization of soft-error countermeasures in telecommunicationequipment
I would like to offer sincere thanks for receiving this prestigious
ITU Association of Japan Encouragement Award. I would also like tothank the members of the TTC Soft-error Ad-hoc Committee.
Telecommunication service interruptions thought to be caused bysoft errors due to cosmic-ray-induced neutrons (over-writing memorybits) and countermeasures have long been a difficult issue to solve(particularly increasing recently) for development and maintenanceof communications equipment. To elucidate this phenomenon, in2012 I established testing technology that uses an accelerator tocause neutron emissions, which then can reproduce soft errors incommunications devices. This enables the effects of soft errors to beunderstood before they occur, so that improvements can be madeto equipment and introduced into operating networks to greatly
improve communication quality. To standardize this technology
internationally, I proposed new work items for recommendations
regarding soft errors, and in 2015, established discussion toward

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New Breeze Autumn 2023

creating a recommendation. In 2016, a new recommendation, K.124,
was established describing this set of recommendations in outline, andstarting in 2017, I acted as associate rapporteur for ITU-T SG5 WP1
Q5, to draft the set of recommendations and hold discussions with
telecommunications carriers and vendors in Japan and internationally.
In 2018, the new recommendations were created: K.130 (Testing),
K.131 (Design), K.138 (Criteria) and K.139 (Evaluation). In 2020, I
contributed to creating K.150, which summarizes device information
required to apply soft error mitigation measures. Currently,
communications equipment conforming to these standards, withmeasures to mitigate soft errors, is being installed in real, operating
networks. I am extremely pleased to see technology that I worked
on as an international standard. In the future, I hope to continue
to contribute to improving the reliability of telecommunications
networks.

Chihiro Kito

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
https://group.ntt/en/
Fields of activity: ITU-T SG15 WP2, SG15 Q7 RapporteurStandardization activities for maintaining stable, high-quality
communications infrastructure
I would like to offer sincere thanks for this ITU Association ofJapan Encouragement Award at this time. I am very grateful to all
who provided their support for these standardization activities.
In ITU-T SG15 WP2 Q7, which handles discussion related
to maintenance and connectivity of outdoor optical physicalinfrastructure, I proposed a system for a set of maintenance andoperation Recommendations for ITU-T, and contributed toorganizing maintenance and operation Recommendations by creating
new general provisions in L.330 and driving the work as editor forvarious Recommendations. Until recently operators in each country
implemented their own schemes for maintenance and operations,and ITU-T Recommendations related to maintenance were meager.
However, with the spread of optical communications, the number ofoutdoor facilities requiring maintenance by operators has increased
dramatically. Thus, creating a standard scheme for managing thequality and reliability of large numbers of outdoor optical facilities

Akihiko Satoabove a certain standard and operating it continuously, in the form ofan open ITU Recommendation, is essential to ensure the soundnessof optical telecommunications networks globally. I recognize it as aduty of Japan, as a leading country in the spread of FTTH.
Optical communications has permeated life as important
infrastructure, and social demand for maintaining high quality,
stable communications infrastructure will increase greatly in the
future. Japan has issues with maintenance of infrastructure, such asa shrinking workforce and degradation of buildings from the periodof rapid economic growth, but there are also many maintenance andoperation techniques being proposed using excellent new technologies
such as image recognition, drones and optical f iber sensing
technologies. I will continue working to promote standardization
efforts in this area while following technology trends that can realize
improved efficiency and labor saving in operations and maintenance,
and to promote technical results from Japan.

Advanced Transmission Systems Research Division / Science and Technologies
Research Laboratories / Japan Broadcasting Corporation
https://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/english/
Fields of activity: Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting

Activities on International Standardization for New Digital Terrestrial
Broadcasting Systems
Thank you so much for the honor of receiving this ITU
Association of Japan Encouragement Award. I would like to take thisopportunity to express my gratitude to ITU-AJ and the many otherpeople involved, for their guidance and cooperation.
2nd-generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB)
systems, which utilize the latest video coding and transmission
technologies and improve bandwidth eff iciency, are being
implemented globally, and R&D and trials on the next generation
DTTB system is in progress in Japan.
When transitioning to new services using the 2nd-generation
DTTB system, new and current systems had to be broadcast
simultaneously until receivers supporting the 2nd-generation
system had been widely adopted. When there are not enough vacantchannels for new services, creating channels can be a major burden
for broadcasters. In Japan, research with the goal of introducing
new services in the same channel used for existing services began

in 2019, and I also was involved in that research activity. WhenI started participating in ITU-R SG6 meetings, work on a newrecommendation was also in progress, on guidance for introducing
new services to help countries considering transition to the new
system. I contributed to creating the new recommendation by adding
concrete technical methods to introduce new services. Currently, I am
contributing to ITU-R SG6 meetings by inputting results of research
being done in Japan on the next-generation DTTB system to themeetings and reflecting them in reports and recommendations.
Demand for broadcasting continues to expand. Broadcasting isan efficient means for distribution of video content, and is important
infrastructure supporting public safety. I will take this award as
encouragement and continue my effort to contribute to international
standardization activities and to the advancement and growth ofbroadcasting.

New Breeze Autumn 2023

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