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Creating Smart Daycares for the Future of JapanHow AI/IoT Technology Is Changing the Game of RaisingChildren

COMPANY NAME

Aigran Co.,Ltd.

PPROJECT TITLE

In the third year, which is the last year of the initial project, data concerning the stress levels of the teachers will be broken
down and analyzed. Using all the collected data and feedback, the system will be improved into something that is easy to use
and can be implemented across the country. Field tests are already set to run in companies connected to the food industry inHiroshima, Higashi Hiroshima, Mihara, and Fukuyama.

Spreading the System to Other Daycares with Similar Problems

The Goal of a Smiles-for-All Daycare
For daycare teachers around the country, the responsibility of watching over their students is becoming an everincreasing burden. Because of this, the number of teachers who end up quitting is quite high, so this project wants tointroduce the use of tablets and sensors to ease teacher’s insecurities. Another aim of the project is to increase thenumber of individuals looking to become daycare teachers. Sharing experiences of veteran teachers will help improvethe environment and quality of daycares. By using the project in Hiroshima as a sort of guinea pig, the program intends
to use that data to spread its system across the country as an affordable and easy to use alternative.

With the rise of women in the workplace, companies have started to offer daycare services to help ease the burden of working
while raising children. Aigran also helps establish daycare programs for such companies. Their experience as one of thelargest growing daycare providers in the country makes them hard to beat.
"I'd like all daycares throughout the country to be able to utilize this system, and its securities, regardless of thesize of their company. Getting rid of the mental burden on teachers at daycares will hopefully increase the overall
number of people who want to work in this profession. The lack of teachers is one of the biggest reasons for suchlong waiting lists at daycares."
In October 2019 the government made the decision to make preschool education free for all children between 3 and 5years. The need for daycare services is increasing dramatically, and that means they need more teachers working for them.
On the other hand, most of the daycare companies are small, and many of them are run by families. For these locally funded,
small businesses, installing a smart security system would lessen teacher's tasks and give them more time to take care of thechildren. This project aims to provide teachers with the abilities and knowhow that would otherwise not be possible for a single
person.
Aigran is an enterprise company consisting of various subgroups. Employees at these branches can access daycare
services free of charge. To date, the company plans to increase such services to include up to 30 daycares in the Kyushu andChugoku area. Providing in-house services such as these reduces the worries of the parents that work at their company andlets them focus better on their work.

Supporting Child Rearing
HEALTH & WELFARE

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Prior to 2001, Aigran used to operate as a suitcase rental business in Japan. However, after 9/11 business was on thedecline, and they slowly started to shift their focus to the daycare industry. Now they have over 400 clients to their name. With
each passing decade the demand for such services increases, since the number of single mothers and one parent
households are on the rise.
"We want to support working mothers. It's not right if mothers have to prioritize either money or their child's careover one another. When that situation arises, we can step in to give a helping hand, and take over the burden ofwatching their kids for them. I was often left home alone when I was younger. Coming to an empty house, that feelingof being alone, I will never forget that. We want to create a place where children want to come everyday, and parents
can rest assured that leaving their children with us is a safe choice."This Hiroshima system will be further developed to include the overall sleep, body temperature, and food consumption ofthe users. "Our number one policy is customers first. Even though we are operating as a large company, we want to
do our utmost to honor the role bestowed upon us by Hiroshima Sandbox. This opportunity has motivated us tofocus on teachers' training too. We will improve our overall services and the lives of all the children in the program."
Considering the challenges facing both day care teachers and their students’ parents, initiating a smart daycare system inJapan is a major solution to the problems they face.

A Smart System That Records Student's Vital Signs andMovements
Currently, daycare teachers are required to write data about their students in a daily journal, which only adds to their workload.
Among the members of this consortium, a field study is being performed by Aigran Inc. Aigran’s CEO, Taizo Shigemichi, said:"If a child stops breathing for more than five minutes it is harder to resuscitate them compared to adults. By using
AI and IoT to make sure that children don't lay face down or stop moving, it can help lessen the burden thatcaretakers face everyday. This will help improve overall care." The new system automatically senses children’s sleeping
posture and breathing by sensors that are attached to their clothing and stores the data on tablets. It also has a system thatalerts users if a child stops breathing.
At the moment, Aigran. Inc. leads the consortium, while the IT venture company, Unifa, develops the AI/IoT service andanalyzes the data. Stress checks and the mental stability of the teachers will be managed by separate companies under thelaw after the system is introduced. Shigemichi continued, "daycares and the teachers that work there will be responsible
for the children who are an irreplaceable treasure in an aging society such as Japan. It is my intention to create anenvironment where teachers can focus on their basic duties, as well as on the children themselves. I envision asociety where everyone does their part in helping raise the generation of tomorrow."
During the first year of field testing, the goal is to collect data on the vital signs of all the children in the program byintroducing a "napping sensor system" and to analyze the amount of tasks that teachers are asked to perform. In the second
year, the hope is to develop a digital notebook to communicate with parents and share the data that was collected with them.

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HIROSHIMA SANDBOX●Aigran Co.,Ltd.／Taizou Shigemichi

HIROSHIMA SANDBOX

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