Proposing IT-based "Health Behavior Security" — Protecting modern people vulnerable to temptation from health risks

Q1: What inspired you to become a researcher?

A1: I was fascinated by the future of information technology at technical college

From childhood, I was full of curiosity, creating strange things from crafts to cooking and showing them to my sister and friends, enjoying their reactions. This sequence of creating something, setting it up, and observing people's reactions has become the foundation of who I am as a researcher today.

In middle school, my life was centered around club activities, and I vaguely planned to go to a regular high school. However, my perspective changed when I participated in an open campus event at the National Institute of Technology, Hakodate College in the summer of my third year. Seeing seniors presenting their research, I was excited by the vision of my future self mastering information technology, which I had no connection with before. I intuitively felt "studying here would definitely be fun" and decided to enter the technical college.

I seriously began aiming to become a researcher when I started my graduation research at the technical college. After retiring from the soccer club, I devoted my free time and energy to research. After graduating from the technical college, I studied for two more years in the advanced course, then entered Nara Institute of Science and Technology and joined a laboratory dealing with IoT.

Q2: What research are you currently working on?

A2: Creating systems to regulate lifestyle habits

I am an advocate of the concept of "Health Behavior Security." Human self-control has limits, and people often fail to perform desirable behaviors. Modern people are vulnerable to various temptations that have increased with the development of the internet, which may contribute to lifestyle-related diseases. I believe we need to design environments to protect ourselves from health risks such as diseases, and I'm trying to create systems that allow people to control their lifestyle habits using artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT.

So far, I have developed various devices including the "Waiston Belt," a belt-type wearable device that visualizes behavior through waist measurement and posture estimation; "Aromug," a mug cup that changes the taste and impression of drinks by adjusting aromas; and "eat2pic," an IoT system that recognizes the contents of a meal using sensor-equipped chopsticks and visualizes them as paintings to encourage nutritionally balanced eating. The taste augmentation technology using aromas has already begun joint research with a domestic beverage manufacturer.

I'm also focusing on research to prevent digital dependency such as mobile game addiction from the design stage. Recently, I collaborated with developers of a mobile game with 200,000 active users to verify on a global scale how interventions such as extending loading times and grayscale screen display affect user behavior.

Q3: Message for those aiming to become researchers

A3: Have confidence and a spirit of inquiry and challenge, be objective

In the future, I want to systematize the concept of Health Behavior Security using my previous research. At the same time, I'm developing kits that allow ordinary people to easily customize behavior change support tools using AIoT (AI × IoT).

To those aiming to become researchers, I want to share my motto: "Sharpen with arrogance, master with humility." It's important to approach the initial stages of research with great confidence and a spirit of inquiry and challenge, and in the implementation stage, to objectively examine your own opinions and work humbly.

It's also necessary to keep your feelers out for social trends and technological advances and flexibly change your research theme and approach accordingly. Please cherish the balance between your hidden individuality and society while taking on the challenge of the important and complex problems piling up in the world and enjoy your research.

(Article: Yasuhiro Hatabe)