Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) is pleased to announce that the Company will exhibit at CEATEC 2019 to be held at Makuhari Messe located in Chiba Prefecture, close to Tokyo from Tuesday, October 15 to Friday, October 18, 2019.

At this latest CEATEC offering multiple companies have come together to co-create Society 5.0 Town, an image of a city in the year 2030.DNP will exhibit a unique booth based on a new hands-on space, under the concept of the Virtual Experience Gallery. The DNP contribution to Society 5.0 Town is a gallery that allows users to experience presentations that are constrained by neither time nor space. The Company will also exhibit in a co-creation zone driven by the efforts of multiple companies.

[The DNP Booth]

With the realization of Society 5.0, driven by the latest technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) it is predicted that people will be able to enjoy their lives without being constrained by time or space. Targeting the arrival of Society 5.0, the DNP exhibit will combine Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), interactive technology, and three-dimensional computer graphics (3D CG) to facilitate a hands-on experience of objects that are not physically present. By combining the tangible with the intangible, the Company aims to present realistic experiences that provide visitors with the opportunity to enjoy contents in a manner that would not be possible with real objects.

DNP will introduce a showroom that uses VR to convey and simulate product features in an easy-to-understand manner. Methods that help perform customer service tasks for companies and organizations facing human resource or work style reform challenges will also be on display. The Company will also offer insight into virtual customer services that helps induce consumer empathy and resulting purchasing behavior at retail outlets, art galleries and entertainment facilities, through inventive display techniques or by accommodating for the use of multiple languages in a single location.

1, VTuber Provides Customer Service in the VR Showroom

By using VR, visitors can freely gain a hands-on experience of such simulated situations as changing the color of the car body, opening and closing the door, and changing the background. In addition, a remote instructor will serve as a VTuber, or avatar, and help provide a hands-on experience using 4K real-time 3DCG and VR technology to convey the product appeal.

The VTuber, at left, and a VR simulated image, at right.

2, VR-Driven World Heritage Observation

The Kondo, or the Golden Hall, of Ninnaji, a temple in Kyoto has so far been available for viewing only on special occasions. Thanks to DNP efforts to preserve, pass down to the next generation and publicly display historical buildings and cultural assets, along with the non-destructive 3D mapping of the site, the Golden Hall can now be freely viewed as high-definition VR contents developed by the Company. A head-mounted VR display presents the viewer with a "walk-through experience" as if they were physically inside the temple.

The head-mounted display, at left, and an image of the Golden Hall content, at right.

[The Co-Creative Zone]

Society 5.0 Town includes a Co-creation Zone that introduces products and services created by multiple companies, and representatives of various industries, collaborating to bringing together an array of technologies and know-how.

DNP will exhibit Skin Electronics in collaboration with the Someya Laboratory of the Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering in the School of Engineering at The University of Tokyo. Skin Electronics is composed of a stretchable display jointly developed by DNP with the Someya Laboratory, and a skin sensor developed by the laboratory, itself. Given that it is thin and can be used by attaching directly to the skin, great hopes are held out for uses in the medical field.

Skin Electronics makes it possible to wear a flexible display on the skin and display the waves from an electrocardiogram.