Japan introduces advanced technology in construction and communication

Japan, the host of Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020, is readying with enhancing its infrastructure in Great Tokyo area.

The construction of the Tokyo-Gaikan Expressway, a ring shaped road connecting a 15 kilo-diameter area from the center of Tokyo, is also underway.

In order to build tunnels on prefectural roads or under the interchanges, the shield method has been used.

To pray for the safety of the construction work, a Shinto ritual ceremony was held.

"As the elements of the Shield method, it starts with shield machine which is the one in the back. This excavating equipment is used for drilling the tunnel. While drilling, at the same time, it will build the structure which is the segment for the tunnel. The repetition of these two operations is the most distinctive feature of this process. The shielding construction is a special task," said an official of Shimizu Corporation.

"If looking in section, it's to build a space allowing two traffic lanes on a road. And our job, talking about order, is to build the shield work with the second largest diameter," the official added.

With the diameter at approximately 13 meters, the shield tunnel is a large section and the operation is done with the mud pressure shielding of excellent safety, even in locations of small volume of soil covering.

The Tokyo-Gaikan Expressway is being constructed while various constructions are underway.

With the consideration to the surrounding environment, the main line of the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway is a canal structure.

The two traffic lanes on each side is box-shape and near the top of it is in a slit form.

"In future, there should be various infrastructure constructions taking place in Asian countries. We look forward to be of assistance in the related fields," said an official of Shimizu Corporation.

Now, NEC Corporation has introduced a smart watch which is connected with smart glasses. It helps to enable a virtual keyboard on the forearm.

"When you look at the watch through the smart glasses, a virtual keyboard appears next to the watch. Information input can be done by just tapping the forearm," said Shin Norieda of NEC Corporation.

With the high-speed and high-precision touching operation enabled by the original image-recognition technique of NEC, an easy-to-understand interface has become reality.

It makes a speedy, effective and accurate hands-free operation possible.

With its high degree of freedom of display layout, and capability of showing user interface at the right timing, it is hassle-free for the operator.

"When you look at the product, a virtual display monitor will appear and enables obtaining the detailed information from the forearm," said Norieda.

With its capability of displaying after converting to Japanese, it is possible to respond to the inbound needs.

Smart glasses enable displaying or facing products by both hands.

The contact-free input feature of Arm Keypad Air makes it useful in the fields requiring special attention such as medical industry.

"In medical field, when you wear a wrist watch, by accident, it may hurt others when looking after a patient. Instead, this type of marker is being used. Furthermore, hygienically it's better protected since existing touching operation now can be done with free of contact," said Norieda.

The contact-free, high-speed and high-precision slide operation is capable to control the contents displayed on the forearm.

Also, its barcode reorganization capacity enables, for example, the identification confirmation of nurse, patient and medicine during the medication dispensing process.

The demonstration experiment for ARmKeypad has started in the manufacturing industry.

ARmKeypad and ARmKeypad Air can be used in a wide range of sectors, such as maintenance, retail, logistics, medical, etc. and has great potential to be utilized in various situations.

With the realization of various solutions, it's exciting to think about the future of the new digital devices that will replace smart phone.