Hosei University is committed to creating systems that incorporate AI into daily life (Professor HUANG Runhe, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences)

Creating a system that takes the place of experts.

Specializing in computer science, including information and communication and intelligent informatics, I am engaged in research on artificial intelligence (AI). Among these, our focus is on "expert systems.

Expert systems are systems that make inferences based on expertise in a particular field and return advice for solving problems. In other words, it would be a system that uses AI to mimic the process by which an expert (expert) derives answers from within the brain. Its characteristic structure consists of a "knowledge base," which stores specialized data, and an "inference engine," which analyzes the information to extract the necessary solution.

What is required of an expert system is the ability to provide immediate answers. If it takes too long to derive a solution, it cannot take the place of an expert. It is also important to improve the performance of the "inference engine" so that it can efficiently search for the best solution from a vast amount of data, and to accumulate data in a "knowledge base" after properly classifying it.
To improve the performance of AI, it is necessary to understand the workings of the human brain and cognitive functions to project them onto computers. To this end, we are conducting interdisciplinary exploration, including cognitive science, brain science, neuroscience, and psychology. It is not an easy task, but I find it very rewarding.

Involved in starting up a faculty and increasing enthusiasm for education

I studied electronic engineering at university, but while working with computers, which were still rare at the time, I was intrigued by their potential and began to study computer science.

His first step as an educator came when he was involved in the opening of the newly established Faculty of Science and Engineering for Computing at the University of Aizu in 1993.

At the time, I was a fledgling researcher who had just completed my PhD in the UK, but by chance I was approached by the late Professor Toshiyasu Kunii, the first president of the University of Aizu, who asked me if I would like to come to a Japanese university. I thought it would be a very valuable experience and a good opportunity to be involved as one of the starting members of Japan's first university specializing in computer science and engineering, and came to Japan.

• When I visited Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1994, I have good memories of spending time with local children between international conferences to heal.

Furthermore, when Hosei University established the Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences in 2000, I was invited by Professor Kenji Omori, the first dean of the Faculty, to be involved from the start-up. I was nervous because I was the youngest researcher in the new faculty, but since Professor Kunii was also with me, I felt very encouraged.

People who are willing to tackle something new are enthusiastic and motivated. Being surrounded by people who are highly passionate about education was a great stimulus, and I feel that it helped me grow as an educator.

Since I have been at Hosei for over 20 years, I feel that the people involved are like my own family. I want students to be free to think freely and spontaneously about the themes they want to pursue.

• At IEEE's Cyber Science and Technology in Greece in 2018, he was recognized for his achievements, including chairing a panel discussion at the international conference

Motivated to create new systems that will contribute to society

In recent years, various fields have become "smart," making full use of information and communication technology (ICT) to automate operations and evolving systems to make our lives more convenient.

To play a part in this process, I have been working with students for several years on research into sensor AI systems.
Currently, it is still in the experimental stage, but we believe that by measuring data on a daily basis using sensors that detect the movement of objects, we can build a system that uses AI to predict abnormalities as quickly as possible based on that data.

As a start, we are conducting an experiment for use in bathrooms. Unexpected accidents can occur in the bathroom, such as heat shock in the bathtub or a fall in the shower. Since these situations could be life-threatening and dangerous, any abnormalities would have to be dealt with as soon as possible.

However, from the standpoint of privacy protection, monitoring by camera is not possible in the bathroom. Therefore, we are working on creating a system that uses sensors to measure the heartbeat, respiratory rate, and other physical conditions to detect abnormalities. We are also envisioning a system that automatically calls an ambulance or notifies family members.

If it reaches practical application, it will be "Practical wisdom" that can be deployed in many fields, not only in the field of health care, such as watching over the elderly and nursing care, but also in infant care, pet care, and other areas where we cannot take our eyes off of our children.

Before it can be used by everyone, we still need to repeat many experiments, accumulate data, and improve the accuracy of our analytical capabilities. If possible, we would like to deepen our research in collaboration with companies and work toward the realization of this project.

• The atmosphere in the lab is cheerful, and we even held a sports tournament for friendship before Corona. International students, accompanied by their families, enjoyed table tennis and badminton together.

(First published in the May 2022 issue of Hosei, a public relations magazine)