DENTSU INC. to Participate in SXSW 2023

Based on the concept of "Unnamed Sensations," it will exhibit three works that expand three senses

DENTSU INC. (President & CEO: Norihiro Kuretani; Head Office: Tokyo) announced today that together with Dentsu Creative X Inc. (President & CEO: Shunsuke Matsuki; Head Office: Tokyo), it will be participating in the Creative Industries Expo held from March 12-15 local time at SXSW 2023 (South by Southwest 2023, Texas, USA), one of the world's largest technology, music and film festivals where companies and creatives from various industries gather. Together they will exhibit three prototype works that create cutting-edge experiences for the world. It will be the first real exhibition at the Austin venue in four years, since 2019.

• Overview of the DENTSU INC. Booth at SXSW 2023
  Exhibition venue / date and time
  Venue: Austin Convention Center, Exhibition Halls 2-4, Booth No. 1325
  Date: Sunday, March 12 to Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

The concept is "Unnamed Sensations"

"Unnamed Sensations" means "unnamed new sensations." The theme of the three works exhibited this year is the extension of three senses: touch, mouthfeel, and smell. The details are as follows, but from each work you can get an experience of immersing yourself in a yet unseen sensory world through cutting-edge technology and creativity such as artificial muscles, image recognition, and augmented reality (AR) technology. In addition to creating new entertainment, we also aim to solve social issues by providing opportunities to think about the evolution of people's senses and emotions.

For details, please see the Dentsu SXSW website page.

http://dentsusxsw.com/en/

• Overview of the three prototype works

1. Hugtics

The best type of hug experience technology that allows you to hug yourself.

DENTSU INC. / Nobuhiro Takahashi / Dentsu ScienceJam Inc. / PYRAMID FILM QUADRA INC.

https://motiondatalab.com/hugtics/

"Hugtics" was born from the idea that "I want you to live a happy life, not just a long one" and it is a technology that allows you to experience the many effects of hugging, such as reducing stress and improving happiness, through a new hugging experience that allows you to hug yourself. When the participant wears a vest woven with artificial muscles and hugs the humanoid torso equipped with pressure sensors, the feeling of their own hug is fed back to their own body in real time. In addition, by displaying changes in brainwaves, the mental impact is also visualized. You can also record the hug itself, deliver it to a remote location, or play back the hug with your loved one.

2. Phantom Snack

A new chewing experience system that makes you feel like you are eating even though you are not actually eating anything.

DENTSU INC. / Dentsu Digital Inc. / Dentsu Creative X Inc. / invisi / EDP graphic works /
Cooperation: Institute for Mastication and Brain Science

https://phantomsnack.com

"Phantom Snack" proposes a completely new food experience. When you make the motion of chewing food without putting anything in your mouth, according to the movement of the jaw detected by facial image recognition, crunchy mastication sounds and vibrations are fed back from the bone conduction earphones. Furthermore, by linking images and aroma diffusers, the system gives you a chewing experience as if you were really eating a snack. At SXSW 2023, we will offer various "chewing experiences" such as chocolate chip cookies, potato chips, salads, and phantom sweets. Chewing is said to be useful for activating the brain, maintaining cognitive function, reducing stress, and even dieting. We would like to provide health and the joy of eating through chewing to the elderly and those who have dietary restrictions due to various reasons.

3. Transcentdance

Dance AR content that visualizes the "scent" that you want to remember.

Dentsu Creative X Inc. / REVORN Co., Ltd.

https://transcent.dance

Transcentdance is content that allows you to "enjoy a scent" in AR. By adding time and space information to a scent and connecting it with dance movements, we expressed the "scent," which is said to be difficult to visualize due to its being instantaneous information, as a form of entertainment. When the participant selects a "scent," sensors read its components, and, according to the type and component ratio of the scent analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI), the "scent" is made into a character and dances in real time in AR.

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