MEMBERS
Metaverse Lab
Director
CEO
Naoto Kato
Researchers
Advisors
Senior Research Scientist
Tomohiro Hayase, Ph.D.
In 2019, Dr. Hayase completed his Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences at the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Tokyo. His doctoral research concerned machine learning using random matrices, free probability theory, and operator algebras. During his time at the graduate school, he worked as an intern in machine learning at Morpho, Inc. and Preferred Networks (PFN), and tackled model compression of deep neural networks. He has also been playing on various social virtual reality platforms since his time at graduate school, with his play time totaling a few thousand hours. After graduating, he conducted research on theoretical research on deep neural networks, contrastive learning, and transfer learning at Fujitsu’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, while working as a part-time lecturer (Information Science) at Ochanomizu University. Discovering the appeal of researching the metaverse while working as a world creator in social virtual realities, he joined Cluster Metaverse Lab as the first researcher in 2022.
Senior Research Scientist
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba
Takefumi Hiraki, Ph.D.
Dr. Hiraki received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2014, 2016, and 2019, respectively. From 2019, he worked as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Department of Systems Innovation at Osaka University, and became a visiting researcher at Microsoft Research Asia in China. Since 2021, he served as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science at the University of Tsukuba. Currently, he is a senior research scientist at Cluster Metaverse Lab at Cluster, Inc. while simultaneously holding an assistant professor position at the University of Tsukuba using the cross-appointment system. His research interests include augmented reality, haptic displays, soft robotics, and human-computer interaction.
Senior Research Scientist
Yuichi Hiroi, Ph.D.
Dr. Hiroi received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Keio University, Japan in 2015 and 2017, respectively. From 2017, he worked at NTT Service Evolution Laboratories. After leaving, he enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and received his Ph.D. in Engineering in 2022. From the same year, he worked as a research fellow for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo. While working as a senior research assistant at Cluster Metaverse Lab (Cluster, Inc.) he is also a visiting researcher at the Rekimoto Lab (Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo). His research interests include mixed reality, optics for head-mounted displays, vision measurement, and vision augmentation.
Research Engineer
Mitsunori Satomi
After engaging in research on how to apply three-dimensional sound technology to virtual reality in 1992, Satomi completed his Master's studies at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1994. In the same year, he joined the Hitachi System Development Laboratory. In 2004, he was seconded to Hitachi Data Systems and was in charge of standardization of Grid Computing technology and investigating the state-of-the-art techniques at Silicon Valley. He joined GateBox in 2017, participated in the 2018 Mercari R4D XR, worked at Yukai Engineering in 2020, then joined Cluster, Inc. in 2022. Currently, he is engaged in the research, development, and application of acoustic technology in VR in "cluster", a metaverse service.
Professor / Deputy Director, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo
Masahiko Inami
Dr. Masahiko Inami took up his current position as professor at the University of Tokyo after working at the University of Electro-Communications and Keio University. His interests include “JIZAI body editing technology,” the Augmented Human, and entertainment engineering. He has received several awards, including TIME Magazine’s “Coolest Invention of the Year” award and the Young Scientist Award from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). He is also the co-representative of the Superhuman Sports Society, a director of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan, and a member of the Science Council of Japan.
Professor, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University
Department Head, ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories
Yukiyasu Kamitani
He received B.A. in Cognitive Science from University of Tokyo, and Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems from California Institute of Technology. He continued his research in cognitive and computational neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and Princeton University. In 2004 he joined ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, and since 2015 he is Professor at Kyoto University. He is a pioneer in the field of "brain decoding", which combines neuroimaging and machine learning to translate brain signals to mental contents. He was named Research Leader in Neural Imaging on the 2005 “Scientific American 50”, and received many awards including Tsukahara Memorial Award (2013), JSPS Prize (2014), and Osaka Science Prize (2015). In 2018 he was selected as an ATR Fellow. He collaborated with Pierre Huyghe, providing brain-decoded imagery movies for the exhibition “UUmwelt” at Serpentine Galleries, London (2018).