The Ghost in the Shell Realize Project uses the Ghost in the Shell franchise as a means to advance Japan's cutting-edge technology by partnering with companies as well as university research and development teams. The initiative held the "Ghost in the Shell Realize Project the Award 2016" ceremony at AnimeJapan at Tokyo Big Sight on Saturday. The event recognized Japanese companies and development teams that have worked to further leading technologies inspired by Ghost in the Shell.

Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, president and CEO of Production I.G and head of the executive committee of the Ghost in the Shell Realize Project's production committee, introduced the project at the awards ceremony. Each participating lab's activities and achievements were also reported.

The awards were divided into two categories: "Cyberbrain (Artificial Intelligence)" and "Prosthetic Body (Robot)." The ceremony first recognized the Clinical Sequence Research Team of the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science with a special judges' award for the team's contributions to using artificial intelligence in disease diagnosis. The institute worked to develop artificial intelligence named watson that can be used to help diagnose leukemia patients who are difficult to diagnose. Watson collected information from more than 20 million papers related to cancer. This is the first case of diagnoses from artificial intelligence being used to save human lives.

Fuji Heavy Industries and IBM Japan won the "Cyberbrain (Artificial Intelligence)" division for their work developing a driver-assist system that utilizes artificial intelligence and cloud technology. The two companies worked together in 2016 on the advanced system. Together with IBM Japan's cloud platform that provides the basis for an Internet of Things (IoT) solution, Fuji Heavy Industries' developed technology to advance its EyeSight driver-assist system and reduce traffic accidents.

Tokyo Institute of Technology's Suzumori-Endo Lab won the "Prosthetic Body (Robot)" category for its contributions to research and development on artificial muscle. Professor Kōichi Suzumori, Associate Professor Shūichi Wakimoto, and Ikeda-sei Chū-sho succeeded in developing thin and flexible artificial muscle from their work started in 2011. The technology can weave together artificial muscle fibers for use with nursing welfare support suits that are light, soft, and feel good to wear. The technology could also be used with new robots.

The Ghost in the Shell Realize Project launched in 2014 with the aim of recreating aspects of the futuristic, technologically advanced world of Ghost in the Shell. The project began streaming a video on Saturday for its WarpDrive project.

The project's focus last year was creating a half-size interactive Tachikoma robot, which also appeared at AnimeJapan this past weekend. The project held an award ceremony in February 2016 to award one of 10 teams that furthered the project's mission alongside a five-lecture series by professors.

Source: Anime! Anime! (深井孔)