The Neurotech application team works at the intersection of basic neuroscience research and its application in industry. We
provide services that combine neuroscience and Araya's advanced AI technology to support our customers. Also, we are developing products that utilize AI technology to access mental states with non-invasive brain data. We care about human welfare and aim to break through the limitation of the human body and brain.

KEY WORDS
#Braintech, Neurotech
#Face2Brain
#Consulting and analysis of brain science experiments.
#Building automated analysis pipelines for brain data.

Highlights

Click on the image to play the video.

Brain activity estimation from facial video

NeuroTech (also called BrainTech) is a rising field of industrial application of Neuroscience. In this field, non-invasive recording of brain activity plays a pivotal role, and for that purpose Electroencephalography (EEG) is widely used because of its higher time resolution, wearability, and cost-effectiveness. Nonetheless, even wearable EEG devices
are hard to implement in some real-life (working) situations. Thus, our team developed a system that estimates a frequency-specific EEG power from the facial feature captured by a conventional digital camera, by harnessing the power of deep learning (patent applied for). The video on the left shows an example of estimation by our system. Here, the target
is the power of delta-wave, which has a strong relation with wakefulness/sleepiness. The blue line shows an actual recording from an EEG system and an orange line shows
estimation from facial video. We will develop various products/solutions based on this technology, including drowsiness detection and alert systems for drivers and workers.

Click on the image to play the video.

Brain Machine Interface (BMI)

While brain-sensing technologies enable us to objectively access our own mental state through brain activities, another NeuroTech technology enables us to control robotic arms or computer devices by our will. This technology field is called Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) or Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). In Araya, we are working on this technology too. The below video shows an example of our development. Here, one of our staff is controlling a racing car on the screen by his EEG, without touching a controller. This is achieved by detecting EEG activity evoked by visual stimuli that change in specific frequencies (Steady State Visual Evoked Potential： SSVEP). Only for demonstration purposes, the staff is indicating which direction he intends to turn with his finger. Through developing versatile BMI/BCI algorithms and compact wearable EEG devices (in collaboration with VIE STYLE, Inc.), we aim to quickly realize a future in which anyone can operate any device directly from the brain in a hands-free manner.

Members

Shuntaro Sasai, Ph.D.
Chief Research Officer
After graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo in 2008, he received his Ph.D. in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Tokyo in 2013. Since 2013, he is a member of the Center for Sleep and Consciousness at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His research interests are in understanding the brain-consciousness relationship and developing brain-machine interface techniques enabling cross-brain communications. Currently, he focuses on modeling the brain’s wiring architectures supporting conscious experience and cognitive functions.
Yukihito Yomogida, MD, Ph.D.
Product Development Manager
Yukihito received his Ph.D. at Tohoku University in 2010. After working as a JSPS Research Fellow/ Research Fellow/Research Associate Professor at Tamagawa University, and a Section Chief at National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, he joined Araya in 2021. His research expertise focuses on Neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Chiaki Michibayashi
Junior Business Development Manager
Chiaki is a Junior Business Development Manager in Araya. After graduating from Hokkaido University in 2011, she received her M.Sci. in Kyoto University in 2013. She worked as a researcher and business developer in Dermatology, Oral health care for 9 years in a consumables manufacturer company. She joined Araya in 2022. Now she focuses on business development in neuroscience.
Kotaro Nomura
Junior Product Development Manager
Nomura is a Junior Product Development Manager at Araya. In his previous job, he has been studying pain using EEG. His research interests include neurotech using EEG and deep learning.
Yi-Chen Lin, Ph.D.
Product Development Lead
Yi-Chen is a Product Development Lead at Araya. She received her Ph.D. at National Yang-Ming University in 2019. Her research interest are cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging.
Elie Magambo
Elie Magambo
Chief Researcher
Elie earned his Master`s Degree in Computer Engineering from Waseda University. He has been working on Model Compression Techniques for Deep Learning and Image Recognition in Araya since 2019. He Is currently working as Chief Researcher in R&D department, where he focuses on the intersection of BCI and Computer Vision.
Tomoya Nakai
Tomoya Nakai
Chief Researcher
Tomoya received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Arts and Sciences in 2017. After postdoctoral research at National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, he joined Araya in 2023. His research interests include computational models and neural bases of higher cognitive functions, with a particular focus on mathematics and language.
Masaru Kuwabara, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher
Masaru received his Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from Osaka University. After his postdoc research in neuroeconomics, he joined Araya in 2019. His research interests are consciouness, AI inspired neurosicence and application of neuroTech.
Anna Maria Hadjiev
Product Development Staff
Anna is a Product Development Staff at Araya. She received her B.S. in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2019, and her M.S. in Information Science & Technology at Hokkaido University in 2022. Her research interests are natural language processing and artificial consciousness.
Daisuke Matsuyoshi, MD, Ph.D.
Technical Advisor
Daisuke earned PhD from Kyoto University and started his postdoc career in the National Institute for Physiological Sciences. After working as an assistant professor at Osaka University, The University of Tokyo, and then Waseda University, he has worked as a research scientist at the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (formerly National Institute of Radiological Sciences) since 2019. His research interest includes visual cognition and its plasticity using a combination of behavioral and multi-modal neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, sMRI, dMRI, qMRI, MRS, and EEG/MEG). He joined Araya in 2015.
Sensho Nobe
Researcher/Product Development Staff
Sensho received his Master’s Degree in Neurobiology from the University of Tokyo in 2021. After a year as a Ph.D. student there / intern student at Araya, he officially joined Araya as a Researcher & Product Development Staff in 2022. His main research interests are: 1. developing neurotech products such as BCI using non-invasive neural recordings and machine learning, 2. exploring sources of human intelligence / consciousness using differential neural models.
Yawara Haga
Yawara Haga
Senior Researcher
Yawara studied brain science in primates using MRI at RIKEN CBS and received his Ph.D. (Radiology) from Tokyo Metropolitan University in 2022. After working at the RIKEN CBS as a post-doctoral fellow, he joined ALAYA in 2023. He is working on the analysis of brain imaging data.