Edible optical systems made of agar

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19799
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 61:Human informatics and related fields
• Research Institution: Gunma University
• Principal Investigator: Oku Hiromasa 群馬大学, 大学院理工学府, 准教授 (40401244)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 光学系 / 食べられる / 寒天 / 食品 / 飴 / 再帰性反射材 / マイクロレンズアレイ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, the creation and evaluation of edible optical systems using agar were conducted. In addition, we proposed edible optical elements and optical systems made of candy as a material, and developed devices and applied experiments. Specifically, we investigated the molding and evaluation of agar lenses, the trial manufacture and evaluation of edible optical systems using agar lenses, the development and evaluation of optical elements made of candy, the verification of their effectiveness in human-machine interaction (HMI), and the development of high-precision markers using candy microlens arrays. Although candy was not included in the original plan, its usefulness was demonstrated in the present study, and it was found to be an important raw material for the formation of edible optical elements as well as agar because of its convenience such as easy long-term storage if it is packaged properly.

Free Research Field

ダイナミックイメージコントロール

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

レンズやプリズムといった光学素子を食べ物から形成することで，食べられるという機能と光学的な機能とを併せ持つ新しいデバイスとその応用方法を研究・開発した．これらの結果を応用することで料理と映像を融合した新しい演出手法や，映画やゲームの作成に欠かせないモーションキャプチャーシステムを動物に対して安全に行う手法を創出することができた．