TechShopとTokyo VR Startup

皆さん、久しぶりです。最近に私はとてもにぎやかだったり、たくさんイベントと見学があったり、新しいのブログを書く時間がありませんでした。すみません。今回のブログはその2つイベントについて書きます。

先週の木曜日に私と同じ研究室の東田茉莉花はTechShop Japanのワークショップに参加するために東京都へ行きました。TechShopは本来に2006年にアメリカのカリフォルニア州のメンロパークで開所しました。今まで世界中に4ヵ国、合わせて14箇所あり、世界的に有名な工房です。最初に私達はTechShopと富士通の方と自己紹介したり、TechShopの案内をしたり、そして色々な機械を使いました。後に私と茉莉花は富士通の方に取材しました。ワークショップを終わった時に、私達を自分で作った作品を持って帰りました。

先週の金曜日に私とBabyチームのチームメートを一緒にTokyo VR Startup開所式へ参加しました。その開所式はスタートアップ企業した方の集会です。集会中に私は別の会社の方と喋れたり、名刺を交換出来たり、そして将来の目標についての意見交換ができたので、私はこんな集会が好きです。

Alright so I know that it’s been a long time since I updated this blog and my apology for the recent lack of new contents. Truth is I’ve been very busy with all kinds of company visits, gatherings, and meetings thus I barely have time to myself let alone updating this blog. This being said, I will be discussing about two of the events I have attended recently.

Last Thrusday me and a lab friend of mine Marika Higashida went to the TechShop Japan located at Tokyo in Japan. TechShop is actually a DIY workshop that started back in 2006 in Menlo Park, California. Now it has expanded all over the world with 14 offices spread across 4 countries (the other two countries being United Arab Emirates and France). As the name suggests, TechShop is a work space with many different types of equipment allowing people to use for a fee. The different types of equipment include textile machines, plastic molding machine, electric saws, and spray painting equipment just to name a few.

We began our visit by a brief self introduction between me and Marika, people from Fujitsu (since Fujitsu is involved with funding TechShop), as well as people from TechShop. Afterwards we are lead around TechShop and introduced to all different types of machines as well as brief demonstration on how to use some of them. The TechShop and Fujitsu company employees are even kind enough to let us create our own tool kits to take back as souvenirs. At the end of our visit me and Marika interviewed two of the Fujitsu staff about their career and what they do as well as some of the projects they are currently working on.

The next event I am going to describe actually take place just a day later when me and the rest of baby team members visited Tokyo VR Startup New Company Welcoming Ceremony. It is a party dedicated to new VR companies that will be starting their own businesses soon. During the party I was able to talk to many of the startup staffs such as MyDearest, EXPVR, the makers of Sushi Bar, as well as sponsors such as Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft, and HTC. All in all although these events can be busy and tiring, I still had a lot of fun talking to people from different backgrounds and exchanging ideas.

Tokyo TechShopの外に展示してあったのロボット。
TechShopの中に色々な機械があるので、どんな作品も作れます。
これはプラスチック製品を作れる器材です。
TechShopのワークショップが終わって、私一人で赤坂で散歩している時に会ったのコスプレイヤー。