Latest news with #HiroakiKobayashi
The Mainichi
5 days ago
- Business
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: Factory in Kyoto uses translation app to help foreign workers
NAGAOKAKYO, Kyoto -- A factory in Kyoto Prefecture has made work easier for foreign employees by using a translation app on smartphones and computers. More than half of the 110 workers at Kobayashi Seisakusho are from Vietnam or Thailand. Before, workers had trouble talking to each other because they spoke different languages. Sometimes, mistakes happened because people did not understand instructions. Some workers said "yes" even when they did not understand. Now, the company uses a special app called "Kaminashi Jugyoin." Workers can type messages in their own language, and the app translates them for everyone. For example, a message in Japanese is changed to Vietnamese or Thai, and the other way around. This helps everyone understand instructions and talk about problems. A Vietnamese worker said, "I can now communicate with everyone. I understand instructions and reports, and I'm making progress with my tasks." A Thai worker said, "It's very convenient. If there is a problem or something I don't understand, I can contact others immediately." The company president, Hiroaki Kobayashi, said the app has made the workplace better. Workers now talk more, help each other, and make fewer mistakes. The company is now more productive and sales have grown. (Japanese original by Satoshi Kubo, Kyoto Bureau) Vocabulary translation: changing words from one language to another app: a computer program, often used on phones instructions: information about what to do convenient: easy and helpful productive: able to make more things or do more work immediately: right away
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NTT Research and Tohoku University Collaborate to Accelerate Development of Quantum Enhanced Coherent Ising Machines
News Highlights: Researchers at the NTT Research Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab and Tohoku University co-author paper outlining the capabilities of single photon Coherent Ising Machines (CIM). Paper reports findings from a joint research initiative between the two organizations to bring to life large-scale cyber CIMs through high-performance computing. Single-photon CIM enables the conversion of fragile quantum entanglement into robust classical correlations between a measured pulse and all the other pulses. SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 09, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), announced that its Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab and the Graduate School of Information Science(GSIS) at Tohoku University, jointly published the paper "Single photon coherent Ising machines for constrained optimization problems" in the Quantum Science and Technology journal. As part of the collaboration, researchers from the two institutions studied a combinatorial clustering problem which is a representative task in unsupervised machine learning. Joint research agreement on large-scale cyber CIM with high-performance computing Together, the two institutions are researching methods to bring to life a large-scale CIM simulation platform using conventional high-performance computing (HPC). This large-scale CIM will be critical to enabling cyber CIMs that will be widely accessible for solving hard NP, NP-complete and HP-hard problems. The collaboration kicked off in 2023 with Hiroaki Kobayashi, Professor at the GSIS at Tohoku University, acting as the principal investigator for the joint research agreement (JRA), with PHI Lab Director Yoshihisa Yamamoto joining as the NTT Research counterpart to Kobayashi. As part of the JRA, Tohoku University will research methods to optimize the third-generation cyber CIM using HPC platforms. Following this research, Tohoku University will examine vectorization and parallelization of kernels as accelerants and consider optimization of data management in the cache memory hierarchy, as well as ways to scale cyber CIM to 100 million spins with sparse connection on an appropriate platform. "NTT Research's collaboration with GSIS at Tohoku University will unlock energy efficient and optimized machine learning accelerators," said Yoshihisa Yamamoto, PHI Lab Director at NTT Research. "By combining quantum optical formalism and digital electronic platform, our work with Tohoku University brings us one step closer to bringing to life a large-scale CIM simulator, enabling cyber CIM simulators that offer users an accessible and efficient way to solve stochastic differential equations that describes a DOPO network with quantum measurement and feedback circuit." Critical to the JRA is the PHI Lab's mission to use nonlinear quantum optical technologies to build simple, efficient and practical computing machines for real-world problems by redesigning analog/digital hybrid computers using the fundamental principles of quantum physics and neuroscience, drawing inspiration from biological computers present in brains. As part of this mission, the PHI Lab relies on the CIM, which is a network of degenerate optical parametric oscillators (DOPOs) programmed to solve combinatorial optimization problems mapped to an Ising model. The Ising model is a mathematical abstraction of magnetic systems composed of competitively interacting spins, or angular momenta of fundamental particles. A striking result In contrast to the conventional and experimental coherent Ising machines (CIM) reported previously in Science 354, 603 (2016) and Science 354, 614 (2016), a newly proposed CIM employs an average photon number per pulse as small as one, which is eight orders of magnitude smaller than the photon number existing in the conventional CIMs. In such an extremely weak light limit, performance of CIMs must be evaluated through quantum theory rather than classical heuristic models. The result of a numerical simulation based on the quantum model was unexpected, which is in sharp contrast to a standard picture. Initially, it was hypothesized that a CIM with a single photon per pulse suffers from poor signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement of internal pulse amplitudes and challenges to storing the analog amplitude information stably. Under this assumption, the performance is expected to be much worse than the conventional CIM with 108 photons per pulse. However, the research team found that within a numerical simulation, the result is the complete opposite. The graph shows the probabilities of success for finding exact solutions for various instances by single photon CIM and conventional CIM with 108 photons per pulse. The figure indicates the performance of the single photon CIM is much better than that of a conventional CIM. Quantum enhancement mechanism The superior performance of the single photon CIM discovered by the collaboration originates from a quantum mechanical effect. At a measurement port of the CIM, an extraction beam splitter generates a correlated internal pulse and extracted pulse to be measured, that is, the amplitude of the extracted pulse carries an information of the internal pulse amplitude. This correlation between the internal and extracted pulses penetrates into a quantum regime in spite of background noise which indicates the existence of quantum entanglement between these two pulses in the single photon CIM. Despite the fragile nature of a quantum entanglement that can be easily destroyed by optical loss and background noise, the single photon CIM was able to convert the fragile quantum entanglement into robust classical correlations between a measured pulse and all the other pulses through its quantum measurement and feedback process. The generation of quantum entanglement and its immediate conversion to classical correlation is key for understanding the improved performance of the single photon CIM, which is absent in conventional CIMs that leverage many photons per pulse. Looking ahead, NTT Research will continue to collaborate with GSIS at Tohoku University to move toward the physical implementation of the single-photon CIM, building on its theoretical validation and developing Cyber CIM, a large-scale simulation environment. This effort will pave the way for fast and energy-efficient solutions to real-world industrial problems. About NTT Research NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 in Silicon Valley to conduct basic research and advance technologies as a foundational model for developing high-impact innovation across NTT Group's global business. Currently, four groups are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab, and the Physics of Artificial Intelligence (PAI) Group. The organization aims to advance science in four areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; 3) medical and health informatics; and 4) artificial intelligence. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D investment of thirty percent of its profits. The names NTT and NTT Research, as well as the NTT and NTT Research logos, are trademarks and service marks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION or NTT Research, Inc. and/or their affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners. © 2025 NTT Research, Inc. View source version on Contacts NTT Research Contact:Chris ShawChief Marketing OfficerNTT Research + Media Contact:Nick GibiserWireside Communications® For NTT Research+1-804-500-6660ngibiser@
Business Wire
09-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
NTT Research and Tohoku University Collaborate to Accelerate Development of Quantum Enhanced Coherent Ising Machines
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), announced that its Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab and the Graduate School of Information Science(GSIS) at Tohoku University, jointly published the paper ' Single photon coherent Ising machines for constrained optimization problems ' in the Quantum Science and Technology journal. As part of the collaboration, researchers from the two institutions studied a combinatorial clustering problem which is a representative task in unsupervised machine learning. Together, the two institutions are researching methods to bring to life a large-scale CIM simulation platform using conventional high-performance computing (HPC). This large-scale CIM will be critical to enabling cyber CIMs that will be widely accessible for solving hard NP, NP-complete and HP-hard problems. The collaboration kicked off in 2023 with Hiroaki Kobayashi, Professor at the GSIS at Tohoku University, acting as the principal investigator for the joint research agreement (JRA), with PHI Lab Director Yoshihisa Yamamoto joining as the NTT Research counterpart to Kobayashi. As part of the JRA, Tohoku University will research methods to optimize the third-generation cyber CIM using HPC platforms. Following this research, Tohoku University will examine vectorization and parallelization of kernels as accelerants and consider optimization of data management in the cache memory hierarchy, as well as ways to scale cyber CIM to 100 million spins with sparse connection on an appropriate platform. 'NTT Research's collaboration with GSIS at Tohoku University will unlock energy efficient and optimized machine learning accelerators,' said Yoshihisa Yamamoto, PHI Lab Director at NTT Research. 'By combining quantum optical formalism and digital electronic platform, our work with Tohoku University brings us one step closer to bringing to life a large-scale CIM simulator, enabling cyber CIM simulators that offer users an accessible and efficient way to solve stochastic differential equations that describes a DOPO network with quantum measurement and feedback circuit.' Critical to the JRA is the PHI Lab's mission to use nonlinear quantum optical technologies to build simple, efficient and practical computing machines for real-world problems by redesigning analog/digital hybrid computers using the fundamental principles of quantum physics and neuroscience, drawing inspiration from biological computers present in brains. As part of this mission, the PHI Lab relies on the CIM, which is a network of degenerate optical parametric oscillators (DOPOs) programmed to solve combinatorial optimization problems mapped to an Ising model. The Ising model is a mathematical abstraction of magnetic systems composed of competitively interacting spins, or angular momenta of fundamental particles. A striking result In contrast to the conventional and experimental coherent Ising machines (CIM) reported previously in Science 354, 603 (2016) and Science 354, 614 (2016), a newly proposed CIM employs an average photon number per pulse as small as one, which is eight orders of magnitude smaller than the photon number existing in the conventional CIMs. In such an extremely weak light limit, performance of CIMs must be evaluated through quantum theory rather than classical heuristic models. The result of a numerical simulation based on the quantum model was unexpected, which is in sharp contrast to a standard picture. Initially, it was hypothesized that a CIM with a single photon per pulse suffers from poor signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement of internal pulse amplitudes and challenges to storing the analog amplitude information stably. Under this assumption, the performance is expected to be much worse than the conventional CIM with 10 8 photons per pulse. However, the research team found that within a numerical simulation, the result is the complete opposite. The graph shows the probabilities of success for finding exact solutions for various instances by single photon CIM and conventional CIM with 10 8 photons per pulse. The figure indicates the performance of the single photon CIM is much better than that of a conventional CIM. Quantum enhancement mechanism The superior performance of the single photon CIM discovered by the collaboration originates from a quantum mechanical effect. At a measurement port of the CIM, an extraction beam splitter generates a correlated internal pulse and extracted pulse to be measured, that is, the amplitude of the extracted pulse carries an information of the internal pulse amplitude. This correlation between the internal and extracted pulses penetrates into a quantum regime in spite of background noise which indicates the existence of quantum entanglement between these two pulses in the single photon CIM. Despite the fragile nature of a quantum entanglement that can be easily destroyed by optical loss and background noise, the single photon CIM was able to convert the fragile quantum entanglement into robust classical correlations between a measured pulse and all the other pulses through its quantum measurement and feedback process. The generation of quantum entanglement and its immediate conversion to classical correlation is key for understanding the improved performance of the single photon CIM, which is absent in conventional CIMs that leverage many photons per pulse. Looking ahead, NTT Research will continue to collaborate with GSIS at Tohoku University to move toward the physical implementation of the single-photon CIM, building on its theoretical validation and developing Cyber CIM, a large-scale simulation environment. This effort will pave the way for fast and energy-efficient solutions to real-world industrial problems. About NTT Research NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 in Silicon Valley to conduct basic research and advance technologies as a foundational model for developing high-impact innovation across NTT Group's global business. Currently, four groups are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab, and the Physics of Artificial Intelligence (PAI) Group. The organization aims to advance science in four areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; 3) medical and health informatics; and 4) artificial intelligence. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D investment of thirty percent of its profits. The names NTT and NTT Research, as well as the NTT and NTT Research logos, are trademarks and service marks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION or NTT Research, Inc. and/or their affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners. © 2025 NTT Research, Inc.
The Mainichi
15-06-2025
- Business
- The Mainichi
Machine translator breaks barriers, improves mood at Kyoto Pref. plant with foreign workers
NAGAOKAKYO, Kyoto -- A factory in this west Japan city where more than half of its employees are foreigners has overcome the language barrier by utilizing a chat translator via smartphones and computers, transforming its work environment. The number of foreign workers in Kyoto Prefecture has surpassed 30,000, marking an all-time high. Amid this increase, the language barrier in workplaces has become a significant challenge. According to a national survey, nearly half of businesses cite "difficulty in communication" as their primary issue in employing foreign nationals. Factory where a majority are Vietnamese or Thai workers When this reporter visited the metal processing company Kobayashi Seisakusho in the city of Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, in late May, a Thai employee was seen working while glancing at a computer screen. Instructions entered in Japanese by a Japanese colleague on a smartphone were instantly translated into Thai and displayed on the screen. On a Vietnamese employee's smartphone were Vietnamese messages sent to Japanese and Thai colleagues using a work group chat function on their smartphones. The messages, automatically translated into Japanese and Thai, respectively, appeared on the recipients' smartphone screens, facilitating smooth communication. Out of 110 employees at the company, 60 are Vietnamese or Thai. Many of them are technical intern trainees or specified skilled workers whose period of stay in Japan is allowed up to five years in total. Founded in 1955, Kobayashi Seisakusho has been handling the processing of various equipment, including automobile parts, through "high-mix, low-volume production." Initially, the workforce was predominantly Japanese, but as the business expanded, there was a shortage of employees. Despite recruitment efforts through the Hello Work public employment service and newspaper inserts, Japanese applicants dwindled. About a decade ago, the firm began hiring technical intern trainees, leading to an increase in foreign employees. Hiroaki Kobayashi, 46, the company president, appreciates the foreign employees' work ethic, stating, "Everyone is earnest and eager to learn the job." However, language differences had created a wall in communication. Initial struggles in communication There were repeated mistakes due to miscommunication with Japanese employees. Wrong work processes led to delays in delivery deadlines. "If workers cannot communicate smoothly -- such as making sure everyone knows what is urgent and which tasks to prioritize, it significantly impacts workflow," Kobayashi said. Some workers would say "yes" without actually understanding what their Japanese colleagues told them and others would not speak up on important matters due to a lack of Japanese language skills. This was the case not just with Japanese employees but also among foreign workers who spoke different native languages. Kobayashi considered introducing voice translation devices from one company but abandoned the idea as they could not be used unless face-to-face. Japanese employees resorted to communicate through gestures and distributing memos with simple Japanese to prevent the language barrier from affecting work or workplace rules. Amid these challenges, Kobayashi learned about the "Kaminashi Jugyoin" translation system for smartphones and computers at an exhibition held last year at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center. Developed by the Tokyo-based startup Kaminashi Inc., the system allows information and document exchanges among site managers, general affairs departments and employees to be completed through a single service. The translation supports about 20 languages with high accuracy. Voices and thoughts of employees become 'visible' In January this year, Kobayashi Seisakusho introduced this system to all employees' smartphones and workplace computers. When instructions, consultations or other messages are input in the native language of the smartphone owner, the others receive them translated into their native language, such as from Japanese to Vietnamese, Thai to Japanese, and Vietnamese to Thai. When the general affairs department shares information with all employees in Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai workers can understand it in their native languages. The system has led to employees actively communicating and reporting to each other, changing the workplace atmosphere. A 28-year-old Vietnamese worker in his fourth year at the company who is responsible for metal cutting among other tasks smiled and commented in simple Japanese, "I can now communicate with everyone. I understand instructions and reports, and I'm making progress with my tasks." His 29-year-old co-worker from Thailand said in his native language, "It's very convenient. If there is a problem or something I don't understand, I can contact others immediately. I can now ask questions I couldn't before." Although they work in different departments, the two have become friends who communicate and consult with each other via smartphones. Kobayashi said, "The various voices and thoughts of employees have become 'visible.' The workplace atmosphere has changed, leading to improved employee skills." He also explained that by overcoming the language barrier, the company's productivity has increased, and sales have grown. In Kyoto Prefecture, the manufacturing industry has the highest number of foreign workers, at about 9,400 as of the end of October 2024, accounting for 27% of the total. Kobayashi Seisakusho's initiative could become a model case for small- and medium-sized businesses accepting foreign workers. (Japanese original by Satoshi Kubo, Kyoto Bureau)
