Latest news with #Tsukamoto
Scotsman
08-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
New tool allows UK online shoppers to try on clothes before they buy
Online fashionistas can now try before they buy! | Makip An online sizing technology provider has announced today (May 8) that UK shoppers will be presented with a personalised 3D avatar to see how their next fashion item will fit them. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Makip, an online Japanese sizing tech specialist, has upgraded its flagship product, Unisize, which allows consumers to check their 3D avatar from four angles - front, back, left, and right - to see how a clothing item will fit their body shape before buying. It comes as research from independent economics research consultancy, Retail Economics, showed that in 2024, 17 out of every 100 products sold online were returned. The fashion industry saw return rates reach as high as 30 per cent due to issues such as incorrect sizing, and the cost of returns continues to be an unwelcome line item on the balance sheet of many online retailers. Especially as many online shoppers seem perfectly happy to order multiple sizes, colours, or styles of an item to return most of the order after trying them on at home Shingo Tsukamoto, CEO and President of Makip, said: 'The average return rate for the UK fashion industry is 26%. 'One in every four items purchased online is returned, usually at the expense of the retailer. 'We feel that this cannot continue. 'In recent years, some retailers have taken a stand and started charging customers for returning items, however, we approach this from the view of customer experience. 'If we can provide customers with more accurate sizing options at the time of purchase, this leads to a reduction in returns. 'This has been proven across our Japan-based fashion clients with the average return rate dropping by 20%.' The announcement comes following increasing online returns for clothes | Shutterstock How does the 3D avatar work? The 3D model is generated based on the dimensions of the clothing and the user's body shape information, and allows consumers to check the looseness and fit of the clothing item before making a purchase. The model can be viewed from 360 degrees, so all angles are covered, and because of the 3D element, users can now view the silhouette while wearing shoes (which can be changed from sneakers to heels) and how the hemline of pants falls when wearing different footwear. Tsukamoto added: 'In recent years, platforms like TikTok and YouTube have normalised individually tailored content, influencing all generations. 'Similarly, personalisation in apparel e-commerce is expected to become an essential element of the online fashion industry. 'We will continue to expand our services with a focus on personalisation. 'We already have the FaceChange feature within Unisize, which allows users to upload an image of their face onto the model used for the fashion item, and our personalisation database allows returning users to compare previously purchased items with new items to see how the fit matches or differs.' Makip is the number one online sizing recommendation provider in its home country of Japan. This latest upgrade to its Unisize product is part of its global expansion strategy to strengthen its presence in overseas markets.
South China Morning Post
28-04-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Inside the abusive world of Japanese nursing: ‘violence was common'
The most frightening experience of Yoko Tsukamoto's nursing career began when a psychiatric patient grabbed her by the neck and attempted to strangle her. It ended only when her colleagues managed to pull the man away. Advertisement Never in her 20 years as a nurse had Tsukamoto faced such acute physical danger. Yet the incident, she says, is just one in a litany of issues plaguing Japan 's hospitals. From verbal abuse and physical assaults to sexual harassment and mistreatment by patients' families, violence and harassment against medical staff are far more common than many people realise. But now, the arrest of actress Ryoko Hirosue has brought long-simmering frustrations to the surface. Hirosue, best known internationally for her roles in Wasabi, produced by Luc Besson, and the Oscar-winning Departures, was arrested on April 8 for allegedly kicking and scratching a nurse at a hospital in Shizuoka prefecture. The incident occurred while Hirosue was being treated after a minor traffic accident. The 44-year-old actress's arrest, though not among the most violent cases, has opened the floodgates for healthcare workers to share their anger and experiences. Japanese actress Ryoko Hirosue at an event in Tokyo in 2022. Photo: WireImage For too long, the healthcare industry has turned a blind eye to the daily abuses endured by staff, according to Tsukamoto, who worked in both Japan and the United States before becoming a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido. She believes urgent changes are needed to protect medical professionals.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This spacecraft swarm could spot interstellar visitors zipping through our solar system
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In 2017, scientists spotted our solar system's first confirmed interstellar visitor: 'Oumuamua. While not an alien spacecraft, 'Oumuamua was an interstellar object (ISO), which came from another planetary system far, far away — and traveled at the blazingly fast speed of 196,000 miles per hour (315,431 kilometers per hour). To prepare for future visitors, Hiroyasu Tsukamota, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has developed a deep-learning-based guidance and control framework called Neural-Rendezvous that could allow spacecraft to safely encounter ISOs. The project, a collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tackles the two main challenges of approaching an ISO: the extraordinary speed of these objects and their poorly constrained trajectories. "We're trying to encounter an astronomical object that streaks through our solar system just once and we don't want to miss the opportunity," Tsukamoto said in a statement. "Even though we can approximate the dynamics of ISOs ahead of time, they still come with large state uncertainty because we cannot predict the timing of their visit. That's a challenge." Neural-Rendezvous would allow a spacecraft to "think" on its feet as it approaches an ISO, much in the way the human brain works while driving. "Our key contribution is not just in designing the specialized brain, but in proving mathematically that it works," said Tsukamota. "For example, with a human brain we learn from experience how to navigate safely while driving. But what are the mathematics behind it? How do we know and how can we make sure we won't hit anyone?" Intrigued by the potential of Neural-Rendezvous, two Illinois undergraduates, Arna Bhardwaj and Shishir Bhatta, developed an idea to implement the framework into not just a single spacecraft, but a swarm of them. 'How do you optimally position multiple spacecraft to maximize the information you can get out of it?" said Tsukamoto. "Their solution was to distribute the spacecraft to visually cover the highly probable region of the ISO's position, which is driven by Neural-Rendezvous." Related Stories: — Where did the interstellar object 'Oumuamua come from?— Could the solar system be teeming with interstellar objects? We'll soon find out (op-ed)— Self-docking spacecraft could be built with AI system similar to ChatGPT Using M-STAR multi-spacecraft simulators and tiny drones called Crazyflies, Bhardwaj and Bhatta put the concept to the test, demonstrating the potential of a Neural-Rendezvous-guided swarm. "[W]hile the Neural-Rendezvous is more of a theoretical concept, their work is our first attempt to make it much more useful, more practical," said Tsukamoto. The duo presented their paper at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Aerospace Conference this month.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This spacecraft swarm could spot interstellar visitors zipping through our solar system
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In 2017, scientists spotted our solar system's first confirmed interstellar visitor: 'Oumuamua. While not an alien spacecraft, 'Oumuamua was an interstellar object (ISO), which came from another planetary system far, far away — and traveled at the blazingly fast speed of 196,000 miles per hour (315,431 kilometers per hour). To prepare for future visitors, Hiroyasu Tsukamota, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has developed a deep-learning-based guidance and control framework called Neural-Rendezvous that could allow spacecraft to safely encounter ISOs. The project, a collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, tackles the two main challenges of approaching an ISO: the extraordinary speed of these objects and their poorly constrained trajectories. "We're trying to encounter an astronomical object that streaks through our solar system just once and we don't want to miss the opportunity," Tsukamoto said in a statement. "Even though we can approximate the dynamics of ISOs ahead of time, they still come with large state uncertainty because we cannot predict the timing of their visit. That's a challenge." Neural-Rendezvous would allow a spacecraft to "think" on its feet as it approaches an ISO, much in the way the human brain works while driving. "Our key contribution is not just in designing the specialized brain, but in proving mathematically that it works," said Tsukamota. "For example, with a human brain we learn from experience how to navigate safely while driving. But what are the mathematics behind it? How do we know and how can we make sure we won't hit anyone?" Intrigued by the potential of Neural-Rendezvous, two Illinois undergraduates, Arna Bhardwaj and Shishir Bhatta, developed an idea to implement the framework into not just a single spacecraft, but a swarm of them. 'How do you optimally position multiple spacecraft to maximize the information you can get out of it?" said Tsukamoto. "Their solution was to distribute the spacecraft to visually cover the highly probable region of the ISO's position, which is driven by Neural-Rendezvous." Related Stories: — Where did the interstellar object 'Oumuamua come from?— Could the solar system be teeming with interstellar objects? We'll soon find out (op-ed)— Self-docking spacecraft could be built with AI system similar to ChatGPT Using M-STAR multi-spacecraft simulators and tiny drones called Crazyflies, Bhardwaj and Bhatta put the concept to the test, demonstrating the potential of a Neural-Rendezvous-guided swarm. "[W]hile the Neural-Rendezvous is more of a theoretical concept, their work is our first attempt to make it much more useful, more practical," said Tsukamoto. The duo presented their paper at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Aerospace Conference this month.
