**For the first time in the energy industry, a real-time digital human is born from Osaka Gas!**
*Promoting online consultation with avatars and new service development*
AVITA Co., Ltd. (President: Hiroshi Ishiguro, hereinafter “AVITA”) and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (President: Masataka Fujiwara, hereinafter “Osaka Gas”), which are involved in the avatar business, will reflect the operator’s facial expressions and movements in real time. I co-developed an avatar to play. From September 8, 2022, we will use avatars to provide online consultations on gas appliances and renovations.
From August 2021, AVITA and Osaka Gas will form a capital and business alliance to develop new services that are close to people’s lives using avatars (* 1), and AVITA will work with Osaka Gas to develop its own avatars. I have proceeded.
There are two types of avatars developed this time: a “digital human” that looks just like a human being, and a “character” that looks like an anime. .
In particular, the “Digital Human” has been carefully modeled down to the smallest details, such as the body structure, the texture of the skin and clothing, and the reflection of light, in line with human anatomy, to achieve a figure that is as close to a human as possible. In addition, characters can be moved only with a personal computer, and digital humans can be moved only with a personal computer and a smartphone. In the past, expensive equipment such as a motion capture system (*2) was required to move such a digital human in real time, but this avatar has a simple mechanism and can be easily expressed from anywhere. Its main feature is that it can be moved.
From September 8, Osaka Gas will start online consultation on gas equipment and renovation using this avatar. As a result, customers will be able to use their smartphones and other devices to communicate with avatars operated by professional advisors in showrooms in a more casual and enjoyable way, regardless of where they are, such as their homes.
In the energy industry, there have been no examples of practical use of digital humans that can operate in real time, and this is an advanced initiative. In the future, we will also promote the facility guidance of the Daigas Group and the joint development of new services.
The two companies will continue to contribute to enriching the lives of customers through business collaboration related to avatar services.
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000009.000085375.html