Miri
Mirai Innovation Research Internship in Japan
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Program Outline
The Mirai Innovation Research Internship (MIRI) gives the opportunity to experience another culture, do research in a different academic/research environment, and pursue your specific research topics by involving international cooperation and collaboration with Mirai Innovation research specialists.
You will do research activities as the main activity in this internship program supervised by a Mirai Innovation Research Institute researchers.
The program will be conducted in English. It is not necessary to have a specific level of Japanese language. The main objective of the program is to support students to achieve their research goals in a laboratory of emergent technologies with the help of expert researchers and engineers. The laboratory specializes in four main areas 1) Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision, 2) Robotics, 3) Virtual and Augmented Reality and 4) Neurotechnology.
When to apply
You can apply all year long and your period of internship will be decided according to your needs and the availability of positions.
Program duration
The program duration is 4 to 12 weeks long.
The program start and end date can be freely set after consulting with Mirai Innovation Lab staff.
Participants are expected to go to the laboratory during working days (except Japanese holidays) to conduct their research project.
Laboratory Facilities
It is located in TEQS Software Industry Plaza which let us have access to the following facilities: Sound studio (Audio/Visual recording and editing), PC training room, Lecture room, meetings rooms, and business café.
Our laboratory has equipment such as the following:
GPU equipped servers (GTX, Titan X), Telepresence mobile robot (Temi Robot), Programmable robotics arms,
Augmented reality headsets (Metaglass and Hololens), Virtual reality headset(OculusRift S), Depth cameras (Kinect, Xtion, Intel Euclid), 180° and 360° cameras: Vuze XR, Dual 1VR Camera, 3D scanners (Structure sense).
Windows Mixed Reality – Head – Mounted Display Drones
3D printing, Laser cutter engraving machine
Microcontroller board / computer: arduino, raspberry pi, Nvidia Electrical board testing equipment.
Physiological signal acquisition devices for Brain data: EEG Aura, Museband, open BCI, gTec Unicorn; Muscle signals: MyoBand; Skin conductance: NeuLog; Eye gaze tracking: Tobii-eye tracking.
Moreover, we have communal areas where you can find vending machines. At the Asia Pacific Trade Center (ATC) you can find many restaurants options as well.
Requirements
The applicant must:
1. Be an undergraduate or graduate/postgraduate student.
- For undergraduate student of a bachelor degree, 5 semesters or more have been completed at the time of arrival at Mirai Innovation Lab.
- For graduate/postgraduate student, 1 semester or more have been completed at the time of arrival at Mirai Innovation Lab.
3. Have good English skills equivalent to 500 in TOEFL – Paper-Based Testing (PBT) b. 80 in TOEFL – Internet-Based Testing (IBT) c. 6.5 in IELTS – Academic format
Exemptions:
- Applicants whose first language is English.
- Applicants who graduated from a university or a postgraduate school located in an English-speaking country.
- Applicants who completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree program in which the language of instruction and examination was English.
4. GPA 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale on the bachelor’s degree earned or 8.0 on a scale of 0 to 10.
5. Health insurance valid during your stay in Japan.
6. Come from a country where Japan provides a non-visa permit for at least 90 days. Citizenship from a country that Japan has diplomatic relationships
8. Age above 20 years old.
Testimonials
Adriana Zepeta Hernández
Tecnológico Superior de Poza Rica, Veracruz, México
“During my internship in Mirai Innovation Lab I inquired about neural networks, machine learning, deep learning and about some techniques that are used in working with images, in text recognition and classification. I worked on 3 projects, two were focused on the privacy of personal information of patients in medical images, where machine learning and deep learning techniques were applied, for text recognition in images, where the algorithm found the patient’s name and hid it. OpenCV and template matching methods, Gaussian Blur, OCR, coco Text, among others were used. In another project I used neural networks for image classification, using tensorflow, keras transferLearning and pre-trained models such as AlexNet.”
Jorge Antonio Martinez Ledezma
Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas
“The research stay I made with Dr. Christian Peñaloza in his laboratory has been a great experience that allowed me to know not only a new country and a new culture, but also a way of working and solving problems, having the support and companionship of everyone in the lab. In addition, I learned new methods and tools that are useful for my research work on Brain-Machine Interfaces and have the opportunity to see closely one of Dr. Peñaloza’s work.”
Steps To Enroll
- Application: Submit your application online
- Sreening: your CV and application will be evaluated
- Interview: Technical skills and soft skills will be evaluated during an online interview conducted in English.
- Results: Acceptance letter will be emailed if accepted
- Send Files: copies of passport, health declaration and school letters should be sent by email.
- Program fees should be paid before coming to Japan
- Prepare a document with your research proposal.
- Information session: Attend information session.
- Arrival: Welcome introduction and start research project.
- Research Internship
- Final Presentation
- Back to your country
Program Fee
Registration Fee: $400 USD (non-refundable)
- $600 USD per week (From 4 to 6 weeks)
- $550 USD per week (From 6 to 12 weeks
- Plus Taxes (10%)
>>>> The above fees and tuition should be paid in advance before arriving to Japan.
Extra program services
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Accommodation support
The services include the following:
Search for accommodation
Translation of the contract
Reception at the airport
Airport-depto fast train ticket
Japanese-Spanish-English interpretation during the signing of the contract and explanation of the use of the facilities
The cost of the service is $250 US dollars + Taxes (10%) - Meal tour Traditional dishes and places to have drinks
- Laboratories Tour
- Introduction to Osaka Tour Sky-building, Nipponbashi and Dotombori avenue.
Internship Partners
Dr. Christian Peñaloza
Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics from Osaka University
Dr. Christian Peñaloza holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics from Osaka University. Currently, he is the Managing Director of Mirai Innovation Research Institute, a research institute specializing in emergent technology research projects, and researcher at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR). His research topics include: learning from demonstration using human-robot interaction, learning framework for cloud robotics, visual learning using web data, and skill transfer using traditional methods such as teleoperation with graphic interfaces and non-traditional methods such as Brain Machine Interface systems. In 2016, the MIT Technology Review Magazine recognized Dr. Peñaloza as one of the 10 most innovators under 35 years old and awarded him the “Innovator of the Year 2016 Mexico” award.
Dr. Miguel Miranda
Mirai Innovation Researcher
Dr. Miranda holds a Ph.D. in Information Science from Osaka University. During his Ph.D. course, he designed and implemented a 3D Magic Lens interface utilizing a handheld device within an immersive virtual environment. His research interests are Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality, and 3D Interfaces. Dr. Miranda has work experience as a software developer at Kawasaki Heavy Industries where he developed applications using C and C++ on Linux .NET applications on C# and F# Concurrent programming in Elixir and Erlang Virtual Reality applications on Unity. Currently, he collaborates as a researcher at Mirai Innovation Research Institute Japan.
Eng. Naohiro Hayaishi
CEO, Keisuugiken
Naohiro Hayaishi is president of Keisuugiken Corporation which develops robotics and AI systems. He is the lead lecturer of the Deep Learning training series at the Software Industry TEQS Plaza and lecturer about technology transfer systems at the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University. He is a pioneer in the development of humanoid robots for education. Naohiro has more than 15 years of experience in software development, electronic design and CPU design for FPGA. He has developed various types of robots, home sensor systems, and Brain-Machine Interface systems.
M.S. Eng. David Hernandez
Mirai Innovation Senior Engineer
Researcher in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision at Mirai Innovation Research Institute and Project manager at Keisuugiken Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Currently, Ph.D. Candidate in Bioinformatics at Osaka University. Masters Degree in Computer Science from Poza Rica Institute of Technology in Mexico and completed a research internship at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratory Japan, where developed AI systems for brain signal analysis.
Living in Japan
The laboratory of Mirai Innovation Research Institute is located in:
Suminoe-ku, Nankoukita 2-1-10 ATC bldg. ITM sec. 6th floor Rm. M-1-3, 2-chōme1 Nankōkita, Suminoe-ku, Ōsaka-shi, Ōsaka-fu 559-0034
The ATC Asian-Pacific Trade Center is the venue where G20 leaders met in June 2019 to address major global economic challenges. In addition, Osaka is Japan’s second-largest metropolitan area after Tokyo. Osaka is the 3rd biggest city in Japan and is a wellknown destination for Japan gastronomy.
The three closest train stations are:
1. Trade Center Mae Station 350m – 5 mins walking
2. Nakafuto Station 800m – 11 mins walking
3. Port Town-nishi Station 1.5 km – 20 mins walking
Points of reference
ATC Asian-Pacific Trade Center 53m – 1 min walking WTC Cosmo Tower 750m – 11 mins walking
Hyatt Regency Osaka 900m – 13 mins walking To get to Asia and Pacific Trade Center (ATC) Osaka Japan
About
Verify that your passport has at least 6 months of validity.
All foreigners receive a status of temporary visitor when entering Japan. There are more than twenty statuses of residence, including “temporary visitor for tourists”, and a range of statuses for students, workers and relatives of Japanese nationals and residents.
Mexican citizens need only a valid passport to enter Japan as a “temporary visitor”. Otherwise, you need to obtain a visa before entering the country. Temporary visitors from most countries can stay for up to 90 days.
Temporary visitors are not allowed to engage in any paid activities. However, short term studies are permitted.
All foreigners, including foreign residents, get fingerprinted and photographed upon entering Japan as a measure aimed at preventing terrorism and other illegal activities. Excluded from this procedure are persons under the age of 16 and a few special groups, such as diplomats and visiting dignitaries.
It is very important that all foreign tourists in Japan are always required to carry their passports with them.
Rent $550USD (Monthly Fee USD) ¥60’000 (Monthly Fee Yen)
Food $600USD (Monthly Fee USD) ¥61’800 (Monthly Fee Yen)
Transportation $250USD (Monthly Fee USD) ¥25’750 (Monthly Fee Yen)