第五日から、先発組と大樹我妻と白井先生を合流しました。私達一緒に電車でLAVAL展示の参加するために、LAVALへ向かいました。LAVALはフランスのとても古い町です。今の人口は二十万ぐらいです。町の中に至る所が古代な城と修道院があります。都心には古代から住民の生活を支援したマイエンヌ川が流れています。
展示の五日間で赤ちゃんチームは四百以上のお客さんに体験してもらいました。主な評価はよいものでした。お客さんはこのプロジェクトは楽しいし、教育にも向いているし、そして革新的ですと話したり、twitterで赤ちゃんについての文章を書きました。それに記者が私達のプロジェクトを新聞に報道しました。
最終的に、赤ちゃんチームがSIGGRAPH賞を受賞しました。皆がSIGGRAPH賞を受賞した時、とても驚きましたし、嬉しかったです。賞があるので、今年のSIGGRAPHへ参加できます。
展示を完了した後に、フランスの最大乳製品会社Lactalisへ見学しに行きました。最後の日にレンヌへ電車で行って、古代な城モンサンミッシェルを見学しました。
On the fifth full day the advance team was joined by the last team member of Real Baby – Real Family Daiki Agatsuma, as well as team supervisor Akihiko Shirai-sensei. We made our way to Laval VR exhibition located at the ancient city of Laval and spent the entire day setting up the exhibition. Laval itself is a city of over 900 years old and is the French city with the highest castle concentration ratio. The entire town is full of ancient fortresses, churches, and structures. Right at the center lies the Mayenne River which has supported the Laval population since ancient times.
In the next five days from March 22nd to March 26th our team would entertain over 400 guests and eventually won the SIGGRAPH award during the Laval Award ceremony. When it was announced that our team would receive the SIGGRAPH award I was extremely emotional and somewhat embarrassed by standing beside my other teammates during the award ceremony as I was just an English translator and onsite support. Winning the SIGGRAPH award also means the team will be heading to California for the SIGGRAPH conference later this year. As for me it is undecided whether I will get to go or not due to the limited budget but if my submission in SIGGRAPH gets accepted I will be able to join the team.
The reception to our exhibition was in general positive with most players saying the project is ground breaking, innovative, and fun to play. There are some negative feedback of course such as how the system functions more as a working demo rather than a full blown game and that the baby could have more facial expressions. During this time I was also able to meet with many VR enthusiasts from all around the world. We had party almost every single night and at the end of the five day marathon I was dead tired but feeling extremely fulfilled.
After the Laval exhibition we visited Lactalis, the largest French diary company founded in Laval back in 1933 as well as went to Rennes to tour the Mount Saint-Michel, an ancient French fortress situated on an island. I have had a lot of fun and am looking forward to my next journey.
