Project Prof. Nagai will participate in panels at Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, which will be held at Makuhari Messe from Friday, April 18 to Sunday, April 20, 2025. She will discuss cutting-edge technologies, such as the robots featured in Star Wars, from a scientific perspective. For more details, including tickets, please visit the official website (https://www.starwarscelebration.com).
Science of Revenge of the Sith panel
Date and time: Saturday, April 19, 2025, 12:00 – 13:00
Location: University Stage
Description:
Revenge of the Sith is full of connections to real world science and technology – from droids and starfighters to the ecosystems of Mustafar and Utapau. How could we make a working lightsaber? Can you really battle over a river of lava? How would wildlife thrive on Coruscant? Are we close to making robots similar to C-3PO and R2-D2? We’ll try to tackle these questions and more with our lineup of experts in all sorts of fields, including Dr. Yukie Nagai (robotics), Dr. Takafumi Maruishi (volcanology), Dr. Kazuo Tanaka (particle physics), Sawyer Markham (ecology), and Melissa Miller (science communicator). Join host James Floyd (Star Wars author, Star Wars Insider regular contributor, Star Warsologies podcast co-host) in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Episode III with a look into its science and technology.
https://www.starwarscelebration.com/en-us/explore-the-event/panels.html#/event/science-of-revenge-of-the-sith
Droids, Artificial Intelligence, and Sentience panel
Date and time: Sunday, April 20, 2025, 12:45 – 13:45
Location: University Stage
Description:
R2-D2 and C-3PO. BB-8. Battle droids. Star Wars isn’t Star Wars without its lovable droids. We’ll examine the science of robots, the programming of personality and the ethics of sentient mechanicals in society, plus go behind the scenes on designing droids for the movies. Why do droids in Star Wars look the way they do? Why do we all love R2-D2? How close are we to having droid intelligence and personality in our own world? Let’s go inside the gears and processing units to explore all the possibilities. Our team of experts includes Yukie Nagai (Project Professor, International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo), Fon Davis (ILM Model Maker – Star Wars), Chris Kempshall (author, Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire and The History and Politics of Star Wars) and Joel Welch (PhD Law candidate at Western University, Emerging Technology Policies & SciFi). Moderated by James Floyd (Star Wars Insider; Star Warsologies, Star Wars Crossword Puzzles).
https://www.starwarscelebration.com/en-us/explore-the-event/panels.html#/event/droids-artificial-intelligence-and-sentience