Welcome to Ruck Thawonmas's Homepage

     
  Dr. Ruck Thawonmas, Professor  
  Organizer: The 2nd ChatGPT4PCG Competition
 
  Organizer: 2024 DareFightingICE AI Competition
Organizer: 2024 DareFightingICE Sound-Design Competition

    

all at CoG 2024
 
  Associate Editor: Heliyon Computer Science, 08/2022-present  
  Associate Editor: IEEE Transactions on Games (IEEE ToG), 01/2018-present (Formerly IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games (IEEE TCIAIG) during 04/2014-12/2017)  
  Editorial Board Member: Games for Health Journal (G4HJ)  
  Certified Instructor: NVIDIA DLI University Ambassador for Building Transformer-Based Natural Language Processing Applications Workshop in English and Fundamentals of Deep Learning Workshops in Japanese (only in 2022) and English


  Member: Art Research Center  
  Member: Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies  
 

 

Hi, I have been with Artificial and Natural Intelligence Course since April 1, 2017 and also with, until March 31, 2020, the Department of Human and Computer Intelligence, Ritsumeikan University, as full professor since April 1, 2004. I was the course head for the 2021 academic year, a deputy director of the Ritsumeikan University Career Center during 2019-2020 academic years, an associate dean during 2013-2015 academic years (in charge of planning, international relations, and faculty development), and the deparment head for the 2012 academic year. My main research themes are on applications of artificial intelligence and computational intelligence techniques to interactive entertainment and entertainment computing. Current research projects include

  • Health and Well-Being: development of intelligent games and research on applications of game AI techniques for promotion of health, including of art therapy, using various types of state-of-the-art game interfaces
  • Artificial Intelligence: research on AI techniques such as deep learning, evolutionary computation and real-time search as well as their applications to procedural play generation for live streaming as well as procedural content generation, and to development of high-performance or adaptable game AIs (general video game AI, fighting game AI, etc.)
  • Games with A Purpose: research and development on human-based computation games or games with a purpose (GWAP) aiming at cutural image data collection such as ukiyo-e descriptions and ukiyo-e image similarity data.

In addition, I had been an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (IEEE TCE) during 01/2022-12/2023. I was a general chair for 2023 International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS 2023) and a guest editor for IEEE CEMag Special Issue on Metaverse and eXtended uniVerse (XV): Opportunities and Challenges for Consumer Technologies. During 2021 and 2022, I was the inaugural chair of the Entertainment and Gaming (ENT) Technical Committee, IEEE Consumer Technology Society (CTSoc). I was a tutorial chair at the 2022 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG 2022). I was a speaker at APNNS/IEEE-CIS Education Forum Series: Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence Summer School 2022 (DLAI6), a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (TVT): Special Issue on Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation for Vehicular Technology, a competition chair at CoG 2021, a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Games (ToG): Special Issue on Serious Games for Health, a general chair of 2020 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), a guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Games (ToG): Special Issue on Game Competition Frameworks for Research and Education, and an editorial board member of Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games (ECGG) by Springer. I was a Programme Co-Chair of the 7th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (IEEE SeGAH 2019) and a co-organizer of NII Shonan Meeting - Artificial General Intelligence in Games: Where Play Meets Design and User Experience I was competition chair at CIG 2017. I co-organized both CDCI-05 Computational Intelligence and Games at WCCI 2016 and IEEE CEC 2015 Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games.

    I attended Dagstuhl Seminar 15051 on Artificial and Computational Intelligence in Games: Integration (25 - 30 January 2015); here is the seminar report. I was a co-competition chair for "the 2014 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (WCCI 2014) in Beijing, July 2014. I co-chaired "Computer Gaming Track in Workshop at SIGGRAPH ASIA 2012 (photo 1 and photo 2) in Singapore, November 2012, and GAMEON ASIA 2012 and ASTEC 2012 in February 2012. I also co-organized the International Symposium on Intelligence Techniques in Computer Games and Simulations in March 2007 and organized the International Symposium on Data mining, Virtual Environments, and Online Communities joint with COE Postdoctoral Researchers' Poster Session in March 2006.

    During 2007-2011, I participated in "Digital Humanities Center for Japanese Arts and Cultures", a nationally approved program called the Global COE. During 2002-2006, I participated in "Kyoto Art and Entertainment Innovation Research", yet another nationally approved program called the 21st Century Centers of Excellence (COE). FYI, I co-supervised the Games and CG Club (RIG++) here during 2004-2010.

    As for my other volunteering academic contributions, I am now a technical committee on Awareness Computing (IEEE-SMC), and IEEE CIS Games. I have reviewed papers for the following journals (in alphabetical order):

    • ACM Computers in Entertainment (CiE) (Also Guest Associate Editor)
    • Computers & Graphics
    • Education Research International
    • Fuzzy Sets and Systems
    • IEEE Access
    • IEEE Signal Processing Letters
    • IEEE Trans. Computational Intelligence and AI in Games
    • IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Systems
    • IEEE Trans. Games
    • IEEE Trans. Multimedia
    • IEEE Trans. Neural Networks
    • IEEE Trans. Signal Processing
    • IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics
    • International Journal of Computer Games Technology
    • International Journal of Machine Learning and Cybernetics
    • ISRN Artificial Intelligence
    • Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics (also Guest Editor for Special Issue on Intelligence Techniques in Computer Games and Simulations, Vol.12 No.2, March 2008)
    • Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
    • Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
    • Neural Networks
    • Replaying Japan
    • Swarm and Evolutionary Computation
    • The Journal of the Computer Games Community/LI>
    • The Journal of Game Amusement Society
    • The Journal of Personalization Research User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction
    • The Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan
    • The KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems
    • The Scientific World Journal
    • Transactions of Information Processing Society of Japan
    • Transactions of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers
    • Transactions of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan

    I also reviewed papers for and/or was (am presently) in the committee of the following international conferences or reviewed theses as a PhD external examiner, etc (in reverse chronological order):
    • The 2021 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG 2021)
    • The 30th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2021), Senior Program Committee
    • The 2021 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2021)
    • The 2021 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2021)
    • The second annual Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) conference (ACH 2021)
    • The 25nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-20)
    • The 16th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'20)
    • The 8th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health (IEEE SeGAH 2020)
    • MCS 2020 (Monte Carlo Search Workshop at IJCAI 2020)
    • The 29th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 20), Senior Program Committee
    • The 2020 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2020)
    • Digital Humanities Conference 2020 (DH 2020)
    • The 15th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'19)
    • The 24nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-19)
    • The 2019 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG 2019)
    • The 16th Conference on Advances in Computer and Games (ACG2019)
    • The 28th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 19), Senior Program Committee
    • The 2019 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2019)
    • The 2019 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2019)
    • The ACH2019 Conference
    • Joint 10th International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems and 19th International Symposium on Advanced Intelligent Systems (SCIS&ISIS2018)
    • The 14th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'18)
    • The 23nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-18)
    • 2018 IEEE 7th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2018)
    • The 2018 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC2018)
    • 10th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2018)
    • The 2018 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2018)
    • The 2018 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2018) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
    • The 11th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies (GET 2018)
    • The 10th International Conference on Computers and Games (CG2018)
    • The 2018 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2018)
    • Edutainment Conference 2018
    • The 2018 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2018)
    • The 2017 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2017)
    • The 22nd Game Programming Workshop (GPW-17)
    • 2017 IEEE 6th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2017)
    • The 2017 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC2017)
    • 9th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2017)
    • The 18th annual European GAMEON Conference (GAMEON 2017) on Simulation and AI in Computer Games
    • The 2017 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2017)
    • The 10th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies (GET 2017)
    • The 2017 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2017) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
    • Joint 17th World Congress of International Fuzzy Systems Association and 9th International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems (IFSA-SCIS 2017)
    • Game AI Special Track at the 30th International Conference on Industrial, Engineering, Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems (IEA/AIE 2017)
    • Edutainment Conference 2017
    • The 2017 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2017)
    • The 2017 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE CEC 2017)
    • Game Physics and Mechanics International Conference 2017 (GAMEPEC 2017)
    • The 4th IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Human-like Intelligence (CIHLI 2016)
    • The 21th Game Programming Workshop (GPW-16)
    • The 5th IEEE Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2016)
    • The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC 2016)
    • The 2016 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2016)
    • The Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games at the 8th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2016)
    • The 2016 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2016)
    • The 17th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2016)
    • The IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence 2016(IEEE WCCI 2016)
    • The 2016 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2016) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
    • The 9th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies 2016 (GET 2016)
    • Edutainment Conference 2016
    • The 20th Game Programming Workshop (GPW-15)
    • The 16th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2015)
    • The 2015 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Human-like Intelligence (IEEE SSCI 2015)
    • The Eighth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC 2015)
    • International Conference on Culture and Computing 2015 (Culture and Computing 2015)
    • The Special Session on Computational Intelligence and Games at the 7th Computer Science and Electronic Engineering Conference (CEEC 2015)
    • The 2015 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2015)
    • Game Physics and Mechanics International Conference 2015 (GAMEPEC 2015)
    • The 2015 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2015)
    • The 8th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies 2015 (GET 2015)
    • The 2015 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2015) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
    • The Fifth International Conference on Information Science and Technology (ICIST 2015)
    • The 2nd International Research Conference on Emerging Information Technology and Engineering Solutions (EITES 2015)
    • The IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence 2014 (SSCI 2014)
    • The 2014 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2014)
    • The 15th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2014)
    • The Sixth IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2014)
    • The 2014 IEEE 3rd Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE 2014)
    • The 2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2014)
    • The Seventh International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services (CENTRIC 2014)
    • The 2014 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG 2014)
    • The 7th International Conference on Game and Entertainment Technologies 2014 (GET 2014)
    • External evaluator for faculty reappointment at Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University, April, 2014
    • The 2014 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2014) - Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts (DETA)
    • The 2013 International Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2013)
    • The 14th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2013)
    • The 17th Asia Pacific Symposium of Intelligent and Evolutionary Systems (IES 2013)
    • The Fifth IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2013)
    • The Sixth International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Service (CENTRIC 2013)
    • International Conference on Culture and Computing 2013 (Culture and Computing 2013)
    • The 2013 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games(CIG2013)
    • IADIS Game and Entertainment Technologies 2013 (GET 2013)
    • Digital Humanities 2013 (DH 2013)
    • The 2013 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2013)
    • IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence 2013 (SSCI 2013)
    • External reviewer for faculty promotion and tenure at the University of Texas-Dallas, 2012
    • The 13th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2012)
    • The 2012 FTRA International Workshop on Advanced Future Multimedia Services (AFMS 2012)
    • The 15th International Conference on Network-Based Information Systems (NBis 2012)
    • The 2012 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (IEEE CIG 2012)
    • The Fourth IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2012)
    • IADIS Game and Entertainment Technologies 2012 (GET 2012)
    • Digital Humanities 2012 (DH 2012)
    • The Ninth International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2012)
    • Digital Humanities 2012
    • External reviewer for START Programme Postdoctoral Fellowship, Icelandic Research Fund
    • The 2011 FTRA International Workshop on Advanced Future Multimedia Services (AFMS 2011)
    • The 3rd FTRA International Conference on Information Technology Convergence and Services (ITCS-11)
    • The Third IEEE International Conference on Awareness Science and Technology (iCAST 2011)
    • 2011 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2011)
    • The Eighth International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2011)
    • The FTRA 2010 International Workshop on Advanced Future Multimedia Services (AFMS 2010)
    • The 11th annual European GAMEON Conference on Simulation and AI in Computer Games (GAMEON'2010)
    • The 2nd International Symposium on Aware Computing (ISAC 2010)
    • PhD external examiner for The Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, Tel Aviv University (2009-2010)
    • The 9th Annual Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2010)
    • The 5th International Conference on E-learning and Game (Edutainment 2010)
    • 2010 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2010)
    • The 2010 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation (IEEE ICIA 2010)
    • The Seventh International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2010)
    • The 10th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2009)
    • GAMEON NA North America 2009
    • The 5th International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing (IIHMSP-2009)-IS34
    • The 4th International Conference on E-learning and Game (Edutainment 2009)
    • 2009 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE 2009)
    • The 9th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2008)
    • GAMEON NA North America 2008
    • The 3rd International Conference on E-learning and Game (Edutainment 2008)
    • The 8th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2007)
    • IFIP 5th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC 2006)
    • IFIP 4th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC 2005)
    • The 6th annual European GAME-ON Conference (GAME-ON 2005)
    • ICCBR05 Workshop on Computer Gaming and Simulation Environments
    • KES 2005 invited session on Natural Language Processing and Text Mining in Medicine (NaTeMed2005)
    • 2004 International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems (ICCAS 2004)
    • The Joint Third International Conference on Intelligent Technologies and Third Vietnam-Japan Symposium on Fuzzy Systems and Applications (InTech/VJFuzzy' 2002)
    • The Second International Conference on Intelligent Technologies (InTech' 2001)
    • The 1998 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems
    • The 1997 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems
    For more details on me, please click on the items below.

     
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    R. Thawonmas
    Last Update: 12 April 2024