Okayama University Records Rice Planting with Wearable Cameras to Digitize Tacit Agricultural Knowledge

On June 9, 2026, an announcement was made by Okayama University.

A project team consisting of researchers from Okayama University and Okayama University of Science recorded video footage of rice planting operations in Kumenan-cho, Kume-gun, Okayama Prefecture, on May 30, 2026.

This initiative was conducted as part of the Toyota Foundation's 2024 specific grant program, 'Population Decline and Japanese Society,' under the project title 'Building New Enterprise Models to Support Depopulating Regions through Co-creation by Young Local Practitioners and Academic Researchers.' The project aims to understand the operations, knowledge, and workforce structure necessary to maintain regional resource management, agricultural production, and the living foundation in mountainous regions facing population decline and aging, ultimately building a new enterprise model to support them.

On the day of the recording, Associate Professor Katsutoshi Onaka from the Institute of Global Human Resource Development and Associate Professor Hisashi Dadai from the Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science at Okayama University participated. With the cooperation of local residents, they recorded the process of operating a rice transplanter. The operator utilized a wearable camera capable of recording a near point-of-view perspective, along with a 360-degree camera mounted on the back. They comprehensively documented the transportation of seedlings, loading seedlings onto the transplanter, machine operation, movement within the field, checking the surroundings, and judgments made during the work. The recorded video data will be analyzed at Okayama University of Science to understand the operator's movements, line of sight, relationships with surroundings, and characteristics of the workflow.

While rice planting is a fundamental activity supporting regional agriculture, it relies on extensive practical knowledge based on experience, including workflow preparation, machine operation, judgment based on field conditions, and role distribution among multiple people. Such knowledge and skills are difficult to convey adequately through oral communication or paper documents alone, making their inheritance by the next generation a critical issue in regions with declining agricultural workforces.

The purpose of this video recording is to visualize the tacit knowledge accumulated in regional agriculture by capturing the operator's perspective, body movements, and interactions with the surroundings on video. Moving forward, the research team plans to explore the possibilities of digitally archiving regional resource management and agricultural operations, creating operational manuals, and utilizing them for workforce training, in conjunction with previously recorded reservoir and waterway management activities.

This initiative connects university knowledge to the frontlines of regional issues, promoting the inheritance of practical knowledge and the formation of a new workforce to realize a sustainable regional society. It also contributes to the realization of Okayama University's vision as a 'Research University that Co-creates the Future of the Region and the Earth and Contributes to Global Innovation,' as outlined in the Program for Forming Japan's Peak Research Universities (J-PEAKS).

Okayama University will continue to collaborate with Kumenan-cho and local stakeholders to build sustainable models for agriculture and regional resource management in depopulating areas, as well as the new workforce and enterprise models that support them.