GAIPS Intelligent Agents and Synthetic Characters Group

1. GAIPSIntelligent Agents and Synthetic Characters Group

2. Inesc-ID Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

3. GAIPS-General areas Psychology and Education Agents/Behavious Graphics Elements Synthetic Characters Narrative and Agents Design Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

4. Agents/behavious • Carlos Martinho • Rui Prada • António Brisson • João Dias Who? Graphic Elements • Marco Vala • Celso Melo • Guilherme Raimundo Psychology/Education and HCI • Nuno Otero • Catarina Gouveia • Ana Jorge Narrative and Agents • Isabel Machado • Rui Figueiredo • Daniel Sobral • Ana Vaz Design • Fernando Rebelo • Mafalda Fernandes Coordenação: Ana Paiva Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

5. Intelligent Agents in Story Telling Story Tellers (embodied/not) Actors Characters (embodied/not) Directors Scriptwriters Cinematography and Camera Agents Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

6. Case1.Papous: a storyteller Scripted Constrained by Role Autonomous Directed Partially Scripted Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

7. Goals • To build a character that tells stories. Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

8. Scripting • Scripting languages to control the characters • Markup languages to control the “actions” of the characters: • APML • VHML • CML Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

9. Example: PapousBehaviour Tags for a StoryTeller Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

10. A story to be told… <2*house><4*happiness*80> Hello everybody! I am extremely happy today! Lets take the usual tour, ok? <4*happiness*50> This is the house I live in. It is a very <1*big>big house<~1*big>. Want to go outside? <2*street> Ahhh.... isn't this nice? I live in a <1*small>small town<~1*small> right by the sea... Hmmm....I think it will be dark soon... <3*night><4*fear*80>Oh, I'm so afraid of the dark... Maybe we should get back in the house, right? <2*house> Hey! Do you like stories? I bet you do! You know, I have a friend named Alex. He is a writer, and he is <1*tall>very tall <~1*tall>. Much taller than me!... <4*happiness*20> I haven't seen him in a while... and that makes me kind of sad... <4*happiness*50> Anyway, I also have <1*short>a very short friend <~1*short> named Paul. Hey! We have been talking for a long time... It is almost morning! <3*day> <4*surprise*90>What a marvellous day! <4*happiness*50> Come back soon, ok? Bye,bye... Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

11. Papous Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

12. Evaluation of Papous Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

13. Scripted Constrained by Role Autonomous Directed Partially Scripted Case 2.Teatrix Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

14. Story Setup Story Movie Backstage On Stage The Audience Story Snapshots Phases of Teatrix Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

15. Virtual Actor + Role Propp’s work on folk tales Functions for characters according to its role Roles in Teatrix Villain, Hero, Magician, Beloved One, Family, Donor Characters in Teatrix Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

16. System Controlled Agents Different behaviour for each combination actor and role Child Controlled Agents (semi-autonomous avatars) Director Agent Narrative guidance Characters ‘r’ Agents Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

17. Character Actions: Walk, Get Item, Drop Item, Use Item, Activate Item, Talk Controlled Character Talk Character Inventory Hello! Text to Speech Teatrix - On Stage Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

18. Case 3.S3A Scripted Constrained by Role Autonomous Directed Partially Scripted Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

19. S3A Mind Module Narrative Scriptwriter improvisation directives sensors multimedia meta-commands Body Module Actors and Director World Module Stage Settings Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

20. Tristão & Isolda: the story Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

21. Case 4: FearNot! Creating empathic experiences through narrative Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

22. Application: VICTEC • Bullying (a constant and very frequent problem in schools…) • Direct physical bullying (hitting, kicking, punching…) • Verbal bullying including name calling, cruel teasing, taunting and threatening • Relational/indirect bullying related to social exclusion, malicious rumor spreading and deliberate withdrawal of friendship • Victimization rates in the rate of 8% to 46% and bullying others from 3% to 23% • Consequences involve conduct disorder, hyperactivity, physical health problems, sickness, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

23. Designing Characters in VICTEC: Mediating empathy through proximity • Based on characters that children already know and interact with (“proximity” aspect) Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

24. Designing Characters in VICTEC: Mediating empathy though body expression Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

25. Designing Characters in VICTEC: Mediating empathy through exaggeration Voice: • Current Text-to-Speech technology is inadequate • Real Voice must be used to emphasize emotional content Through body expression and animation Through posture and facial expression Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

26. FearNot! Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

27. Narrative • The narrative is used to convey the emotional imapct we want. • Internally, we have each episode described in generic terms to allow for the agents to behave according to the narrative goals. Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

28. How do we expect to contribute to NLE SIG • By working on the NLE survey • By establishing a direction for research on NLE • By disseminating the area among the network and througout Europe • By using some of out applications as case studies Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004