Virtual personal service assistants: towards real-time characters with artificial hearts

ABSTRACT

Over the last years there has been a growing consensus that new generation interfaces turn their focus on the human element by enriching an Affective dimension. Affective generation of autonomous agent behaviour aspires to give computer interfaces emotional states that relate and take into account user as well as system environment considerations. Internally, through computational models of artificial hearts (emotion and personality), and externally through believable multi-modal expression augmented with quasi-human characteristics. Computational models of affect are addressing problems of how agents arrive at a given affective state. Much of this work is targeting the entertainment environment and generally does not address the requirements of multi-agent systems, where behaviour is dynamically changing based on agent goals as well as the shared data and knowledge. This paper discusses one of the requirements for real-time realisation of Personal Service Assistant interface characters. We describe an approach to enabling the computational perception required for the automated generation of affective behaviour in multi-agent real-time environments. This uses a current agent communication language so as they not only convey the semantic content of knowledge exchange but also they can communicate affective attitudes about the shared knowledge.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)

  J. Computer Applications

General Terms:
Human Factors, Reliability, Theory

Keywords:
affective communications, interface agents, multi-agent systems, personal service assistants