GAIPS

Intelligent Agents and Synthetic Characters Group

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Inesc-ID

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

GAIPS-General areas

Psychology and Education

Agents/Behavious

Graphics Elements

Narrative and AgentsDesign

Synthetic CharactersSynthetic Characters

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Who?

Psychology/Education and HCI

Nuno Otero Catarina Gouveia Ana Jorge

Agents/behavious

Carlos Martinho Rui Prada António Brisson João Dias

Graphic Elements Marco Vala Celso Melo Guilherme Raimundo

Coordenação: Ana Paiva

Narrative and Agents

Isabel Machado Rui Figueiredo Daniel Sobral Ana Vaz

Design Fernando

Rebelo Mafalda

Fernandes

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Intelligent Agents in Story Telling

Story Tellers (embodied/not)ActorsCharacters (embodied/not)DirectorsScriptwritersCinematography and Camera Agents

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Case1.Papous: a storyteller

ScriptedScripted PartiallyPartiallyScriptedScripted

Constrained Constrained by Roleby Role

AutonomousAutonomousDirectedDirected

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Goals- To build a character that tells

stories.

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

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

Example: PapousBehaviour Tags for a StoryTeller

Tag Type Function

Behaviour (1)Indicate an action that the character should perform(e.g. <1*big>)

Setting (2)Specify a new set where the character should be integrated(e.g. <2*house>)

Illumination (3)Specify a new illumination pattern(e.g. <3*day>)

Emotion (4)Explicitly modify the emotional state of the character(e.g. <4*happiness*80>)

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

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

Papous

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Evaluation of Papous

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Case 2.Teatrix

ScriptedScripted PartiallyPartiallyScriptedScripted

Constrained Constrained by Roleby Role

AutonomousAutonomousDirectedDirected

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Story Snapshots

The Audience

Story Movie

On Stage

Story Setup

Backstage

Phases of Teatrix

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Characters in Teatrix 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

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Characters ‘r’ Agents System Controlled Agents

• Different behaviour for each combination actor and role

Child Controlled Agents (semi-autonomous avatars)

Director Agent• Narrative guidance

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

CharacterInventory

Character Actions: Walk, Get Item, Drop Item, Use Item, Activate Item, Talk

Controlled Character

Talk

Hello!

Text to Speech

Teatrix - On Stage

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Case 3.S3A

ScriptedScripted PartiallyPartiallyScriptedScripted

Constrained Constrained by Roleby Role

AutonomousAutonomousDirectedDirected

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

World ModuleStage Settings

Mind ModuleNarrative Scriptwriter

improvisationdirectives sensors

Body Module Actors and Director

multimediameta-commands

S3A

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Tristão & Isolda: the story

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Case 4: FearNot! Creating empathic experiences through

narrative

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

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

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

Designing Characters in VICTEC: Mediating empathy though body

expression

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

Designing Characters in VICTEC: Mediating empathy through exaggeration

Through body expression and animation

Through posture and facial expression

Voice:

• Current Text-to-Speech technology is inadequate

•Real Voice must be used to emphasize emotional content

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

FearNot!

Kaleidoscope NLE SIG Meeting, Lisbon 2004

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

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