Inventing Virtual Reading Teachers and Virtual Speech Therapists

Опубликовано 6 сентября 2016, 5:47

Advances in computing and interface technologies have made possible the development of a new generation of human computer interfaces that enable natural face to face conversational interaction with virtual humansΓÇö3D computer characters that speak, emote and gesture much like human experts in specific task domains. The key challenges in this emerging field involve designing systems that are both engaging and effective; that is, the virtual teacher or therapist is able to engage the clients in immersive experiences that lead to positive learning or clinical outcomes. This requires understanding and modeling well the verbal and nonverbal behaviors of the virtual human during conversational interaction with the client. This talk provides the rationale for and presents demonstrations of two systems that attempt to achieve these goals: one that uses a virtual human to teach children to read and understand text, and one that uses a virtual human to teach adults with Parkinson disease to improve their speech communication abilities.