25. Life-Like, Believable Communication Agents Full Day / Intermediate http://www.mic.atr.co.jp/events/siggraph96/index.html This course is designed to give attendees a clear idea of how humans will be able to interact and communicate with computer agents of the future in a natural and life-like manner. The course first discusses the concept and characteristics of "believable" communication agents. Various state-of-the-art technologies are then presented with an emphasis on how they can be integrated with computer graphics technologies to realize next-generation agents. Who Should Attend Researchers who are interested in computer agents, especially investigators who have a background in computer vision and computer graphics and are willing to utilize computer agents. Co-Organizers Ryohei Nakatsu ATR Media Integration & Communications Research Laboratories Kenji Mase ATR Media Integration & Communications Research Laboratories Lecturers Naoko Tosa ATR Media Integration & Communications Research Laboratories Shigeo Morishima Seikei University Alex Pentland Justine Cassell Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ken Perlin New York University Schedule 8:30 am: Introductions - Nakatsu What are "life-like, believable computer agents"? Overview of key technologies for believable computer agents 9:00 am: Integration of multi-modalities - Pentland Several aspects of multi-modal communications Visual/auditory environment understanding by agents Multi-modal communication scheme between humans and agents 10:00 am: Break 10:15 am: Integration of multi-modalities (continued) - Pentland 10:45 am: Artistic expression of agents - Tosa Artistic representation of agents Emotional behaviors of agents How to combine artistic taste with technologies? 12:00 noon: Break 1:30 pm: Verbal/Nonverbal communication - Cassell Speech generation Speech with appropriate intonation Generation of hand gesture and facial expression paired with speech 2:30 pm: Communications by facial expressions and gestures - Morishima Facial expression recognition Gesture recognition Synchronization of facial expression and speech production 3:00 pm: Break 3:15 pm: Communications by facial expressions and gestures (continued) - Morishima 3:45 pm: Reactive and improvisatorial behaviors of agents - Perlin Reactive aspects of agent behaviors Mechanism of improvisation among agents Subsumptive action of multi-agents

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Course Notes

The Relationship between Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior in Autonomous Communicating Agents, by Justine Cassell, is missing from the printed notes. A PDF version can be downloaded here (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 240KB).

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Final SIGGRAPH 96 Web site update: 25 October 1996.
For complete information on the next conference and exhibition, see: http/www.siggraph.org/s97/