Project

Physical Embodiments for Mobile Communication Agents

This project is about embodying the user interface for a call-handling agent in a small animatronics device. The embodied agent�s primary function is to interact socially, with both the user and other co-located people. In order for an agent to be understandable by humans, it must have a naturalistic embodiment and must interact with its environment as living creatures do by sending out readable social cues that convey its internal state. Our conversational agent has physical presence through interactive �stuffed animals� of different shapes and sizes, remotely controlled by a computer. These creatures interact with a combination of pet-like and human-like behaviors, such as waking up, waving for attention, or eye contact. These subtle non-verbal cues are socially intuitive to us, and therefore could be an ideal platform for unobtrusive interruption by mobile communication devices.