Modelling cultural dimensions and social relationships to create cultural synthetic characters

The work presented in this thesis investigates studies and theories of culture, social power and the relationship between culture and emotion studied by psychologists and anthropology. We operationalised a Cultural Dimension model, proposed by Hofstede, and Social Power and integrated them into an already existing architecture for autonomous agents called “FAtiMA”. The purpose of the adapted system is to generate culturally-specific behaviour in character interaction which is recognisably different to users. Two different experiments, with human participants, were conducted to investigate the perceived differences between two different groups of characters: with and without cultural parameters. The main result shows that users do recognise the differences in character behaviour between the two experimental cases, which demonstrates that our model is able to create culturally-specific synthetic characters

Emotions, behaviour and belief regulation in an intelligent guide with attitude

Abstract unavailable please refer to PD

Implementation of the Artificial Recognition System Decision Unit in a Complex Simulation Environment

[ANGLÈS] Adaptation of the decision unit "Artificial Recognition System", that was running in a simple simulator created on purpose to test the ARS decision unit into a more complex environment which is not created on purpose for the ARS. Check of the correct behaviour of the decision unit in the new environment afterwards.[CASTELLÀ] Adaptación de la unidad de decisión "Artificial Recognition System", que hasta ahora solamente funcionaba en un simulador sencillo creado a propósito para el testeo de ARS a un entorno más complejo y no creado a propósito para el ARS. Comprobación posterior del correcto funcionamiento de la unidad de decisión en el entorno nuevo.[CATALÀ] Adaptació de la unitat de decisió "Artificial Recognition System", que fins ara només treballava en un simulador senzill creat a propòsit per a testejar l'ARS a un entorn més complex i no creat a propòsit per a l'ARS. Comprovació posterior del correcte funcionament de la unitat de decisió en l'entorn nou

A psychoanalyst artificial intelligence model in a computer game

Projecte realitzat en el marc d'un programa de mobilitat amb la Vienna University of Technology.[ANGLÈS] Implementation of an artificial intelligence model based on the psychoanalytic theory of the ID-Ego-SuperEgo of Sigmund Freud into the computer game Unreal Tournament 2004.[CASTELLÀ] Implementación de un modelo de inteligencia artificial basado en la teoría psicoanalítica del ID-Ego-SuperEgo de Sigmund Freud en el videojuego Unreal Tournament 2004.[CATALÀ] Implementació d'un model d'intel·ligència artificial basat en la teoria psicoanalítica de l'ID-Ego-SuperEgo de Sigmund Freud en el videojoc Unreal Tournament 2004

Technology, Science, and Culture: A Global Vision

The aim of the Workshop: Technology, Science, and Culture - A Global Vision is to create a discussion forum on research related to the fields of Water Science, Food Science, Intelligent Systems, Molecular Biomedicine, and Creation and Theories of Culture. The workshop is intended to discuss research on current problems, relevant methodologies, and future research streams and to create an environment for the exchange of ideas and collaboration among participants

Enhancing Intelligent Agents with Episodic Memory.

In this dissertation, we explore the effects of adding an episodic memory to an intelligent agent. First, we define the design space for episodic memory systems and the properties that any implementation must have in order to be integrated into a cognitive architecture. We then describe our exploration of this space including two major implementations of an architectural episodic memory as well as several refinements to those implementations and their impact on agent performance. We also present a series of cognitive capabilities that are facilitated by virtue of an agent possessing an episodic memory. We hypothesize that these capabilities improve an agent’s ability to effectively sense its environment, reason and learn. We then demonstrate five of these cognitive capabilities using a specific task in one of two different virtual environments.Ph.D.Computer Science & EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57720/2/anuxoll_1.pd

Corroborating Emotion Theory with Role Theory and Agent Technology: a Framework for Designing Emotional Agents as Motivational Tutoring Entities

Nowadays, more and more applications require systems that can interact with humans. Agents can be perceived as computing services that humans, or even other agents, can request in order to accomplish their tasks. Some services may be simple and others rather complex. A way to determine the best agents (services) to be implemented is to identify who the actors are in the object of study, which roles they play, and (if possible) what kind of knowledge they use. Socially Intelligent Agents (SIAs) are agent systems that are able to connect and interface with humans, i.e. robotic or computational systems that show aspects of human-style social intelligence. In addition to their relevance in application areas such as e-commerce and entertainment, building artefacts in software and hardware has been recognized as a powerful tool for establishing a science of social minds which is a constructive approach toward understanding social intelligence in humans and other animals. Social intelligence in humans and other animals has a number of fascinating facets and implications for the design of SIAs. Human beings are biological agents that are embodied members of a social environment and are autobiographic agents who have a unique personality. They are situated in time and space and interpret new experiences based on reconstructions of previous experiences. Due to their physical embodiment, they have a unique perspective on the world and a unique history: an autobiography. Also, humans are able to express and recognize emotions, that are important in regulating individual survival and problem-solving as well as social interactions. Like artificial intelligence research trend, SIA research trend can be pursued with different goals in mind. A deep AI approach seeks to simulate real social intelligence and processes. A shallow AI approach, which will be highlighted also within this thesis, aims to create artefacts that are not socially intelligent per se, but rather appear socially intelligent to a given user. The shallow approach does not seek to create social intelligence unless it is meaningful social intelligence vis-à-vis some user situation In order to develop believable SIAs we do not have to know how beliefs-desires and intentions actually relate to each other in the real minds of the people. If one wants to create the impression of an artificial social agent driven by beliefs and desires, it is enough to draw on investigations on how people with different cultural background, develop and use theories of mind to understand the behaviours of others. Therefore, SIA technology needs to model the folk-theory reasoning rather than the real thing. To a shallow AI approach, a model of mind based on folk-psychology is as valid as one based on cognitive theory. Distance education is understood as online learning that is technology-based training which encompasses both computer-assisted and Web-based training. These systems, which appear to offer something for everyone at any time, in any place, do not always live up to the great promise they offer. The usage of social intelligent agents in online learning environments can enable the design of “enhanced-learning environments” that allow for the development and the assessment of social competences as well as the common professional competences. Within this thesis it is shown how to corroborate affective theory with role theory with agent technology in a synchronous virtual environment in order to overcome several inconveniences of distance education systems. This research embraces also the shallow approach of SIA and aims to provide the first steps of a method for creating a believable life-like tutor agent which can partially replace human-teachers and assist the students in the process of learning. The starting point for this research came from the fact: anxious, angry or depressed students do not learn; people in these conditions do not absorb information efficiently, consequentially it is an illusion to think that learning environments that do not consider motivational and emotional factors are adequate

Wearables at work:preferences from an employee’s perspective

This exploratory study aims to obtain a first impression of the wishes and needs of employees on the use of wearables at work for health promotion. 76 employ-ees with a mean age of 40 years old (SD ±11.7) filled in a survey after trying out a wearable. Most employees see the potential of using wearable devices for workplace health promotion. However, according to employees, some negative aspects should be overcome before wearables can effectively contribute to health promotion. The most mentioned negative aspects were poor visualization and un-pleasantness of wearing. Specifically for the workplace, employees were con-cerned about the privacy of data collection