Managing agent's impression based on user's engagement detection

When interacting with others, we form an impression that can be declined along the two psychological dimensions of warmth and competence. By managing them, high level of engagement in an interaction can be maintained and reinforced. Our aim is to develop a virtual agent that can form and maintain a positive impression on the user that can help in improving the quality of the interaction and the user's experience. In this paper, we present an interactive system in which a virtual agent adopts a dynamic communication strategy during the interaction with a user, aiming at forming and maintaining a positive impression of warmth and competence. The agent continuously analyzes user's non-verbal signals to determine user's engagement level and adapts its communication strategy accordingly. We present a study in which we manipulate the communication strategy of the agent and we measure user's experience and user's perception of the agent's warmth and competence

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

Abstract unavailable please refer to PD

Applications of agent architectures to decision support in distributed simulation and training systems

This work develops the approach and presents the results of a new model for applying intelligent agents to complex distributed interactive simulation for command and control. In the framework of tactical command, control communications, computers and intelligence (C4I), software agents provide a novel approach for efficient decision support and distributed interactive mission training. An agent-based architecture for decision support is designed, implemented and is applied in a distributed interactive simulation to significantly enhance the command and control training during simulated exercises. The architecture is based on monitoring, evaluation, and advice agents, which cooperate to provide alternatives to the dec ision-maker in a time and resource constrained environment. The architecture is implemented and tested within the context of an AWACS Weapons Director trainer tool. The foundation of the work required a wide range of preliminary research topics to be covered, including real-time systems, resource allocation, agent-based computing, decision support systems, and distributed interactive simulations. The major contribution of our work is the construction of a multi-agent architecture and its application to an operational decision support system for command and control interactive simulation. The architectural design for the multi-agent system was drafted in the first stage of the work. In the next stage rules of engagement, objective and cost functions were determined in the AWACS (Airforce command and control) decision support domain. Finally, the multi-agent architecture was implemented and evaluated inside a distributed interactive simulation test-bed for AWACS Vv\u27Ds. The evaluation process combined individual and team use of the decision support system to improve the performance results of WD trainees. The decision support system is designed and implemented a distributed architecture for performance-oriented management of software agents. The approach provides new agent interaction protocols and utilizes agent performance monitoring and remote synchronization mechanisms. This multi-agent architecture enables direct and indirect agent communication as well as dynamic hierarchical agent coordination. Inter-agent communications use predefined interfaces, protocols, and open channels with specified ontology and semantics. Services can be requested and responses with results received over such communication modes. Both traditional (functional) parameters and nonfunctional (e.g. QoS, deadline, etc.) requirements and captured in service requests

NPSNET: modeling the in-flight and terminal properties of ballistic munitions

Graphical computer simulations provide a means through which weapon prototyping and tactical evaluations can be conducted at low cost, without the risks associated with the movement of equipment and firing of weapons. Because of the widespread use of ballistic munitions in the armed forces, a fundamental aspect of the implementation of such military simulations is a physical model that governs ballistic behavior. The modified point-mass trajectory model is used to implement ballistic trajectories within NPSNET, a real-time, graphical, three-dimensional simulation. A parallel algorithm is used to simulate the visual characteristics of shrapnel-producing explosions. A special case of ballistic trajectories involves the application of indirect fires. When a projectile travels along a curved path to the target area, rather than being propelled directly along the line of sight, much greater ranges can be achieved. This makes it possible to fire upon an enemy without directly exposing the firing elements to harm. As a result of these increased ranges, it is generally not possible for the firing element to acquire its own targets. Thus, an additional player is required to represent this tactic in a virtual world: the forward observer. An expert system is presented that mimics the cognitive contributions of a human forward observer.http://archive.org/details/npsnetmodelingin1094538574Captain, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Design, decisions and dialogue

This thesis presents a design for an Intelligent Educational System to support the teaching of design evaluation in engineering. The design consists of a simple computerbased tool (or 'learning environment') for displaying and manipulating infonnation used in the course of problem solving, with a separate dialogue component capable of discussing aspects of the problem and of the problem solving strategy with the user. Many of the novel features of the design have been incorporated in a prototype system called WOMBAT. The main focus of this research has been on the design of the dialogue component. The design of the dialogue component is based on ideas taken from recent work on rational agency. The dialogue component has expertise in engaging in dialogues which support collaborative problem solving (involving system and user) in domains characterised as justified beliefs. It is capable of negotiating about what to do next and about what beliefs to take into account in problem solving. The system acquires problem-related beliefs by applying a simple plausible reasoning mechanism to a database of possible beliefs. The dialogue proceeds by turn-taking in which the current speaker constructs their chosen utterance (which may consist of several propositions and questions) and explicitly indicates when they have finished. When it is the system's turn to make an utterance, it decides what to say based on its beliefs about the current situation and on the likely utility of the various possible responses which it considers appropriate in the circumstances. Two aspects of the problem solving have been fully implemented. These are the discussion about what criteria a decision should be based on and the discussion about what decision step should be taken next. The system's contributions to the interaction are opportunistic, in the sense that at a dialogue level the system does not try to plan beyond the current utterance, and at a problem solving level it does not plan beyond the next action. The results of a formative evaluation of WOMBAT, in which it was exposed to a number of engineering educators, indicate that it is capable of engaging in a coherent dialogue, and that the dialogue is seen to have a pedagogical purpose. Although the approach of reasoning about the next action opportunistically has not proved adequate at a problem solving level, at a dialogue level it yields good results

Knowledge mentoring as a framework for designing computer-based agents for supporting musical composition learning

An approach to the design of teaching agents in problem-seeking domains - that is based on a systematic relationship between theoretical framework, analysis of empirical data, computational model and computational implementation - has been developed. The theoretical framework, called the Knowledge Mentoring framework (KMf), was developed to investigate how studies of dialogue and interaction can be exploited in a practical way by designers of computer-based teaching agents. A particular focus was the following musical education problem: when interacting with a computer-based music system, many students do not spontaneously reflect on their activity, they often need to be encouraged to do this. The KMf provides a taxonomy and definitions of the pedagogical goals involved in a 'mentoring' style of teaching. Mentoring is an approach to teaching that aims to support learners' creative, metacognitive and critical thinking, these being essential to musical composition and other open-ended, problem-seeking domains. This theoretical framework was used to guide the analysis and modelling of data produced by an empirical study of human teacher-learner interactions. Information on the temporal ordering of teacher-learner interactions was revealed (modelled as. state transition networks and a mentoring script). Findings from the analysis also included a pause taxonomy (that provided evidence of a link between pause length and learner ability) and the occurrence of reciprocal modelling (where participants in learning interactions built up models of the other participants' expectations). The theoretical framework and the analysis findings were then used to develop a computational model for teaching agents in problem-seeking domains. Aspects of our theory, analysis findings and computational model were incorporated into a computational implementation: a pre-prototype teaching agent called MetaMuse. A Cooperative Evaluation of MetaMuse with teacher-composers showed that it had the potential to promote creative reflection in learners

AN APPROACH TO MACHINE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL ONTOGENY

This Thesis pursues three main objectives: (i) to use computational modelling to explore how music is perceived, cognitively processed and created by human beings; (ii) to explore interactive musical systems as a method to model and achieve the transmission of musical influence in artificial worlds and between humans and machines; and (iii) to experiment with artificial and alternative developmental musical routes in order to observe the evolution of musical styles. In order to achieve these objectives, this Thesis introduces a new paradigm for the design of computer interactive musical systems called the Ontomemetical Model of Music Evolution - OMME, which includes the fields of musical ontogenesis and memetlcs. OMME-based systems are designed to artificially explore the evolution of music centred on human perceptive and cognitive faculties. The potential of the OMME is illustrated with two interactive musical systems, the Rhythmic Meme Generator (RGeme) and the Interactive Musical Environments (iMe). which have been tested in a series of laboratory experiments and live performances. The introduction to the OMME is preceded by an extensive and critical overview of the state of the art computer models that explore musical creativity and interactivity, in addition to a systematic exposition of the major issues involved in the design and implementation of these systems. This Thesis also proposes innovative solutions for (i) the representation of musical streams based on perceptive features, (ii) music segmentation, (iii) a memory-based music model, (iv) the measure of distance between musical styles, and (v) an impi*ovisation-based creative model

Friend Me Your Ears: A Musical Approach to Human-Robot Relationships.

PhDA relationship is something that is necessarily built up over time, however, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) trials are rarely extended beyond a single ses- sion. These studies are insufficient for examining multi-interaction scenarios, which will become commonplace if the robot is situated in a workplace or adopts a role that is part of a human's routine. Long term studies that have been exe- cuted often demonstrate a declining novelty effect. Music, however, provides an opportunity for affective engagement, shared creativity, and social activity. This being said, it is unlikely that a robot best equipped to build sustainable and meaningful relationships with humans will be one that can solely play music. In their day-to-day lives, most humans encounter machines and computer programs capable of executing impressively complex tasks to a high standard that may provide them with hours of engagement. In order to have anything that that could be classed as a social relationship, the human must have the sense that their interactions are taking place with another, a phenomenon known as social presence. In this thesis, we examine whether the addition of simulated social behaviours will improve a sense of believability or social presence, which, along with an engaging musical interaction, will allow us to move towards something that could be called a human-robot relationship. First, we conducted a large online survey to gain insight into relationships based in regular music activ- ity. Using these results, we designed, constructed and programmed Mortimer, a robotic system capable of playing the drums and a responsive composition algorithm to best meet these aims. This robot was then used in a series of studies, one single session and two long-term, testing various simulated social behaviours to compliment the musical improvisation. These experiments and their results address the paucity of long-term studies both speci cally in Social Robotics and in the broader HRI eld, and provide a promising insight into a possible solution to generally poor outcomes in this area. This conclusion is based upon the model of a positive human-robot relationship and the method- ological approach of automated behavioural metrics to evaluate robotic systems in this regard developed and detailed within the thesis.the EPSRC as part of the Media and Arts Tech-nology Doctoral Training Centre, EP/G03723X/2