Evaluation of ECA Gesture strategies for robust Human-Computer Interaction

Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) offer us the possibility to design pleasant and efficient human-machine interaction. In this paper we present an evaluation scheme to compare dialogue-based speaker authentication and information retrieval systems with and without ECAs on the interface. We used gestures and other visual cues to improve fluency and robustness of interaction with these systems. Our tests results suggest that when an ECA is present users perceive fewer system errors, their frustration levels are lower, turn-changing goes more smoothly, the interaction experience is more enjoyable, and system capabilities are generally perceived more positively than when no ECA is present. However, the ECA seems to intensify the users' privacy concerns

AGORA, multilingual multiplatform architecture for the development of natural language voice services

The natural language spoken dialogue system AGORA has been developed using a Collaborative Dialogue model with Mixed Initiative and Computational Linguistic models and experiences. Thanks to these technologies, the system is highly flexible and it doesn’t need keywords or directed menus. In this demo you will see the multilingual ability and the proactivity possibilities of the system. You will also observe a multiservice system and a vocal platform with the last advances in data collection of expert subdialogues

Aplikace expresivního systému TTS v pokročilém systému ECA

Cílem výzkumného projektu COMPANIONS je vytvoření pokročilého vtěleného konverzačního agenta (ECA). Tento agent je použit ve dvou scénářích a ve dvou jazycích (anglicky a česky) a požaduje takový systém TTS, který umožňuje generovat velmi přirozený a emoční řečový výstup. Tento článek popisuje aplikační otázky dvou takových systému uvnitř zmíněného ECA, představuje přístupy k ovládání expresivní syntézy v systémech s výběrem jednotek a diskutuje podobnosti i odlišnosti obou systémů.The research project COMPANIONS aims at developing an advanced embodied conversational agent (ECA). This ECA is used in two scenarios and two languages (English and Czech), and it requires a TTS system being able to generate very natural expressive and emotional speech output. This paper describes application issues of two such systems within the ECA, introduces approaches to expressive speech handling in unit selection methods, and discusses similarities and differences between these systems and approaches