human computing, virtual humans and artificial imperfection
In this paper we raise the issue whether imperfections, characteristic of human-human communication, should be taken into account when developing virtual humans. We argue that endowing virtual humans with the imperfections of humans can help making them more 'comfortable' to interact with. That is, the natural communication of a virtual human should not be restricted to multimodal utterances that are always perfect, both in the sense of form and of content. We illustrate our views with examples from two own applications that we have worked on: the Virtual Dancer, and the Virtual Trainer. In both applications imperfectness helps in keeping the interaction engaging and entertaining.
human computing virtual humans imperfections embodied conversational agents