Design and evaluation of Elva: An embodied tour guide in an interactive virtual art gallery

Abstract

The technology of embodied conversational agents provides an attractive approach to achieving natural human-computer interaction if the interaction design is handled sensitively. In view of this, we designed and developed an embodied tour guide, Elva, 'who' is able to engage conversationally with users about gallery exhibits and also capable of behaving non-verbally using gesture and facial expression. The research focuses on the attributes of agent autonomy and believability. To achieve autonomy, we present a three-layer architectural design to ensure appropriate coupling between the agent's perception and action. With regard to believability, we utilize the notion of schema to support structured and coherent verbal behaviours. We also pay careful attention to the design of non-verbal interactions that establish social facts within the virtual world. A user study was performed to evaluate user satisfaction and agent believability. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.