IRES: U.S.-France Research and Education on Contextual Reasoning and its Application to Conversational Agents

在这个由国际科学与工程办公室支持的 IRES 项目中，美国研究生和本科生在中佛罗里达大学 Avelino Gonzalez 教授的指导下，将与法国巴黎皮埃尔和玛丽居里大学的 Patrick Brezillon 博士一起参与对话化身的合作研究。 美国学生将探索使用上下文图 (CxG) 建模和开发工具来识别对话上下文并改进对话管理的可能性。对话化身是人工制品，例如计算机程序、机器人或动画，它们的行为和交流与特定的人相似。这种化身在许多领域都有潜在的应用，包括健康、商业和国防。一个例子是在健康维护领域，提高化身的自然度可以提高需要类人治疗或药物管理指导的老年人对他们的接受度。在研究项目的过程中，学生将学习如何说法语以及如何在法国文化中互动。因此，他们将在国际环境中获得宝贵的研究经验，帮助培养具有全球视野的新一代熟练技术劳动力。

In this IRES project supported by the Office of International Science and Engineering, U.S. graduate and undergraduate students under the direction of Professor Avelino Gonzalez at the University of Central Florida will participate in a collaborative research effort in conversational avatars with Dr. Patrick Brezillon at Universite de Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. The U.S. students will explore the possibility of using contextual graphs (CxGs) to model and develop a tool for identifying the context of conversations and improving dialog management.Conversational avatars are artifacts, such as computer programs, robots, or animations, which behave and communicate like specific people. Such avatars have potential applications across many fields, including health, business, and defense. One example is in the area of health maintenance, where improvement in the naturalness of avatars could improve their acceptance by senior citizens who need human-like coaching in therapy or medicine management. In the course of working on their research projects, the students will learn both how to speak French as well as how to interact in French culture. They will thus gain an invaluable research experience in an international setting, helping contribute to the development of a new generation of a skilled technical workforce with a global perspective.