Natural Language Implementation for Virtual Humans

谢里登学院建议与领先的交互式数字媒体内容生产商SEED Interactive合作，帮助他们在人-虚拟人互动中实现突破性的解决方案交付。该项目将集中研究和开发各种媒体交付平台中的口头互动，包括虚拟和增强现实以及商业游戏引擎。我们的目标是增强这些交互的可信度和真实感，以及整体的用户体验。虚拟人（VHs）是计算机生成的角色，具有人类的特征，并使用自然的人类方式进行交流，包括面部表情、语言和手势。未来5年，预计国际市场增长的两个重要领域：虚拟现实和增强现实以及人工智能的发展，使录像机的商业应用有了大幅增长的潜力。商业化机会存在于媒体和娱乐领域；所有部门的培训和模拟；以及在医疗保健、就地老龄化和教育等领域为人与人之间的服务提供补充支持。**然而，目前研究和商业化受到各种因素的阻碍，包括端到端解决方案中所需技术的复杂性。该项目将使来自数字艺术、计算机科学和社会科学的谢里登研究人员团队与行业合作伙伴和大学合作者共同开发有利于公司的解决方案，同时在多个加拿大经济和社会福利部门中产生二次效益。该项目将利用学院在实时动画、虚拟和增强现实、移动计算、游戏、机器学习和老年研究方面的研发优势。它将有助于开发一个全球重要的虚拟人类研究集群，该研究集群正在由安大略省卓越中心（********************）同时提供为期两年的资金

Sheridan College proposes to partner with SEED Interactive, a leading interactive digital media content producer, to help them achieve breakthrough delivery of solutions within human-virtual human interaction. The project will centre on research and development into verbal interactions within a variety of media delivery platforms including virtual and augmented reality and commercial game engines. The goal is to enhance the believability and realism of these interactions and the user experience as a whole. Virtual humans (VHs) are computer-generated characters that exhibit human-like qualities and communicate using natural human modalities including facial expressions, speech and gesture. The potential for dramatic growth in the commercial application of VHs is being enabled by developments in two significant areas of predicted international market growth over the next five years: virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. Commercialization opportunities exist within media and entertainment; training and simulation across all sectors; and supplementary support for human-to-human provision of services in areas such as healthcare, aging in place, and education. **At the present time, however, research and commercialization is hampered by a variety of factors including the complexity of the technologies required within an end-to-end solution. The project will enable a team of Sheridan researchers from the digital arts, computer sciences, and social sciences to work together with an industry partner and university collaborators to develop solutions that benefit the company while having secondary benefit throughout multiple Canadian economic and social welfare sectors. The project will leverage the college's research and development strengths in real-time animation, virtual and augmented reality, mobile computing, gaming, machine learning, and elder research. It will contribute to the development of a globally significant research cluster on Virtual Humans being established with concurrent two-year funding from the Ontario Centres of Excellence.********************