CRPA: Communicating Avatars: Artificial Intelligence + Computer Graphics = Innovative Science

这个CRPA项目将为奥兰多科学中心制作一个类似人类的化身展览，该展览将与初中和高中年级的游客进行口头交流，让他们参与计算机科学，人工智能和工程等学科。人性化的特征包括与中心客户的人口统计数据相匹配的功能和英语语言的口头交流。除了讨论化身是如何开发的以及人工智能是如何工作的之外，化身图像还将回答参观者关于选定主题的问题，包括来自Avatar和IBM沃森在Jeopardy上的媒体模型的主题。相当多的规划和研究已经进入这个项目，以确保化身是生活一样，可以从事现实的对话。化身图像将类似于具有不同人口统计特征的真实的个体，以便增强人机接口。该系统旨在处理背景噪音和敌对的游客。在各个层面（前端、形成性和总结性）的评估将使展览最有效，并促进该项目的目标，即向目标受众提供STEM主题的信息。半个世纪以来，人们一直希望拥有人类的电子模拟。该项目建立在这一领域的先前研究基础上，是该领域最复杂的当代模型之一。预计这项工作可能有助于未来在教育和援助残疾人方面的应用。此外，与化身的互动可能会激发年轻游客的好奇心，并激发他们对科学事业的兴趣。

This CRPA project will produce a human-like avatar exhibit for the Orlando Science Center that will verbally communicate with middle and high school grade visitors, engaging them in the subjects of computer science, artificial intelligence, and engineering. Human-like characteristics include features to match the demographics of the Center's clientele and verbal communication in the English language. In addition to discussing how avatars are developed and how artificial intelligence works, the avatar image will answer questions from the visitors on selected topics, including subjects from the media models of Avatar and IBM's Watson event on Jeopardy. Considerable planning and research has gone into this project to make sure that the avatar is life-like and can engage in realistic dialog. The avatar images will resemble real individuals who have diverse demographic characteristics in order to enhance the human-computer interface. The system is designed to deal with background noise and antagonistic visitors. Evaluation at all levels (front-end, formative, and summative) will make the exhibit most effective and facilitate the goals of the project which are to inform the target audience on STEM subjects.The desire to have electronic analogs of humans has been a goal for half of a century. This project builds on prior research in this area and is one of the most sophisticated contemporary models in the field. It is anticipated that this work may contribute to future applications in education and assistance for individuals with disabilities. Moreover, engagement with the avatar may ignite curiosity among young visitors and stimulate interest in science careers.