Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
skip to main content
10.1007/11550617_28guidebooksArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesBookacm-pubtype
chapter

A conversational agent as museum guide: design and evaluation of a real-world application

Published: 12 September 2005 Publication History

Abstract

This paper describes an application of the conversational agent Max in a real-world setting. The agent is employed as guide in a public computer museum, where he engages with visitors in natural face-to-face communication, provides them with information about the museum or the exhibition, and conducts natural small talk conversations. The design of the system is described with a focus on how the conversational behavior is achieved. Logfiles from interactions between Max and museum visitors were analyzed for the kinds of dialogue people are willing to have with Max. Results indicate that Max engages people in interactions where they are likely to use human-like communication strategies, suggesting the attribution of sociality to the agent.

References

[1]
C. Becker, S. Kopp, I. Wachsmuth: Simulating the Emotion Dynamics of a Multimodal Conversational Agent. Affective Dialogue Systems (2004)
[2]
N.O. Bernsen, L. Dybkjær: Domain-Oriented Conversation with H.C. Andersen. Affective Dialogue Systems (2004)
[3]
T. Bickmore, J. Cassell: 'How about this weather?' Social Dialog with Embodied Conversational Agents. Proc. of AAAI Symposium on Socially Intelligent Agents (2000)
[4]
J. Cassell, T. Bickmore, L. Campbell, H. Vilhjalmsson, H. Yan: Human Conversation as a System Framework: Designing Embodied Conversational Agents. In: Cassell et al. (eds.) Embodied Conversational Agents, MIT Press (2000)
[5]
J. Cassell, H. Vilhjalmsson, T. Bickmore: BEAT: The Behavior Expression Animation Toolkit. Proc. of SIGGRAPH 2001, Los Angeles, CA (2001)
[6]
J. Cassell, T. Stocky, T. Bickmore, Y. Gao, Y. Nakano, K. Ryokai, D. Tversky, C. Vaucelle, H. Vilhjalmsson: MACK: Media lab Autonomous Conversational Kiosk. Proc. of Imagina '02, Monte Carlo (2002)
[7]
M. Gerhard, D.J. Moore, D.J. Hobbs: Embodiment and copresence in collaborative interfaces. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 61(4): 453-480 (2004)
[8]
L. Gesellensetter: Planbasiertes Dialogsystem für einen multimodalen Agenten mit Präsentationsfähigkeit. (Plan-based dialog system for a multimodal presentation agent) Masters Thesis, University of Bielefeld (2004)
[9]
J. Gustafson, N. Lindberg, M. Lundeberg: The August Spoken Dialogue System. Proc. of Eurospeech '99, Budapest, Hungary (1999)
[10]
M.J. Huber : JAM : A BDI-Theoretic Mobile Agent Architecture. Proc. Autonomous Agents'99, Seattle (1999)
[11]
K. Isbister, B. Hayes-Roth: Social Implications of Using Synthetic Characters. IJCAI-97 Workshop on Animated Interface Agents: Making them Intelligent, Nagoya (1998), 19-20
[12]
B. Jung, S. Kopp: FlurMax: An Interactive Virtual Agent for Entertaining Visitors in a Hallway. In T. Rist et al. (eds.): Intelligent Virtual Agents, Springer (2003), 23-26
[13]
S. Kopp, B. Jung, N. Lessmann, I. Wachsmuth: Max-A Multimodal Assistant in Virtual Reality Construction. KI-Künstliche Intelligenz 4/03: 11-17 (2003)
[14]
S. Kopp, I. Wachsmuth: Synthesizing Multimodal Utterances for Conversational Agents. Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds 15(1): 39-52 (2004)
[15]
N.C. Krämer, G. Bente, J. Piesk: The ghost in the machine. The influence of Embodied Conversational Agents on user expectations and user behaviour in a TV/VCR application. In: G. Bieber & T. Kirste (eds): IMC Workshop 2003, Assistance, Mobility, Applications. Rostock (2003) 121-128
[16]
N.C. Krämer, B. Tietz, G. Bente: Effects of embodied interface agents and their gestural activity. In: T. Rist et al. (eds.): Intelligent Virtual Agents. Springer (2003) 292-300
[17]
N.C. Krämer, J. Nitschke: Ausgabemodalitäten im Vergleich: Verändern sie das Eingabeverhalten der Benutzer? (Output modalities compared: Do they change the input behavior of users?) In: R. Marzi et al. (eds.): Bedienen & Verstehen. 4. Berliner Werkstatt Mensch-Maschine-Systeme. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf (2002) 231-248
[18]
N. Leßmann, I. Wachsmuth: A Cognitively Motivated Architecture for an Anthropomorphic Artificial Communicator. Proc. of ICCM-5, Bamberg (2003)
[19]
S. Oviatt, C. Darves, R. Coulston: Toward adaptive Conversational interfaces: Modeling speech convergence with animated personas. ACM Trans. on CHI, 3 (2004) 300-328
[20]
C. Pelachaud, I. Poggi: Multimodal Communication between synthetic Agents. Proc. of Advanced Visual Interfaces, L'Aquila, Italy (1998)
[21]
R. Rickenberg, B. Reeves: The effects of animated characters on anxiety, task performance, and evaluations of user interfaces. Letters of CHI 2000 (2000), 49-56
[22]
D.R. Traum, J. Rickel: Embodied Agents for Multi-party Dialogue in Immersive Virtual Worlds. Proc. of AAMAS'02 (2002)
[23]
R.S. Wallace: The Anatomy of A.L.I.C.E. Tech.report, ALICE AI Foundation (2000)
[24]
J. Weizenbaum: ELIZA: a computer program for the study of natural language communication between men and machines. Communications of the ACM, vol.9 (1996)
[25]
X. Yuan, Y.S. Chee: Embodied Tour Guide in an Interactive Virtual Art Gallery. International Conference on Cyberworlds (2003)

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Unveiling Trends of Chatbot and Conversational AgentsApplied Computer Systems10.2478/acss-2024-001929:2(30-42)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2024
  • (2023)Chatting About Data - Interacting with Voice Interfaces to Engage with Election Panel DataProceedings of the 5th International Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3571884.3597126(1-12)Online publication date: 19-Jul-2023
  • (2023)Generation of speech and facial animation with controllable articulatory effort for amusing conversational charactersProceedings of the 23rd ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3570945.3607289(1-9)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2023
  • Show More Cited By

Index Terms

  1. A conversational agent as museum guide: design and evaluation of a real-world application

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Information & Contributors

      Information

      Published In

      cover image Guide books
      Lecture Notes in Computer Science
      September 2005
      504 pages
      ISBN:3540287388
      • Editors:
      • Themis Panayiotopoulos,
      • Jonathan Gratch,
      • Ruth Aylett,
      • Daniel Ballin,
      • Patrick Olivier,
      • Thomas Rist

      Publisher

      Springer-Verlag

      Berlin, Heidelberg

      Publication History

      Published: 12 September 2005

      Qualifiers

      • Chapter

      Contributors

      Other Metrics

      Bibliometrics & Citations

      Bibliometrics

      Article Metrics

      • Downloads (Last 12 months)0
      • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
      Reflects downloads up to 10 Feb 2025

      Other Metrics

      Citations

      Cited By

      View all
      • (2024)Unveiling Trends of Chatbot and Conversational AgentsApplied Computer Systems10.2478/acss-2024-001929:2(30-42)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2024
      • (2023)Chatting About Data - Interacting with Voice Interfaces to Engage with Election Panel DataProceedings of the 5th International Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3571884.3597126(1-12)Online publication date: 19-Jul-2023
      • (2023)Generation of speech and facial animation with controllable articulatory effort for amusing conversational charactersProceedings of the 23rd ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1145/3570945.3607289(1-9)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2023
      • (2023)RECBOT: Virtual Museum navigation through a Chatbot assistant and personalized RecommendationsAdjunct Proceedings of the 31st ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization10.1145/3563359.3596661(388-396)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2023
      • (2023)Investigating the Synonyms of Conversational Agents to Aid Cross-Disciplinary CA ResearchExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585640(1-10)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
      • (2023)Comparing Photorealistic and Animated Embodied Conversational Agents in Serious Games: An Empirical Study on User ExperienceHCI International 2023 – Late Breaking Papers 10.1007/978-3-031-48050-8_22(317-335)Online publication date: 23-Jul-2023
      • (2022)Measuring Subconscious Gender Biases against Male and Female Virtual Agents in JapanProceedings of the 10th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction10.1145/3527188.3563909(275-277)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2022
      • (2022)What is That? Crowdsourcing Questions to a Virtual ExhibitionProceedings of the 2022 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval10.1145/3498366.3505836(358-362)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2022
      • (2022)“What Can I Cook with these Ingredients?” - Understanding Cooking-Related Information Needs in Conversational SearchACM Transactions on Information Systems10.1145/349833040:4(1-32)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2022
      • (2022)“Rewind to the Jiggling Meat Part”: Understanding Voice Control of Instructional Videos in Everyday TasksProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3502036(1-11)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
      • Show More Cited By

      View Options

      View options

      Figures

      Tables

      Media

      Share

      Share

      Share this Publication link

      Share on social media