Visual Software Agent Interface with a User-tracking Flat Panel Display for Continuous Eye Contact

摘要

The Visual Software Agent (VSA) is an Internet-based interface agent with rocking realistic face and speech dialog function. The VSA embodies a humanlike face-to-face style communication environment, and may reduce the mental barrier for communication lying between a human and a computer. A user asks the realistic anthropomorphic agent in a display some questions or requires the execution of some task, as he/she usually interacts with his/her colleagues via a visual phone. This paper describes the VSA interface with a user-tracking flat panel display (FPD) for continuous eye contact. It is well known that eye contact plays an important role in our usual human-human communication. The VSA system does not turn the facial image within the screen, but the FPD in itself along the user's movement. The VSA can cover the wide angular displacement, therefore it enables the user to realize the continuous eye contact with the VSA agent independent of the user's position and movement.