Getting Virtually Better

And yet another project focusing on making virtual humans or so-called avatars more life-like, with a more natural look, more intelligent and context-specific interaction, and more emotional feedback. Somehow, I don't expect the great breakthrough since over the past decades many groups have had a similar agenda (ICT, US; VHIL, Stanford, US; DFKI, Germany, MIRALAB, Switzerland, you name them) and were only able to produce partial results, usually limited by availability of technology, insufficient body of science or -worst of all - insufficient understanding of human behavior.

I anyhow wish them success, because the technology is important and has many real-world applications from healthcare to education and training: The Next Best Thing to You