AHCI RESEARCH GROUP
Publications
Papers published in international journals,
proceedings of conferences, workshops and books.
OUR RESEARCH
Scientific Publications
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You can use the tag cloud to select only the papers dealing with specific research topics.
You can expand the Abstract, Links and BibTex record for each paper.
2024
Hellström, T.; Kaiser, N.; Bensch, S.
A Taxonomy of Embodiment in the AI Era Journal Article
In: Electronics (Switzerland), vol. 13, no. 22, 2024, ISSN: 20799292 (ISSN).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Avatar, Cognition, Digital Twins, Interaction, Robotics
@article{hellstrom_taxonomy_2024,
title = {A Taxonomy of Embodiment in the AI Era},
author = {T. Hellström and N. Kaiser and S. Bensch},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85210288412&doi=10.3390%2felectronics13224441&partnerID=40&md5=a0394b3323e9fe1a58021065aaee5569},
doi = {10.3390/electronics13224441},
issn = {20799292 (ISSN)},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-01-01},
journal = {Electronics (Switzerland)},
volume = {13},
number = {22},
abstract = {This paper presents a taxonomy of agents’ embodiment in physical and virtual environments. It categorizes embodiment based on five entities: the agent being embodied, the possible mediator of the embodiment, the environment in which sensing and acting take place, the degree of body, and the intertwining of body, mind, and environment. The taxonomy is applied to a wide range of embodiment of humans, artifacts, and programs, including recent technological and scientific innovations related to virtual reality, augmented reality, telepresence, the metaverse, digital twins, and large language models. The presented taxonomy is a powerful tool to analyze, clarify, and compare complex cases of embodiment. For example, it makes the choice between a dualistic and non-dualistic perspective of an agent’s embodiment explicit and clear. The taxonomy also aided us to formulate the term “embodiment by proxy” to denote how seemingly non-embodied agents may affect the world by using humans as “extended arms”. We also introduce the concept “off-line embodiment” to describe large language models’ ability to create an illusion of human perception. © 2024 by the authors.},
keywords = {Avatar, Cognition, Digital Twins, Interaction, Robotics},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This paper presents a taxonomy of agents’ embodiment in physical and virtual environments. It categorizes embodiment based on five entities: the agent being embodied, the possible mediator of the embodiment, the environment in which sensing and acting take place, the degree of body, and the intertwining of body, mind, and environment. The taxonomy is applied to a wide range of embodiment of humans, artifacts, and programs, including recent technological and scientific innovations related to virtual reality, augmented reality, telepresence, the metaverse, digital twins, and large language models. The presented taxonomy is a powerful tool to analyze, clarify, and compare complex cases of embodiment. For example, it makes the choice between a dualistic and non-dualistic perspective of an agent’s embodiment explicit and clear. The taxonomy also aided us to formulate the term “embodiment by proxy” to denote how seemingly non-embodied agents may affect the world by using humans as “extended arms”. We also introduce the concept “off-line embodiment” to describe large language models’ ability to create an illusion of human perception. © 2024 by the authors.
2022
Gatto, Luigi; Gaglio, Giuseppe Fulvio; Augello, Agnese; Caggianese, Giuseppe; Gallo, Luigi; Cascia, Marco La
MET-iquette: Enabling Virtual Agents to Have a Social Compliant Behavior in the Metaverse Proceedings Article
In: 2022 16th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology & Internet-Based Systems (SITIS), pp. 394–401, 2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Avatars, Cognition, Metaverse, NPC, Scene Understanding, Social Agents, Social Practices
@inproceedings{gattoMETiquetteEnablingVirtual2022a,
title = {MET-iquette: Enabling Virtual Agents to Have a Social Compliant Behavior in the Metaverse},
author = { Luigi Gatto and Giuseppe Fulvio Gaglio and Agnese Augello and Giuseppe Caggianese and Luigi Gallo and Marco La Cascia},
doi = {10.1109/SITIS57111.2022.00066},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-10-01},
booktitle = {2022 16th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology & Internet-Based Systems (SITIS)},
pages = {394--401},
abstract = {Metaverse aims at connecting the physical and digital world in a highly immersive virtual environment that can replicate society and social practices within it. It is populated not only by avatars corresponding to users but also by nonplayer characters (NPCs). These virtual agents should be able to perceive other agents and objects in the scene, reason and act preferably by exhibiting credible and acceptable social behavior. Relying on the Social Practice theory, this work proposes an architecture for the design and development of a virtual agent able to understand social practices in the Metaverse and act by respecting the social norms that the circumstances entail. The agent is equipped with modules for recognizing elements of the scene, knowledge and rules about a set of social practices. The scene information is exploited by a reasoning module that allows the agent to evaluate the current social practice, socially interpret the events, and activate the most appropriate behaviors. The paper describes the proposed architecture, its implementation, and the realization of an experimental virtual scenario.},
keywords = {Avatars, Cognition, Metaverse, NPC, Scene Understanding, Social Agents, Social Practices},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Metaverse aims at connecting the physical and digital world in a highly immersive virtual environment that can replicate society and social practices within it. It is populated not only by avatars corresponding to users but also by nonplayer characters (NPCs). These virtual agents should be able to perceive other agents and objects in the scene, reason and act preferably by exhibiting credible and acceptable social behavior. Relying on the Social Practice theory, this work proposes an architecture for the design and development of a virtual agent able to understand social practices in the Metaverse and act by respecting the social norms that the circumstances entail. The agent is equipped with modules for recognizing elements of the scene, knowledge and rules about a set of social practices. The scene information is exploited by a reasoning module that allows the agent to evaluate the current social practice, socially interpret the events, and activate the most appropriate behaviors. The paper describes the proposed architecture, its implementation, and the realization of an experimental virtual scenario.
Gatto, Luigi; Gaglio, Giuseppe Fulvio; Augello, Agnese; Caggianese, Giuseppe; Gallo, Luigi; Cascia, Marco La
MET-iquette: enabling virtual agents to have a social compliant behavior in the Metaverse Proceedings Article
In: 2022 16th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology & Internet-Based Systems (SITIS), pp. 394–401, 2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Avatars, Cognition, Emotional Appraisal, Metaverse, Model of Emotion, NPC, OCC, Reasoning, Scene Understanding, Social Agents, Social Practices
@inproceedings{gatto_met-iquette_2022,
title = {MET-iquette: enabling virtual agents to have a social compliant behavior in the Metaverse},
author = {Luigi Gatto and Giuseppe Fulvio Gaglio and Agnese Augello and Giuseppe Caggianese and Luigi Gallo and Marco La Cascia},
doi = {10.1109/SITIS57111.2022.00066},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-10-01},
booktitle = {2022 16th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology & Internet-Based Systems (SITIS)},
pages = {394–401},
abstract = {Metaverse aims at connecting the physical and digital world in a highly immersive virtual environment that can replicate society and social practices within it. It is populated not only by avatars corresponding to users but also by nonplayer characters (NPCs). These virtual agents should be able to perceive other agents and objects in the scene, reason and act preferably by exhibiting credible and acceptable social behavior. Relying on the Social Practice theory, this work proposes an architecture for the design and development of a virtual agent able to understand social practices in the Metaverse and act by respecting the social norms that the circumstances entail. The agent is equipped with modules for recognizing elements of the scene, knowledge and rules about a set of social practices. The scene information is exploited by a reasoning module that allows the agent to evaluate the current social practice, socially interpret the events, and activate the most appropriate behaviors. The paper describes the proposed architecture, its implementation, and the realization of an experimental virtual scenario.},
keywords = {Avatars, Cognition, Emotional Appraisal, Metaverse, Model of Emotion, NPC, OCC, Reasoning, Scene Understanding, Social Agents, Social Practices},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Metaverse aims at connecting the physical and digital world in a highly immersive virtual environment that can replicate society and social practices within it. It is populated not only by avatars corresponding to users but also by nonplayer characters (NPCs). These virtual agents should be able to perceive other agents and objects in the scene, reason and act preferably by exhibiting credible and acceptable social behavior. Relying on the Social Practice theory, this work proposes an architecture for the design and development of a virtual agent able to understand social practices in the Metaverse and act by respecting the social norms that the circumstances entail. The agent is equipped with modules for recognizing elements of the scene, knowledge and rules about a set of social practices. The scene information is exploited by a reasoning module that allows the agent to evaluate the current social practice, socially interpret the events, and activate the most appropriate behaviors. The paper describes the proposed architecture, its implementation, and the realization of an experimental virtual scenario.