Related papers: A Virtual Conversational Agent for Teens with Auti…
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can profoundly affect reciprocal social communication, resulting in substantial and challenging impairments. One aspect is that for people with ASD conversations in everyday life are challenging due to…
The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex, challenging task as it depends on the analysis of interactional behaviors by psychologists rather than the use of biochemical diagnostics. In this paper, we present a modeling…
In this paper, we present a methodology for the development of embodied conversational agents for social virtual worlds. The agents provide multimodal communication with their users in which speech interaction is included. Our proposal…
With children talking to smart-speakers, smart-phones and even smart-microwaves daily, it is increasingly important to educate students on how these agents work-from underlying mechanisms to societal implications. Researchers are developing…
Historically, researchers have focused on analyzing WEIRD, adult perspectives on technology. This means we may not have technology developed appropriately for children and those from non-WEIRD countries. In this paper, we analyze children…
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges in grasping social-emotional cues, which can result in difficulties in recognizing emotions and understanding and responding to social interactions. Social-emotional…
Little research has explored the communication needs of autistic adults. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can support these communication needs, but more guidance is needed on how to design AAC systems to support this…
Early diagnosis and professional intervention can help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) return to normal life. However, the scarcity and imbalance of professional medical resources currently prevent many autistic children from…
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social interaction and communication difficulties, along with narrow and repetitive interests. Being an spectrum disorder, ASD affects individuals with a large…
Virtual humans (i.e., embodied conversational agents) have the potential to support college students' mental health, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields where students are at a heightened risk of…
Recently, large language models have facilitated the emergence of highly intelligent conversational AI capable of engaging in human-like dialogues. However, a notable distinction lies in the fact that these AI models predominantly generate…
In the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) agents, designing the agent's characteristics is crucial for shaping user experience. This workshop aims to establish a research community focused on AI agent persona design for…
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects more than 75 million people worldwide. However, scalable support for practicing everyday conversation is scarce: Low-cost activities such as story reading yield limited improvement. At the same time,…
The diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children is commonly accompanied by a diagnosis of sensory processing disorders as well. Abnormalities are usually reported in multiple sensory processing domains, showing a higher…
Computational thinking, and by extension, computer programming, is notoriously challenging to learn. Conversational agents and generative artificial intelligence (genAI) have the potential to facilitate this learning process by offering…
Advances in artificial intelligence have transformed the paradigm of human-computer interaction, with the development of conversational AI systems playing a pivotal role. These systems employ technologies such as natural language processing…
The dialogue experience with conversational agents can be greatly enhanced with multimodal and immersive interactions in virtual reality. In this work, we present an open-source architecture with the goal of simplifying the development of…
This paper outlines the challenges and opportunities of research on conversational agents with children and young people across four countries, exploring the ways AI technologies can support children's well-being across social and cultural…
We will demonstrate a conversational products recommendation agent. This system shows how we combine research in personalized recommendation systems with research in dialogue systems to build a virtual sales agent. Based on new deep…
Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for enhancing social skills and emotional well-being in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Through a technical exploration, this study employs a multiplayer serious gaming…