Research Project



Toward LifeLike Computer Interfaces that Learn : Avatar

Project Webpage

LifeLike project investigates, develops and evaluates lifelike, natural computer interfaces as portals to intelligent programs in the context of Decision Support System (DSS). The goal is to provide a natural interface that supports realistic spoken dialog and non-verbal cues and is capable of learning to maintain its knowledge current and correct. Research objectives focus around the development of an avatar-based interface with which the DSS user can interact. Communication with the avatar will occur in spoken natural language combined with gestural expressions or pointing on the screen. Speaker-independent continuous speech input as a spontaneous dialog will be supported within the specified DSS domain. A robust backend that can respond intelligently to the questions asked by the DSS user will generate the responses spoken in reply by the avatar with realistic inflection and visual expressions.

Role: main research and development for avatar visualization framework. Modeling and animaiton for autonomous expressive characters. User interface and interaction design. Speech synthesis and lip-syncchronization implementations.

 

Corewall

Project Webpage

CoreWall is a real-time stratigraphic correlation, core description, and data visualization system used by the marine, terrestrial, and Antarctic science communities.Corelyzer is a scalable, extensible visualization tool developed to enhance the study of geological cores.

Role: sub-design and implementation of user interface. Mouse pointer and toolset widget design. Annotation tool and format implementation.