Can We Take Out CARLA from the Uncanny Valley? Analyzing Avatar Design of an Educational Conversational Agent

Pablo Isaac Macias-Huerta, Carlos Natanael Lecona-Valdespino, Guillermo Santamaría-Bonfil, Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The integration of conversational agents into virtual-reality educational environments holds immense promise. However, the uncanny valley phenomenon looms as a critical challenge, potentially impacting the effectiveness of these educational agents. This manuscript delves into the pivotal role of avatar design within virtual-reality educational systems and its implications for user experience during learning sessions. In this work, a comprehensive comparison of two distinct avatars used by a virtual-reality conversational educational agent was undertaken, exploring their impact on user acceptance and enjoyability. Through user feedback, the avatar design that mitigates the uncanny valley effect was determined, ultimately allowing to choose the best avatar to enhance human-computer interaction.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Computational Intelligence
Subtitle of host publicationMICAI 2023 International Workshops - WILE 2023, HIS 2023, and CIAPP 2023, Proceedings
EditorsHiram Calvo, Lourdes Martínez-Villaseñor, Hiram Ponce, Ramón Zatarain Cabada, Martín Montes Rivera, Efrén Mezura-Montes
Place of PublicationCham, Switzerland
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages50-57
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-031-51940-6
ISBN (Print)978-3-031-51939-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes
Event16th Workshop on Intelligent Learning Environments, WILE 2023, 16th Workshop of Hybrid Intelligent Systems, HIS 2023 and 5th Workshop on New Trends in Computational Intelligence and Applications, CIAPP 2023 were held jointly with 22nd Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, MICAI 2023 - Yucatán, Mexico
Duration: 13 Nov 202318 Nov 2023

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume14502 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference16th Workshop on Intelligent Learning Environments, WILE 2023, 16th Workshop of Hybrid Intelligent Systems, HIS 2023 and 5th Workshop on New Trends in Computational Intelligence and Applications, CIAPP 2023 were held jointly with 22nd Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, MICAI 2023
Country/TerritoryMexico
CityYucatán
Period13/11/2318/11/23

Keywords

  • Avatar design
  • Conversational agent
  • Educational agent
  • Educational environments
  • FACS
  • Uncanny Valley
  • Virtual reality

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