"Virtual Teachers and Virtual Therapists An Emerging Reality"

5/06/05: 10:30 AM, webcast
11th Floor Small and Large Conference Rooms
Host: Patrick Pantel, schedule

Abstract: In March 2005 in Hanover Germany over 500,000 people attended Cebit, the world’s largest technology trade show, to view the latest technology marvels. Germany's Siemens AG unveiled its new Animated Instant Voice Messages, in hopes of transforming text messages from boring print to a more interactive experience. “According to an Associated Press Report, “The program converts the text in a wireless message into speech that can be synchronized to play with moving animated lips superimposed on one of the user's own photographs. European users will get the first chance to see it, likely later this year.” So I will soon be to call your cell phone, leave a message, and my pretty face will appear on the screen of your cell phone to say it. In the next five years, we can expect ever more sophisticated and engaging talking heads to appear in computer programs, on Web sites, handheld devices and cell phones. As speech recognition, semantic parsing and character animation technologies improve, along with processors, displays and networks, talking heads will become more common and believable, producing automatically, from speech and/or text, head movements, facial expressions and visual accurate visual speech that is consistent with the meaning and emotional content of typed or spoken messages. At the Center for Spoken Language Research, my colleagues and I are developing computer programs with 3-D talking heads that are being used to teach children to read and learn from text, and to help individuals with Parkinson disease or aphasia to improve their speech communication skills. While these programs are quite different in terms of the nature of the interaction between the virtual human and the student or patient, each requires understanding and modeling the behaviors of a human expert who is sensitive and effective in their area of expertise. My talk will demonstrate and describe these systems. For both the virtual reading tutor and virtual speech therapist, I will present the theoretical and scientific rationale for the system, a participatory design process that aims to optimize user experiences and treatment outcomes, and challenges that need to be addressed to create next generation systems.

About Ron Cole: Ron Cole received his PhD in Psychology from the University of California at Riverside, 1971. His M.A. in Psychology, University of California at Riverside, 1969. and his B.A. in Psychology, University of Rochester, 1967. Dr. Ron Cole Professional Experience includes: *

About : Director and Founder, Center for Spoken Language Research, University of Colorado, and professor in Computer Science; 10/98 -- Present, *

About : Director and co-Founder, Center for Spoken Language Understanding, and professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI), 4/92 -- 10/98. *

About : Associate Professor, CSE, OGI, 8/88--4/92. *

About : Senior Project Scientist, Dept. of Computer Science, CMU, 5/80--8/88. *

About : Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon, University, 1/75--4/80. *

About : Visiting Lecturer, Dept. of Linguistics, Tel-Aviv University, Israel, 1/74--6/74. *

About : Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 7/74--12/74. *

About : Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 7/70--6/74. Dr. Ron Cole's current research is focused on development of virtual humans—lifelike computer characters that interact with people like expert teachers or therapists. Virtual humans invented at the CSLR are now being used to teach children to read and learn from text and to conduct speech therapy with individuals with Parkinson disease or aphasia. The Colorado Literacy Tutor project, (http://cslr.colorado.edu/beginweb/reading/reading.html) uses a virtual reading tutor that teachers young children to learn to read and learn from text. Our virtual speech therapy projects use a virtual speech therapist to treat individuals with Parkinson Disease and individuals with aphasia. (http://cslr.colorado.edu/beginweb/animated_speech_therapist/anim_therapist.html). The invention of virtual humans is an exciting new field of research. He recently helped organized an NSF sponsored workshop that brought together researchers from several disciplines in hopes of establishing a community that will plan research and develo pment of virtual humans (http://cslr.colorado.edu/beginweb/2004animated_wkshp/).

Last updated: Mon Jun 19 17:44:06 2006