Lifelike Computer Characters: The Persona Project at Microsoft Research

Abstract

This article describes the Persona project at Microsoft Research, which is exploring social user interfaces that employ an explicitly anthropomorphic character to interact with the user in a natural spoken dialogue. The prototype system described here integrates spoken language input, a simple conversational dialogue manager, reactive 3D animation, speech output and sound effects to create Peedy the Parrot, a conversational assistant who accepts user requests for audio CDs and then plays them. 1. Lifelike Computer Characters: the Persona project at Microsoft Research ______________________________________________________1 1.