Living with a Virtual Agent: Seven Years with an Embodied Conversational Agent at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum

Abstract

Since 2004 the virtual agent Max is living at the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum – a computer science museum. He is welcoming and entertaining visitors ten hours a day, six days a week, for seven years. This article brings together the experiences made by the staff of the museum, the scientists who created and maintained the installation, the visitors and the agent himself. It provides insights about the installation’s hard- and software and presents highlights of the agent’s ontogenesis in terms of the features he has gained. A special focus is on the means Max uses to engage with visitors and the features which make him attractive.