‘How was your day?’ An Affective Companion ECA Prototype

Marc Cavazza1,  Raúl Santos de la Cámara2,  Markku Turunen3,  José Relaño Gil2,  Jaakko Hakulinen3,  Nigel Crook4,  Debora Field5
1Teesside University, United Kingdom, 2Telefónica I+D, Spain, 3University of Tampere, Finland, 4Oxford University, 5Sheffield University


Abstract

This paper presents a dialogue system in the form of an ECA that acts as a companion for the user in discussing her/his daily activities. The system supports free conversation in an everyday scenario in which the user comments on his/her day at office. We explain here some innovative approaches to deal dialogue that is both affected by emotions and highly interactive in nature, with the user able to interrupt and correct the system where needed. The system is already fully implemented and aspects of the demonstrator are used to illustrate examples.