8h30 Introduction. Julien Pettré.

8h50 Invited talk:Victoria Interrante, University of Minnesota, USA

Title: Using Virtual Humans as Entourage Elements in Architectural Walkthroughs

The well-known problem of egocentric distance underestimation in VR has particular implications for architectural applications, in which designers and their clients seek to use VR to obtain a first-hand appreciation of the aesthetic and practical suitability of designed spaces.  Recent research in our lab and elsewhere has suggested that first-person self-embodiment in HMD-based immersive virtual environments may facilitate more accurate distance (and size) judgments, but the underlying perceptual and cognitive mechanisms responsible for any improvements are not yet well understood.  

In this talk, I focus on the potential use of static and animated *third-person* virtual human agents in immersive architectural environments to facilitate more accurate first-person judgments of the visualized space.  Human figures are commonly used as “entourage elements” in architectural design, added to drawings of interior or exterior views of a planned building project both to provide a sense of scale and to “bring the drawing to life”.  Our research focuses on two basic questions: 1) to what extent can we mitigate the classical problem of egocentric distance underestimation in architectural VR applications by populating our virtual models with static or animated virtual humans? and 2) what characteristics of virtual humans are most important to their success for this purpose?

Bio: Victoria Interrante is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Center for Cognitive Sciences at the University of Minnesota.  Her work focuses on applying insights from visual perception and cognition to the design of more effective visual representations and virtual experiences.  She is a recipient of the US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers, and has served the academic research community in multiple capacities including as the co-Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (2015-), co-general chair of IEEE VR (2014), co-program chair of IEEE VR (2015 and 2016), and as a member of the IEEE VR Steering Committee (2016-).

9h30 Virtual Human Head Turning with Crowd Simulation. Ran Hu, Moses Adeagbo, Victoria Interrante, Stephen J. Guy. PDF

9h50 Q&A

10h00 Break

10h30 Invited talk: William H. Warren, Dept. of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, USA

11h10 Microscopic crowd simulation. Julien Pettré. Slides

11h30 A VR platform to study individual behaviors in crowds. Anne-Hélène Olivier, Julien Bruneau, Richard Kulpa, Julien Pettré. Slides

11h50 Feeling Crowded Yet?: Crowd Simulations for VR. Jan M. Allbeck and Nuria Pelechano. PDF   Slides

12h10 Q&A

12h15 Lunch break

13h45 Menge: A Modular Framework for Simulating Crowd Movement. Sean Curtis.

14h05 Generating Semantic Information for Virtual Environments. J. Timothy Balint and Jan M. Allbeck. PDF    Slides

14h25 Using Synthetic Crowds to Inform Building Pillar Placements. Brandon Haworth, Muhammad Usman, Glen Berseth, Mahyar Khayatkhoei, Mubbasir Kapadia, and Petros Faloutsos . PDF   Slides

14h45 Analyzing Egress Accuracy through the Study of Virtual and Real Crowds. Vinicius Cassol, Jovani Oliveira, Soraia Raupp Musse and Norman Badler. PDF  Slides

15h05 Open Research Issues. Ming Lin. Slides

15h25 Q&A

15h30 break

16h00 Invited talk: Benjamin Lok, Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Department, University of Florida, USA

Title: Learning within Virtual Human Teams   Slides

In this talk, we will discuss the emerging field of virtual human groups to train interpersonal skills. We will explore systems that place users in amongst a team of virtual humans. We will explore the latest research into social dynamics, social presence, hardware, and software. Virtual human teams combine interactive graphics, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, mixed reality, and data mining to create learning experiences that help address difficult concepts such as speaking up to authority, addressing bullying, empathy, negotiation, and critical thinking.

We will explore the latest results on using virtual human teams to empower teams of operating room personnel (e.g. nurses, surgical technicians, and anesthesia residents), to influence their decision making, and to influence their behaviors. The goal is to leverage virtual human teams to improve patient safety.

Bio:

Benjamin Lok is a Professor in the Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering Department at the University of Florida and co-founder of Shadow Health, Inc., an educational software company. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Georgia's Health Sciences University. His research focuses on virtual humans and mixed reality in the areas of computer graphics, virtual environments, and human-computer interaction. Professor Lok received a Ph.D. (2002, advisor: Dr. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.) and M.S. (1999) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.S. in Computer Science (1997) from the University of Tulsa. He did a post-doc fellowship (2003) under Dr. Larry F. Hodges at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Professor Lok received a NSF Career Award (2007-2012) and the UF ACM CISE Teacher of the Year Award in 2005-2006. He and his students in the Virtual Experiences Research Group have received Best Paper Awards at ACM I3D (Top 3, 2003) and IEEE VR (2008). He currently serves on the Steering Committee of the IEEE Virtual Reality conference, general chair of IEEE VR 2014 and IEEE VR 2013, and program co-chair of the ACM VRST 2009, IEEE Virtual Reality 2010, and IEEE VR 2011. Professor Lok is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation, and ACM Computing Surveys.

16h40 A Software Framework for Developing Mathematical Model Driven Virtual Human. Chao Mei and John Quarles. PDF  Slides

17h00 Validation of Intelligent Agents in Learning and Training Systems: Why Should We Care? Amela Sadagic. PDF

17h20 Conclusion

17h30 End of the workshop