A Realistic Human-Like Avatar
For regular followers of the blog you have probably seen me write about avatars a time or two. Well good news- they are getting more and more realistic! So it’s no secret that various branches of the military are looking more and more closely at immersive technologies. A recent article in Signal Magazine entitled “Virtual Humans Keep it Real” outlined the Army-funded research for virtual reality being conducted at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. A terrific example of groundbreaking technology coming from the University is with virtual humans (yes, I said virtual humans). Although these are not your ‘average’ avatar, rather they are computer programmed with artificial intelligence and capable of understanding language and able to respond appropriately. This conversation capability is not assisted in any way by a ‘real’ human and is complete with genuine emotions. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey wrote in Army Magazine, the idea is “to make training more rigorous and relevant by leveraging technology to create challenging training environments for our leaders.” So watch out for more realistic training coming to a computer near you!
