We present new techniques that use motion planning algorithms based on probabilistic roadmaps to control 22 degrees of freedom (DOFs) of human-like characters in interactive applications. Our main purpose is the automatic synthesis of collision-free reaching motions for both arms, with automatic column control and leg flexion.

This paper presents a novel method of employing "smart objects " for problem solving in virtual environments. Smart objects were primarily used for behavioral animation in the past. The paper demonstrates how to use them for AI and planning purposes as well. We formally define which operations can be performed on a smart object in terms of their requirements and their effects. A planner uses this information to determine the correct sequence of actions needed to achieve a goal. This approach enables intelligent agents to solve problems requiring a collaboration of several agents and complex interactions with objects.

We want to present a multimodal user interface for interaction with the virtual environment back--projected on the large projection screen. We use the interaction metaphor of a "spell--casting" wizard (the user) using a "magic wand" to interact with the VR environment and to complete some tasks. Our contribution is an user interface, which tries to take advantage of the past experience of the user such as fairy--tales or fantasy movies .

In this paper, we present our on-going work towards grasping in an object manipulation context. Our proposal is a novel method that combines a tubular feature classification algorithm, a hand grasp posture generation algorithm and an animation framework for human-object interactions. This method works on objects with tubular or elongated parts, and accepts a number of parameter inputs to control the grasp posture.

Abstract. In this paper, we present a parallel system called PHR for computing hierarchical radiosity solutions of complex scenes. The system is targeted for multi-processor architectures with distributed memory. The system evaluates and subdivides the interactions level by level in a breadth first fashion, and the interactions are redistributed at the end of each level to keep load balanced. In order to allow interactions freely travel across processors, all the patch data is replicated on all the processors. Hence, the system favors load balancing at the expense of increased communication volume. However, the results show that the overhead of communication is negligible compared with total execution time. We obtained a speed-up of 25 for 32 processors in our test scenes.

This paper presents a novel method of collaborative problem solving for intelligent agents in virtual environments. We describe a planner for STRIPS-like domains enhanced by techniques of “delegated computing”. Instead of having one central planner with a complete information about the world, the concept of delegation is used. In this way, we achieve agent collaboration in a dynamic system, where each of the agents has its own partial plan, but the plans are implicitly coordinated towards a common goal. We demonstrate these techniques in a virtual reality simulation with virtual humans solving a logistical problem. 1.

We present a method of formal description of the action semantics in smart objects. Smart objects were primarily used for behavioral animation in the past. We demonstrate, how a formally described semantics can be used for action planning purposes by intelligent agents trying to achieve a goal. The described approach also reduces the complexity of common planning approaches by reducing the amount of information the agent has to process.

This paper presents an evaluation of the benefits and user acceptance of a multimodal interface in which the user interacts with a game-like interactive virtual reality application “The Enigma of the Sphinx”. The interface consists of a large projection screen as the main display, a “magic wand”, a stereo sound system and the user‘s voice for “casting spells”. We present our conclusions concerning “friendliness ” and sense of presence, based on observations of more than 150 users in a public event. 1.

Proceedings of the

Abstract: Shapes incorporate geometry as well as semantics and can be defined in 2D, 3D or higher dimensions. Geometric models can be structured in such a way that they can provide a relevant framework to insert semantic information or view dependent information about a product to form features. Combining such features with an immersive environment allows the user to interact more efficiently with an object. This framework will be illustrated in the context of free-form surface modelling for aesthetic design and in the context of engineering and simulation, both among the research themes of the network of excellence