Autonomous humans in virtual world

Abstract

As the World Wide Web is continuously growing and developing, tremendous amounts of information are being added online. Users no longer wish to navigate through the hundreds of pages of information that many websites contain. They also are no longer satisfied with webpages filled with text or still images. Instead, a much graphically richer and more realistic experience is desired. This has led to the concept of “virtual worlds”, which simulate certain aspects of the real world and thus make web browsing a much more enjoyable and immersive process. NTU Co-Space is a virtual world designed using Unity3D to give information about the NTU campus. Apart from the users or players, several autonomous Non Player Characters (NPCs) are present in this virtual world.

In this project, an NPC who plays the role of an academic advisor is designed and implemented. His primary function is to answer queries related to the NTU School of Computer Engineering in an informal conversational manner. Design includes the physical representation as well as the behaviour of the NPC with the primary focus of this project being behaviour. An AIML based approach is used for this. The NPC customizes answers based on user inputs and gives recommendations. Students are also given the opportunity of rating and viewing the ratings of certain modules.

While the NPC successfully answers most questions, further improvements can be made to make the interaction more user-friendly. Some of these include adding memory and speech capabilities.