Appearance

TL;DR

This chapter reviews the development, design considerations, and social interaction features of visually embodied socially interactive agents, highlighting challenges like realism and the uncanny valley.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the appearance design space and discusses open questions in creating socially engaging agents.

Findings

Design space for agent appearance includes modalities and construction methods.

Features like facial and bodily cues support social interaction.

Realism and the uncanny valley impact agent acceptance.

Abstract

Socially interactive agents (SIAs) are no longer mere visions for future user interfaces, as 20 years of research and technology development has enabled the use of virtual and physical agents in day-to-day interfaces and environments. This chapter of the ACM "The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents" reviews research on and technologies involving socially interactive agents, including virtually embodied agents and physically embodied robots, focusing particularly on the appearance of socially interactive agents. It covers the history of the development of these technologies; outlines the design space for the appearance of agents, including what appearance comprises, modalities in which agents are presented, and how agents are constructed; and the features that agents use to support social interaction, including facial and bodily features, those that express demographic characteristics, and issues surrounding realism, appeal, and the uncanny valley. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of open questions surrounding the appearance of socially interactive agents.