Spontaneous interactions with a virtually embodied intelligent assistant in Minecraft

Fraser Allison; Ewa Luger; Katja Hofmann

doi:10.1145/3027063.3053266

Spontaneous interactions with a virtually embodied intelligent assistant in Minecraft

Fraser Allison, Ewa Luger, Katja Hofmann

Edinburgh College of Art

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

An increasing number of our technological interactions are mediated through virtually embodied characters and software agents powered by machine learning, but we are only beginning to understand how users relate to and evaluate these types of interfaces. We designed a Wizard of Oz prototype of an embodied agent in Minecraft that learns from users’ actions, and conducted a user study with 18 school-aged Minecraft players. We categorised nine main ways users spontaneously attempted to interact with and teach the agent: four using game controls, and five using natural language text input. This initial analysis lays the groundwork for future study of usability factors for virtually embodied assistive learning agents.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	ACM
Pages	2337-2344
ISBN (Print)	9781450346566
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053266
Publication status	Published - 6 May 2017
Event	ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'17) - Colorado, Denver, United States Duration: 6 May 2017 → 11 May 2017

Conference

Conference	ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'17)
Country/Territory	United States
City	Denver
Period	6/05/17 → 11/05/17

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

natural language
Minecraft
Human-agent interaction

Access to Document

10.1145/3027063.3053266

http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/3060000/3053266/ea2337-allison.pdf?ip=129.215.19.39&id=3053266&acc=ACTIVE%20SERVICE&key=C2D842D97AC95F7A%2EEB9E991028F4E1F1%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35&__acm__=1522937197_6b2059f431c154f09d249b4d9f04fdb3

1 Abstract

Player expectations of a learning AI companion in Minecraft
Allison, F., Luger, E. & Hofmann, K., 2 Jul 2017.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract › peer-review

Cite this

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title = "Spontaneous interactions with a virtually embodied intelligent assistant in Minecraft",

abstract = "An increasing number of our technological interactions are mediated through virtually embodied characters and software agents powered by machine learning, but we are only beginning to understand how users relate to and evaluate these types of interfaces. We designed a Wizard of Oz prototype of an embodied agent in Minecraft that learns from users{\textquoteright} actions, and conducted a user study with 18 school-aged Minecraft players. We categorised nine main ways users spontaneously attempted to interact with and teach the agent: four using game controls, and five using natural language text input. This initial analysis lays the groundwork for future study of usability factors for virtually embodied assistive learning agents.",

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author = "Fraser Allison and Ewa Luger and Katja Hofmann",

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doi = "10.1145/3027063.3053266",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781450346566",

pages = "2337--2344",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

publisher = "ACM",

note = "ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'17) ; Conference date: 06-05-2017 Through 11-05-2017",

}

Allison, F, Luger, E & Hofmann, K 2017, Spontaneous interactions with a virtually embodied intelligent assistant in Minecraft. in Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, pp. 2337-2344, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'17), Denver, United States, 6/05/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3027063.3053266

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T1 - Spontaneous interactions with a virtually embodied intelligent assistant in Minecraft

AU - Allison, Fraser

AU - Luger, Ewa

AU - Hofmann, Katja

PY - 2017/5/6

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N2 - An increasing number of our technological interactions are mediated through virtually embodied characters and software agents powered by machine learning, but we are only beginning to understand how users relate to and evaluate these types of interfaces. We designed a Wizard of Oz prototype of an embodied agent in Minecraft that learns from users’ actions, and conducted a user study with 18 school-aged Minecraft players. We categorised nine main ways users spontaneously attempted to interact with and teach the agent: four using game controls, and five using natural language text input. This initial analysis lays the groundwork for future study of usability factors for virtually embodied assistive learning agents.

AB - An increasing number of our technological interactions are mediated through virtually embodied characters and software agents powered by machine learning, but we are only beginning to understand how users relate to and evaluate these types of interfaces. We designed a Wizard of Oz prototype of an embodied agent in Minecraft that learns from users’ actions, and conducted a user study with 18 school-aged Minecraft players. We categorised nine main ways users spontaneously attempted to interact with and teach the agent: four using game controls, and five using natural language text input. This initial analysis lays the groundwork for future study of usability factors for virtually embodied assistive learning agents.

KW - natural language

KW - Minecraft

KW - Human-agent interaction

U2 - 10.1145/3027063.3053266

DO - 10.1145/3027063.3053266

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9781450346566

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EP - 2344

BT - Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - ACM

T2 - ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'17)

Y2 - 6 May 2017 through 11 May 2017

ER -

Spontaneous interactions with a virtually embodied intelligent assistant in Minecraft

Abstract / Description of output

Conference

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Player expectations of a learning AI companion in Minecraft

Cite this