Social agents: The first generations

Embodied Conversational Agents can be viewed as spoken dialogue systems with a graphical representation of a human body. But the embodiment is not the only difference. Whereas Spoken Dialogue Systems are mostly focused on computing the linguistic dimensions of communication, conversational agents are conceived as intelligent agents that have an identity, a persona. Thus, cognitive modeling is often more involved in ECAs including the modeling of emotion. Whereas spoken dialogue systems are focused on the task, virtual humans are also equipped with social skills involved in interaction. This can take various forms. In this paper we review some of the approaches that have been taken in the first decade of ECA research, by presenting the social signaling skills of three agents we have developed in our group.