Always-On Relational Agents

Always-On Relational Agents
for Social Support of Isolated Older Adults

One of the long-held dreams of artificial intelligence is to create an agent (whether robotic, animated or only a disembodied voice) that functions as a permanent member of a human household. Because humans are deeply and fundamentally social beings, they cannot help but expect such a continuously present artificial agent, especially if humanoid, to become part of their network of personal relationships.

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Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under award IIS-1012083.
Weather data provided by wunderground.com

In collaboration with the Relational Agents Group at Northeastern University.

Principal Investigator: Candace L. Sidner
Co-Principal Investigator: Charles Rich
Co-Principal Investigator: Timothy Bickmore (Northeastern University)
Graduate Students (WPI): Mahni Shayganfar, Morteza Behrooz, Bahador Nooraei, William Coon
Undergraduate Students (WPI): Ayesha Fathima, Peng Ren, Mitch Wills, JJ Liu, Fred Clinckemaillie

List of Downloadable Publications

GitHub Repository