Conversing with Franco , FOCAL ’ s Virtual Adviser

This paper presents the current dialogue capabilities of a Virtual Conversational Character (VCC) named Franco, which is an integral part of the Future Operation Centre and Analysis Laboratory (FOCAL). The VCC is used in a “Virtual Adviser” (VA) role to present multimedia information from pre-generated marked up scripts, and to engage in unscripted conversation with human users. The Virtual Adviser can run and control other applications within the virtual environment, allowing a “natural” interface between the user and complex information systems. The Virtual Adviser has been demonstrated with the Binni scenario used by the DARPA CoAX project.