Abstract Integrated Learning for Interactive Synthetic Characters (2009)
Bruce Blumberg, Marc Downie, Yuri Ivanov, Matt Berlin, Michael Patrick Johnson, Bill Tomlinson
The ability to learn is a potentially compelling and important quality for interactive synthetic characters. To that end, we describe a practical approach to real-time learning for synthetic...
%% [ ProductName: ESP Ghostscript]%% Physically Interactive Story Environments (2008)
Claudio Pinhanez, James Davis, Stephen Intille, Michael Johnson, Andrew Wilson, Aaron Bobick, ...
Modeling Interactive Agents in ALIVE (2008)
Pattie Maes, Bruce Blumberg, Trevor Darrell, Alex Pentl, Alan Wexelblat
In this video we discuss the design and implementation of a novel system which allows wireless full-body interaction between a human participant and a graphical world inhabited by autonomous agents....
In the Synthetic Characters Group at the MIT (2008)
Marc Downie, Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg
Media Lab, we make virtual characters and build interactive installations to showcase them.The research agenda of our group is to design ways of making computational charac-ters by examining natural...
Michael Patrick Johnson, Andrew Wilson, Christopher Kline, Bruce Blumberg, Aaron Bobick
We introduce the concept of a sympathetic interface for controlling a synthetic animated character in a 3D virtual environment. A plush doll embedded with wireless sensors is used to manipulate the...
EBAA99 - Program Committee (2007)
Bruce Blumberg, Jack Breese, Rodney Brooks, Dolores Cañamero, Microsoft Corporation, Barbara Hayes-Roth, ...
The shift towards highly personalised interfaces in which communication between user and computer is mediated by lifelike agents is currently one of the major steps in the evolution of the user...
ABSTRACT Using Emotional Memories to Form Synthetic Social Relationships (2007)
Bill Tomlinson (student, Bruce Blumberg
We present a simple, biologically-inspired mechanism by which synthetic entities can be made to form social relationships with each other. We describe an interactive multi-agent system, based on the...
Pattie Maes, Trevor Darrell, Bruce Blumberg, Alex Pentl
The cumbersomenature of wired interfaces often limits the range of application of virtual environments. In this paper we discuss the design and implementation of a novel system, called ALIVE, which...
Abstract Integrated Learning for Interactive Synthetic Characters (2007)
Bruce Blumberg, Marc Downie, Yuri Ivanov, Matt Berlin, Michael Patrick Johnson, Bill Tomlinson
The ability to learn is a potentially compelling and important quality for interactive synthetic characters. To that end, we describe a practical approach to real-time learning for synthetic...
Computer Graphics Quarterly (2007)
Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg, Visfiles Column
What are social synthetic characters? What good are they? In this column, we’ll describe how we make social characters in the Synthetic Characters Group at the MIT Media Lab, and mention a few of...
Michael Patrick Johnson, Andrew Wilson, Christopher Kline, Bruce Blumberg, Aaron Bobick
We introduce the concept of a sympathetic interface for controlling a synthetic animated character in a 3D virtual environment. A plush doll embedded with wireless sensors is used to manipulate the...
A simulation-theory inspired social learning system for interactive characters (2005)
Daphna Buchsbaum, Bruce Blumberg, Cynthia Breazeal
Abstract — Humans (and many other animals), display a remarkably flexible and rich array of social competencies, including the ability to interpret, predict and react appropriately to the behavior...
Cynthia Breazeal, Daphna Buchsbaum, Jesse Gray, Bruce Blumberg
We want to build robots capable of rich social interactions with humans, including natural communication and cooperation. This work explores how imitation as a social learning and teaching process...
Cynthia Breazeal, Daphna Buchsbaum, Jesse Gray, David Gatenby, Bruce Blumberg
We want to build robots capable of rich social interactions with humans, including natural communication and cooperation. This work explores how imitation as a social learning and teaching process...
Imitation and social learning for synthetic characters (2004)
Daphna Buchsbaum, Bruce Blumberg, Cynthia Breazeal
Abstract. An increasing amount of evidence suggests that in human infants the ability to learn by watching others, and in particular, the ability to imitate, could be crucial precursors to the...
Bill Tomlinson, Marc Downie, Matt Berlin, Jesse Gray, Derek Lyons, Jennie Cochran, ...
We present a system in which computer-graphical virtual characters may be controlled by a user and also remain “in character. ” The system allows the user to have high-level control over the...
Bill Tomlinson, Marc Downie, Matt Berlin, Jesse Gray, Derek Lyons, Jennie Cochran, ...
We present a system in which computer-graphical virtual characters may be controlled by a user and also remain “in character. ” The system allows the user to have high-level control over the...
Alphawolf: Social learning, emotion and development in autonomous virtual agents (2002)
Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg
Abstract. We present research in synthetic social behavior for interactive virtual characters. We describe a model from the natural world, the gray wolf (Canis lupus), and the social behavior...
Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg
We describe a multi-agent system based on the social behavior of the gray wolf (Canis lupus). This system, shown as an interactive installation at SIGGRAPH 2001, allows several participants to direct...
Creature smarts: The art and architecture of a virtual brain (2001)
Robert Burke, Damian Isla, Marc Downie, Yuri Ivanov, Bruce Blumberg
Is it possible to build an artificial intelligence that’s as clever, as adaptive and as captivating as the average dog? That’s the question that drives the Synthetic Characters group at the MIT...
Social behavior, emotion and learning in a pack of virtual wolves (2001)
Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg
We are creating a pack of virtual creatures who exhibit the kinds of social interactions found in a natural species of animal, the gray wolf (Canis lupus). To do this, we are extending our synthetic...
A layered brain architecture for synthetic creatures (2001)
Damian Isla, Robert Burke, Marc Downie, Bruce Blumberg
This paper describes a new layered brain architecture for simulated autonomous and semi-autonomous creatures that inhabit graphical worlds. The main feature of the brain is its division into distinct...
Multiple conceptions of character-based interactive installations (2001)
Bruce Blumberg, Bill Tomlinson, Marc Downie
This paper presents ways of approaching the design of successful character-based interactive installations. We rationalize our arguments within the context of both Disney’s “illusion of life ”...
A layered brain architecture for synthetic creatures (2001)
Damian Isla, Robert Burke, Marc Downie, Bruce Blumberg
This paper describes a new layered brain architecture for simulated autonomous and semi-autonomous creatures that inhabit graphical worlds. The main feature of the brain is its division into distinct...
Multiple Conceptions of Character-Based Interactive (2001)
Installations Bill Tomlinson, Bill Tomlinson, Marc Downie, Bruce Blumberg
This paper presents ways of approaching the design of successful character-based interactive installations. We rationalize our arguments within the context of both Disney's "illusion of...
Expectation Maximization for Weakly Labeled Data (2001)
Yuri Ivanov, Bruce Blumberg, Alex Pentland
We call data weakly labeled if it has no exact label but rather a numerical indication of correctness o the label "guessed" by the learning algo rithm - a situatio n cofi;)?v enco( tered...
Active repression of RAR signaling is required for head formation (2001)
Koide, Tetsuya, Downes, Michael, Chandraratna, Roshantha A.S., Blumberg, Bruce, Umesono, Kazuhiko
EM For Perceptual Coding and Reinforcement learning Tasks (2000)
Yuri Ivanov, Bruce Blumberg, Alex Pentland
Abstract. The paper presents an algorithm for an EM-based reinforcement-driven clustering. As shown here it is applicable to the reinforcement learning setting with continuous state/discrete action...
Expressive autonomous cinematography for interactive virtual environments (2000)
Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg
We have created an automatic cinematography system for interactive virtual environments. This system controls a virtual camera and lights in a three-dimensional virtual world inhabited by a group of...
Reciprocal activation of Xenobiotic response genes by nuclear receptors SXR/PXR and CAR (2000)
Xie, Wen, Barwick, Joyce L., Simon, Cynthia M., Pierce, Alexis M., Safe, Stephen, Blumberg, Bruce, ...
The Art and Science of Synthetic Character Design (1999)
Christopher Kline, Bruce Blumberg
Drawing from ideas in both traditional animation and modern philosophy, we present a methodology for designing synthetic characters. The goal of our approach is to construct intentional characters...
Sympathethic Interfaces: Using a Plush Toy to Direct Synthetic Characters (1999)
Michael Patrick Johnson, Andrew Wilson, Christopher Kline, Bruce Blumberg, Aaron Bobick
We introduce the concept of a sympathetic interface for controlling a synthetic animated character in a 3D virtual environment. A plush doll embedded with wireless sensors is used to manipulate the...
Sympathetic interfaces: Using a plush toy to direct synthetic characters (1999)
Michael Patrick Johnson, Andrew Wilson, Bruce Blumberg, Christopher Kline, Aaron Bobick
We introduce the concept of a sympathetic inter$ace for controlling an animated synthetic character in a 3D virtual environment. A plush doll embedded with wireless sensors is used to manipulate the...
Blumberg, Bruce, Kang, Heonjoong, Bolado Jr., Jack, Chen, Hongwu, Craig, A. Grey, Moreno, Tanya A., ...
SXR, a novel steroid and xenobioticsensing nuclear receptor (1998)
Blumberg, Bruce, Sabbagh Jr., Walid, Juguilon, Henry, Bolado Jr., Jack, Van Meter, Casey M., Ong, Estelita S., ...
Multi-level Control for Animated Autonomous Agents: Do the Right Thing... Oh, Not That... (1997)
Bruce Blumberg, Tinsley Galyean
This paper focuses on how to provide multiple levels of control for autonomous animated characters for use in interactive story systems. Much has been written on the problems of action-selection for...
The ALIVE System: Wireless, Full-body Interaction with Autonomous Agents (1996)
Pattie Maes, Trevor Darrell, Bruce Blumberg, Alex Pentland
The cumbersomenature of wired interfaces often limits the range of application of virtual environments. In this paper we discuss the design and implementation of a novel system, called ALIVE, which...
Action-selection in Hamsterdam: Lessons from Ethology (1994)
A computational model of action-selection is presented, which by drawing on ideas from Ethology, addresses a number of problems which have been noted in models proposed to date including the need for...
A Novel Environment for Situated Vision and Behavior (1994)
Trevor Darrell, Pattie Maes, Bruce Blumberg, Alex P. Pentland
We present a new environment for the development of situated vision and behavior algorithms. Our environment allows an unencumbered person to interact with autonomous agents in a simulated graphical...
Mensah-Osman, Edith J., Thomas, Dafydd G., Tabb, Michelle M., Larios, Jose M., Hughes, Dennis P., Giordano, Thomas J., ...
BACKGROUND. Approximately 30% to 40% of all patients with osteosarcomas ultimately experience recurrence. The study investigated the hypothesis that the resistance of osteosarcoma to chemotherapy may...