Flexdiam – Flexible dialogue management for incremental interaction with virtual agents (Demo paper)

Abstract

We present a demonstration system for incremental spoken human–machine dialogue for task-centric domains that includes a controller for verbal and nonverbal behavior for virtual agents. The dialogue management components can handle uncertainty in input and resolve it interactively with high responsivity, and state tracking is aware of momentary events such as interruptions by the user. Aside from adaptable dialogue strategies, such as for grounding, the system includes a multimodal floor management controller that attempts to limit the influence of idiosyncratic dialogue behavior on the part of our primary user groups – older adults and people with cognitive impairments – both of which have previously participated in pilot studies using the platform.