Development of an affect-sensitive agent for aplusix

Abstract

We compared two versions of an affect-sensitive embodied conversational agent for Aplusix, an intelligent tutoring system for algebra. The initial agent, Grimace v.1, was able to detect and respond to user affect, but it responded too quickly and too frequently. The second version of the agent, Grimace v.2 was less sensitive compared to the first version, in that it provided fewer interventions to engaged students, more evaluations of engagement, fewer evaluations of boredom. In a field test of the agent, students generally preferred version 2 over version 1. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.