Virtual Humans: Today and Tomorrow (Chapman & Hall/CRC Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Series)

by David Burden (Author), David Burden (Author), Maggi Savin-Baden (Author)

• New

  Illustrated
  2019

  $86.20

  Virtual Humans: Today and Tomorrow provides much needed definitions of what constitutes a virtual human and places them within a taxonomy of artificial intelligence. It explores the approaches to creating and using virtual humans, as well as issues such as embodiment, identity, and agency and their resulting ethical challenges. The book presents an overview of current research and practice in this area thus far, and outlines the major challenges faced by today's developers, teachers, and researchers. This includes the possibility of using virtual humans for teaching, training, and knowledge management, and the book situates many of these discussions around related applications (e.g. Siri, Cortana, Alexa) and the portrayal of virtual humans within Science Fiction.

  Features

  • Presents a comprehensive overview of this rapidly developing field combined with practical advice on how to use virtual humans, of whatever kind, to best effect
  • Provides an array of relevant, real-life examples from expert practitioners and researchers from around the globe in how to create the avatar body, mind, senses, and ability to communicate
  • Intends to be broad in scope yet practical in approach so that it can serve the needs of several different audiences, including researchers, teachers, developers, and anyone with an interest in where these technologies might take us
  • Covers a wide variety of issues that have been neglected in other research texts, including definitions and taxonomies; the ethical challenges of virtual humans; and issues around digital immortality
  • Includes numerous case studies, examples, and stories

  About the Authors

  David Burden is a Chartered European Engineer and the Founder and CEO of Daden Limited.

  Maggi Savin-Baden is a Professor of Education at the University of Worcester.