Human-like AI Assistant developed by Couger will be tested as a next generation interface at a train station
Couger Inc. (Head Office: Shibuya, Tokyo; President and CEO Atsushi Ishii; hereinafter “Couger”) will hold a demonstration experiment, in collaboration with Information Services International-Dentsu Ltd. (ISID), of the human-like AI assistant “Virtual Human agent (VHA)” that Couger is developing. The demonstration experiment will be held on Saturday, June 29th and Sunday, June 30th at the commercial facility (Trie Keio Chofu Shopping Center) next to Chofu Station, Keio Line.
In this proof-of-concept experiment, a human-like AI assistant, which will be displayed on a life-size screen as a digital signage, will talk and communicate with people passing nearby. Doing so, we will examine how it changes people’s behavior by conducting dialogues that involve not only language but also non-verbal communication that people do unconsciously, such as emotional expressions and hand gestures.
In addition, with the cooperation of Keio Corporation (Head Office: Tama City, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasushi Komura) that is managing the Trie Keio Chofu Shopping Center, we will also verify whether the AI assistant can convey new information about the charm of the Chofu city and the surroundings and therefore contribute to the improvement and revitalization of the locality.
Through this initiative, Couger will examine “interactive digital signage” as a potential use-case of its VHA. We believe that in the future the VHA will have applications in various fields such as advertising, entertainment, and tourism.
Background: Redefining the customer experience with humanlike AI assistant
VHA will enhance the customer experience by being an agent that connects companies and its customers.
Currently, stores and companies provide information to customers through one-way communications, such as through television and magazines, or through online advertisements based on the user behavior on the internet. A problem with such communications is that, since there is no direct dialogue between the customer and the company, it is difficult to provide information in accordance with the needs of the customers.
In normal dialogues between humans, after understanding the situation of the other party in real time, we may, for instance, either smile and say something like “that sound fun!” or we may ask with a worried face “are you feeling OK?”, depending on the situation. For such communications we obtain information such as emotions from the other person’s face or body movements, which helps in creating sympathy and hence deeper communications.
VHA makes such communication possible because it combines non-verbal parts of communication such as emotions, facial expressions and gestures, and verbal parts such as voice, which are important in generating dialogues like humans. VHA utilizes real-time image recognition technology and natural language processing etc. to implement the dialogues.
While automation and unmanned operations are being promoted across numerous industries around the world, VHA is committed to being human-like, expressing the sense of security and familiarity with the people, and to provide customer-friendly communications.
In the United States, there are already several researches on human-like interfaces, and the human-like interface with face and body has been found to significantly improve the speed and content of human reaction to the interface compared to voice-only interfaces (※1).
Through VHA, our company aims to return to the origin of human communications and to re-invent the customer experience that is based on “human communications”.
Outline of the demonstration experiment
Time: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, June 29th and 30th, 2019
Place: Building C, Trie Keio Chofu City (2–61–1 Kojimacho, Chofu, Tokyo, Japan)
How to participate?
No advance registration is required, and anyone can participate.
Experiment description:
- The VHA who appears in the digital signage will be a young lady who has knowledge about Chofu City.
- When in waiting position, it draws attention of people in the surrounding through various movements and expressions.
- After recognizing a person, it waves hands as a trigger of conversation.
- The VHA also holds dialogue with participants including self-introduction.
- It gives a quiz about Chofu’s attractions and events, and convey information about the attractions and events of the area.
- Finally, it encourages participants towards various actions.
Items to test:
- Whether VHA can create communication
- Analysis of communication content
- The ability to change the behavior of users through communication
- Evaluation of social acceptance, convenience and impression of VHA
※1: Reference
1. “The Effect of An Animated Virtual Character on Mobile Chat Interactions”
2. “The LISSA Virtual Human and ASD Teens: An Overview of Initial Experiments”
