Where computers disappear, virtual humans appear

In this paper, we survey the role of virtual humans (or embodied conversational agents) in smart and ambient intelligence environments. Research in this area can profit from research done earlier in virtual reality environments and research on verbal and nonverbal interaction. We discuss virtual humans as social actors and argue that, rather than is common in traditional human–computer interface research, we need to look at multi-party interaction. Virtual humans in the party need to be equipped with nonverbal communication capabilities, including the display of emotions.