Editorial for special issue on intelligent virtual agents

Abstract

Intelligent virtual agents are interactive characters that exhibit human-like qualities and communicate with humans or with each other using natural human modalities such as speech and gesture. They are capable of realtime perception, cognition and action that allows them to participate in dynamic social environments. This field has been steadily growing as applications in areas like education, simulation and gaming become more common-place, and new applications such as in health-intervention and elderly care emerge. Since 2006, the International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA), has served as the central annual venue for the field, but since 2008, the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), has also dedicated a special track to virtual agents, acknowledging the significant ties between the communities. This special issue of JAAMASon intelligent virtual agents is meant to further contribute to the interaction between virtual agent researchers and autonomous agent researchers in general. The papers in this volume are extended versions of full papers presented at IVA 2011 in Reykjavik, Iceland. That year, the conference received 69 full paper submissions and admitted 18 based on a stringent reviewing process. After the conference, admitted full paper authors were invited to submit extended versions to this special issue, where again they were subject to thorough reviewing and feedback. Finally six papers have been selected that we believe represent some of the best virtual agent work today, representing the richness of the field by bringing together a multitude of disciplines and application areas.