Science AMA Series: I’m Nadia Thalmann, head of the MIRALab Research Lab
at the University of Geneva, chair the Institute for Media Innovation in
Singapore at NTU, and Editor-in-Chief of Springer’s The
Abstract
Hi reddit! I am a very interdisciplinary researcher working with Virtual
Characters and social robots. I like to model human behaviour as
recognition of gestures and faces, and simulating natural reactions. My
dream is to have a virtual coach that could help me in many situations
(personal assistant). I also work for creating 3D virtual worlds, where
we can see ancient decors and interact with ancient people. I am also
interested in the medical field. I work with medical doctors and
patients for simulating articulations. All my research can be seen on
www.miralab.ch. For the Social robot Nadine, I was always interested in
automaton. They were automatic machines that followed a sequence of
predefined actions. With Nadine, the social robot, we can now create
more autonomy and adaptation through the interaction. A lot of people
have reacted to the fact that Nadine looks like a real person. Some of
them like it, some others find it scary. For me, she looks quite
natural. I would be happy to give more information or answer questions
to anyone interested. I’ll be back at 6 pm EST (3 pm PST, 11 pm UTC) to
answer your questions, ask me anything!