Last weekend I started a new Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence project. This time I am using cats to model lifelike behavior in a virtual environment of a typical home with typical furniture and other objects. Behavior and AI controlled animations are still very limited, and there is lots of work to be done in those areas.
My goal is the same as in my previous projects - to make an lifelike artificial intelligence module with personalized and unpredictable, but logical behavior which evolves while the subject learns new things and experiences both pleasant and unpleasant events. This is not based on state machines or simple behavior trees. Instead, it is based on my own research in the field of artificial intelligence, and it resembles real cognitive information processing. It has both low level reactive and higher level analytical modules. Thus, it can react quickly when necessary, but otherwise it may analyze the situation and formulate complex plans.
While AI algorithms resolve the actions and emotions of the cat, these resolutions are expressed to the viewer by animating the movement, posture and expressions of the cat. Changes in emotional state are relayed to animation subsystem, which then adjusts head, tail, fur, legs, eyes and mouth in a realistic manner.
This is just a beginning, and many behavior patterns are still missing, as are many animation patterns. But my plan is to have quite soon a believable virtual cat in a virtual reality environment.
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