STEP: A Scripting Language for Embodied Agents

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STEP Papers

  • Zhisheng Huang, Anton Eliens, and Cees Visser, STEP: A Scripting Language for Embodied Agents, Proceedings of the Workshop on Lifelike Animated Agents 2002.
    Abstract. In this paper we propose a scripting language, called STEP, for embodied agents, in particular for their communicative acts like gestures and postures. Based on the formal semantics of dynamic logics, STEP has a solid semantic foundation, in spite of a rich number of variants of the compositional operators and interaction facilities on worlds. STEP has been implemented in the distributed logic programming language DLP, a tool for the implementation of 3D web agents. In this paper, we discuss principles of scripting language design for embodied agents and several aspects of the application of STEP.

  • Anton Eliens, Zhisheng Huang, and Cees Visser, A platform for Embodied Conversational Agents based on Distributed Logic Programming, Proceeding of the Workshop AAMAS, 2002.
    Abstract. In this paper we will outline the requirements for a software platform supporting embodied conversational agents. These requirements encompass computational concerns as well as presentation facilities, providing a suitably rich environment for applications deploying conversational agents. We will then propose a platform based on the distributed logic programming language DLP and X3D, the extensible Web3D format. Three case studies will be described, illus- trating the potential of the DLP+X3D platform: a multi- user game with autonomous players, avatars commenting on rich media presentations, and a gesture scripting language for humanoids based on dynamic logic. In conclusion, we will discuss related work and review the evaluation criteria that pertain to the deployment of embod- ied conversational agents in rich media 3D environments. faces actually do provide added value.

  • Zhisheng Huang, Anton Eliens, and Cees Visser, XSTEP: a Markup Language for Embodied Agents, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents (CASA'2003), IEEE Press, 2003.
    Abstract. In this paper we propose an XML-based markup language, called XSTEP, for embodied agents, based on the scripting language STEP. XSTEP is the XML-based successor of STEP. The scripting language STEP incorporates the formal semantics of dynamic logic, and has been implemented in the distributed logic programming language DLP, a tool for the implementation of 3D web agents. In this paper, we discuss the issues of markup language design for embodied agents and several aspects of the implementation and application of XSTEP.

  • Other publications

    • Contact Zhisheng Huang for comments or suggestion.