CRYSTAL - ConveRsational sYSTems for Assisted Living


Abstract

The interaction of people with machines, both with robots and virtual agents, must be based on conversational agents that are capable of analyzing the environment and the context as well as being aware of the user’s needs, profile and current behaviour, among other aspects. These characteristics are especially needed when the systems target a vulnerable population, such as older adults or people with some type of disability.


Goals

In this workshop we focus on how best design and develop support for elder people when they age, and also provide assistance for people who suffer from mild mental diseases, such as depression, which also appears in old age. The objective of the CRYSTAL workshop is to address the challenges that voice-based conversational agents have to tackle in order to provide this assistance. Particular areas of interest are: affective computing that provides useful indicators of the user's state and behaviour based on sensors and/or voice and language analysis; methodologies for conversation management and language generation; person-centered design; evaluation and validation methods that consider the user; technologies to ensure the privacy and security of the data of the target population; as well as other disciplines related to the objective of the workshop.


Organizational Details

This application is submitted by some of the partners and members of the Advisory Board of the H2020 e-Vita project “EU-Japan Virtual Coach for smart ageing” and by 1 some partners of the H2020 MENHIR MSCA-RISE project “Mental health monitoring through interactive conversations”


Topics of interest include, but are not limited to

  • Voice-based conversational agents
  • Ambient Assisted Living
  • Active Healthy Living
  • Human-Robot Interaction
  • Human-Centered Computing and Design
  • Affective Computing in Conversational Agents
  • Analysis of User Behaviour
  • Dialogue Management and Language Generation
  • Intelligent assistive environments
  • Healthcare privacy and data security
  • Sensor networks for pervasive health care
  • Reasoning Systems and Machine Learning

Workshop Organizers

Prof. M. Inés Torres
Speech Interactive Research Group
Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU - Spain
manes.torres@ehu.eus

Emeritus Prof. Gérard Chollet
CNRS - Fr and Intelligent Voice - UK
gerard.chollet@telecom-sudparis.eu

Prof. Kristiina Jokinen
Artificial Intelligence Research Center,AIST - Tokyo- Japan
kristiina.jokinen@aist.go.jp

Emeritus Prof. Michael McTear
Uster University - UK
mf.mctear@ulster.ac.uk

Associate Prof. Zoraida Callejas
Universidad de Granada - Spain
zoraida@ugr.es