Conversational Interaction with Multiple Agents Initiated via Proxemics and Gaze

This paper explores the use of proxemics and gaze in multimodal multiparty interaction in virtual reality (VR). While many applications with sophisticated implementations have been developed, we sought to create, using more lightweight tools, a multimodal multiparty application in which users had a strong sense of both autonomy and immersion. In conversations with virtual agents, true mixed-initiative interaction is difficult to achieve because initiative can include choice of topic. Our work suggests that using proxemics and gaze can enable multiparty conversations with virtual agents that more closely resemble mixed-initiative interaction.