Synthetic Social Relationships in Animated Virtual Characters

• Main Authors: Bill Tomlinson, Bruce Blumberg
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: Canis lupus; gray wolf
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.20.547; http://badger.www.media.mit.edu/people/badger/Publications/SABCameraReady.pdf

We describe a multi-agent system based on the social behavior of the gray wolf (Canis lupus). This system, shown as an interactive installation at SIGGRAPH 2001, allows several participants to direct semi-autonomous wolf pups in a virtual pack. The heart of the system is a simple, biologicallyinspired mechanism by which synthetic entities form social relationships with each other. This mechanism enables the virtual wolves to form relationships with each other that are both biologically plausible and engaging to participants in the installation. Systems like the one described in this paper could be of use in a variety of domains, for example, as platforms for simulation, as educational aids, and as entertainment media.