THEMATIC SESSION #3

Crafting Virtual Humans for Immersive XR Applications: Advancements, Applications, and Challenges

ORGANIZED BY

user_2.png Francesco Strada

Francesco Strada

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

user_2.png Andrea Bottino

Andrea Bottino

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

user_2.png Stefano Calzolari

Stefano Calzolari

Politecnico di Torino, Italy

ABSTRACT

The convergence of advances in artificial intelligence, computer vision, natural language processing, and real-time graphics has enabled the creation of lifelike, interactive virtual humans (VHs) capable of fostering meaningful interactions in XR environments. These VHs are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can use multimodal communication, both verbal and non-verbal cues, to create natural and immersive experiences. As these technologies evolve, user interaction with VHs is progressing beyond traditional methods to embrace more adaptive and context-aware paradigms, such as real-time emotion recognition and personalized dialogue systems, that deepen engagement and empathy. Meanwhile, researchers and developers focus on tools and frameworks that enable scalable, efficient design and deployment of VHs on XR platforms, with advances in generative AI playing a critical role in realistic behavior modeling and animation synthesis.

However, the widespread adoption of VHs raises urgent ethical and societal challenges. Protecting privacy, mitigating bias, and preventing manipulation is critical to developing responsible VHs that society can trust and accept. In addition, the gap between achieving human-like behavior and the efficiency of computers remains a major technical challenge.

The main objective of this Thematic Session is to bring together researchers, practitioners, and industry experts to discuss the design, development, application, and impact of VHs in XR environments. By fostering interdisciplinary dialog, the session aims to highlight the latest breakthroughs, address current challenges, and explore future opportunities for VHs in the XR landscape.

TOPICS

This session welcomes original research, case studies, and theoretical insights on topics including but not limited to:

  • Enhancing verbal and non-verbal communication capabilities to create more lifelike interactions, including affective computing approaches that foster empathy and deeper user engagement.
  • Tools and frameworks for designing and deploying virtual humans across XR platforms.
  • Exploring novel interaction metaphors (e.g., gesture-based control, adaptive context-aware inputs, and beyond) to expand how users engage with virtual humans.
  • Leveraging generative AI for realistic behavioral modeling, animation synthesis, and adaptive interactions.
  • Ethical concerns concerning VH (privacy, bias and manipulation).
  • Trust and acceptance of VH in society.
  • Future challenges in bridging the gap between human-like behavior and computational efficiency.
  • Applications and case studies (i.e. VH in healthcare, in simulation, gaming, storytelling, and virtual companions in genre).
  • Assessment methodologies and metrics for evaluating the realism, effectiveness, and user experience when interacting with VHs.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS

Francesco Strada is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Control and Computer Engineering of Politecnico di Torino, where he conducts research under the Computer Graphics and Vision research group of the same university. His research interests include Virtual and Augmented Reality for learning and training, Serious Games, Human-Computer Interaction, and immersive technologies in collaborative scenarios.

Andrea Bottino is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Control and Computer Engineering of the Politecnico di Torino, where he heads the Computer Graphics and Vision research group of the same university. His current research interests include Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction, Serious Games, and Virtual and Augmented Reality. He is a member of the IEEE.

Stefano Calzolari is currently a PhD student at the Department of Control and Computer Engineering of the Politecnico di Torino where he conducts research under the Computer Graphics and Vision research group of the same university. His current research interests include Virtual Humans for Virtual and Augmented Reality applications.

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