My research interests revolve around Human(Centred)-Computer Interaction with a strong emphasis on Socially Interactive Agents (in particular their nonverbal expressivity) and Video Games.

Some projects:

STANDUP4AI

The objective of this project is to develop computational models of humor that can endow conversational agents with fluid and effective humoristic abilities—namely, the capacity to understand and generate humor when appropriate, in order to enrich human–machine interaction. Within this project, together with Valentin Barrière and Catherine Pelachaud, I supervise the PhD research of Sofia Callejas Paz, whose work focuses on developing novel multimodal machine learning techniques for humor modeling, based on stand-up comedy videos.

ATMOSPHERES

The objective of this project is to develop a computational model of narrative tension for virtual reality storytelling. Within this project, together with Anne-Gwenn Bosser and Nathalie Le Bigot, I co-supervise the PhD research of Gwendal Paton, which focuses on the development of a computational model for controlling the affective expressivity of virtual actors surrounding the spectators.

RunIt

The objective of this project is to investigate how group motivation for running can be fostered through mobile and wearable applications. Within this project, together with Jean-Claude Martin and Xavier Sanchez, I co-supervise the PhD research of Gabriela Gomes where I focused on understanding how different motivation theories can be articulated and applied through gamification.

CoMPhAR

The objective of this project is to investigate how group cohesion can be maintained during collaborative games involving artificial companions (robots and virtual agents), by leveraging their nonverbal expressiveness. Within this project, together with Julien Saunier, Céline Clavel, and Nicolas Sabouret, I co-supervise Amine Benamara on the development of the associated computational models.

Automatic Facial Animation (completed)

This project's objective was to develop of a new machine learning model of automatic facial animation (facial expressions and lip movements), synchronized with the audio of the virtual agent, capable of adapting the generation to express different social attitudes. Within this project, with Magalie Ochs, Nicolas Sabouret, Stéphane Ayache and Sébastien Biaudet, I co-supervised Alice Delbosc's PhD thesis on this topic.

PADME (completed)

This project's objective was to investigate how to take into account a user personnality to adapt interactions within a mobile application aimed at promoting physical activities. This project was the PhD thesis of David Rei, whom I co-supervised with Jean-Claude Martin and Céline Clavel.

ANR VirtuAlz (completed)

This project's objective was to develop of an innovative pedagogical software for healthcare professionals to train them on how to handle daily interactions with Alzheimer patients. Within this project, with Jean-Claude Martin and Elise Prigent, I co-supervised Amine Benamara's PhD thesis on the elaboration of a computational pathological model of emotions for a virtual patient.

ANR COPAINS (completed)

This project's objective was to develop a software assistant able to influence positively the motivation of users towards physical activities for health improvement. Within this project, with Nicolas Sabouret and Céline Clavel, we investigated the effect of motivational interviewing techniques and principles on a user's self-efficacy when applied in a human-computer interaction.

MIMETIC (completed)

This project's objective was to create a tangible interactive device aimed at training children with ASD to perform joint-actions. Within this project, with Jean-Claude Martin and Elise Prigent, I co-supervised Tom Giraud on the tracking of the tangible objects and on the visualization of the children's activities with the system.

ImCasting (completed)

This project's objective was to investigate the development of an immersive game environment designed to support the interactive training of motions for Socially Interactive Agents. Within this project, with Huyen Nguyen, I co-supervised Miriam Punzi's Master thesis who built and evaluated the first version of the system.