An integrated perception for autonomous virtual agents: active and predictive perception

This paper presents an original model with methodologies that integrate in a novel way different types of an autonomous virtual agent’s perception in a virtual environment. Our first new approach permits the coherent management of the shared virtual environment for the simulations of an autonomous virtual agent (AVA). Our second approach allows the prediction or the estimation of both the orientation and the attention of an AVA in a virtual environment. By means of a test application with a ‘virtual goalkeeper’, we demonstrate the speed and the robustness of our technique. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.