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Synthetic Characters Group ::
Bill Tomlinson, Marc Downie, Matt Berlin, Jesse Gray,
Adolph Wong, Robert Burke, Damian Isla, Yuri Ivanov, Michael P.
Johnson, Derek Lyons, Jennie Cochran, Bryan Yong, and Bruce Blumberg
Alpha Wolf is an interactive project in which
the visitor can become part of a wolves' pack, forming social group
interaction by challenging other animals for dominance. Participants
can interact with the pack comprised of autonomous and semi-autonomous
wolfs by howling, growling, whimpering or barking into a microphone,
or by using a mouse to encourage their wolves to interact with specific
other members of the pack. By letting participants »get inside
the mind and body« of a virtual wolf, AlphaWolf provides a
compelling opportunity to explore the meaning of social behavior.
The project was developed by the Synthetic Characters Group at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] in Boston, directed
by Prof. Bruce Blumberg. The research that created the project has
potential applications in a variety of areas, such as the field
of human-computer interface design, artificial intelligence, computational
biology, as well as computer games or interactive cinematography.
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