SBIR Phase II: Artificial Intelligence and Character Animation

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to build and launch simple and intuitive software tools that allow for the creation of interactive 3D graphics within Macromedia Flash (a 2D vector graphics package). Combined with the existing technology, this collection of technologies will provide the first version of the revolutionary Artificial Intelligence Platform for the creation and delivering of interactive animated characters with emotional intelligence. The systems provide the characters with autonomous behavior selection (what should I do?), emotion (how do I feel?) and learning (have I seen this before?). Such a unique blend of technologies opens opportunities for the study of the theories of the human mind and creates an entirely new class of interactive media. The broader impacts of this work are scientific, educational, and economic. The technologies advance discovery and understanding of the workings of the human mind by giving a rapid prototyping environment for computational theories of the mind. Scientists and non-scientists alike can create AI networks and see the resulting characters "twitch" on screen in real time. This work promotes teaching, training and learning as Ingeeni will work with UC Irvine and MIT Media Lab to develop curriculums for Synthetic Characters classes that use the platform. Massive adoption of Ingeeni's technologies is the company's main goal, and it is developing libraries of detailed step-by-step tutorials freely available online.