A Remote Breathing Relaxation System- A case-study for Web-based Real-time Adaptive Human to Virtual Human Interaction

We present a web-based design for a human agent interaction (HAI) system. In this relaxation system a virtual-human acts as a breathing coach and guides the user along with it using a series of breathing exercises. The core of the proposed design is a step ladder approach for optimising the difficulty level of the breathing exercises. We are using real-time optimisation to achieve a seamless and effective interaction between the human user and the virtual coach. For the user to have a personalised exercise, the coach adapts the exercise regime based on the user’s response. For a natural interaction experience, our virtual coach looks like a human, speaks in human voice and displays nonverbal gestures.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Sanobar Dar

Aniko Ekart

Ulysses Bernardet

Conference

Publication date: July 2022

Publication date (Print): July 2022

Pages: 1-4

Affiliations

[0001]Aston University

UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2022.32

SO-VID: ba3c224b-0cba-4646-a789-9942feb2c48d

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: 35th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI2022

Conference number: 35

Conference location: Keele, Staffordshire

Conference date: July 11th to 13th, 2022

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Towards a Human-Centred Digital Society

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2022.32

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

[[1]] S. Dar and U. Bernardet, “When agents become partners: A review of the role the implicit plays in the interaction with artificial social agents,” Multimodal Technol. Interact., vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 1–24, 2020, doi: 10.3390/mti4040081.
[[2]] S. DMello and A. Graesser, “AutoTutor and affective autotutor: Learning by talking with cognitively and emotionally intelligent computers that talk back,” ACM Trans. Interact. Intell. Syst., vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 1–39, 2012, doi: 10.1145/2395123.2395128.
[[3]] A. Shamekhi and T. Bickmore, “Breathe deep: A breath-sensitive interactive meditation coach,” in ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2018, pp. 108–117, doi: 10.1145/3240925.3240940.
[[4]] M. Hwu, “Using Box Breathing to handle tilt/stress from Gaming.,” Healthy Environment, 2021. https://www.1-hp.org/blog/hpforgamers/using-box-breathing-to-handle-tilt-stress-from-gaming/ (accessed Aug. 03, 2021).
[[5]] nhs, “Breathing exercises for stress.” https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/breathing-exercises-for-stress (accessed May 21, 2021).
[[6]] C. Venkateswaran, M. Ramachandran, K. Ramu, V. Prasanth, and G. Mathivanan, “Application of Simulated Annealing in Various Field,” Mater. its Charact., vol. 1, no. 1, 2022, doi: 10.46632/mc/1/1/1.
[[7]] S. Kirkpatrick, C. . Gelatt, and M. . Vecchi, “Optimization By Simulated Annealing,” Constraints, vol. 220, no. 4598, 1983, [Online]. Available: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.220.4598.671?casa_token=XGQARKDjfhYAAAAA:lRbJ0qrR6226ul2LMHgeOYmj49lueAftYnrPn8bw3rX8wqMrWc_fofpDg_FdJWISu54G6V_X-g204Q.
[[8]] D. Brennan, “WebMD,” 2021. https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-box-breathing (accessed Jan. 12, 2022).
[[9]] S. Dar, V. Lush, and U. Bernardet, “The Virtual Human Breathing Relaxation System,” in 5th Experiment@International Conference (exp.at’19), 2019, pp. 276–277, doi: 10.1109/EXPAT.2019.8876478.
[[10]] Hutong Games, “playMaker.” https://hutonggames.com (accessed Jul. 29, 2021).
[[11]] E. A. Holloway and R. J. West, “Integrated breathing and relaxation training (the Papworth method) for adults with asthma in primary care: a randomised controlled trial,” Thorax, vol. 62, no. 12, pp. 1039–1042, Jul. 2007, doi: 10.1136/thx.2006.076430.
[[12]] A. Zaccaro et al., “How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing,” Front. Hum. Neurosci., vol. 12, 2018, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] [[1]] S. Dar and U. Bernardet, “When agents become partners: A review of the role the implicit plays in the interaction with artificial social agents,” Multimodal Technol. Interact., vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 1–24, 2020, doi: 10.3390/mti4040081.

[2] [[2]] S. DMello and A. Graesser, “AutoTutor and affective autotutor: Learning by talking with cognitively and emotionally intelligent computers that talk back,” ACM Trans. Interact. Intell. Syst., vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 1–39, 2012, doi: 10.1145/2395123.2395128.

[3] [[3]] A. Shamekhi and T. Bickmore, “Breathe deep: A breath-sensitive interactive meditation coach,” in ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2018, pp. 108–117, doi: 10.1145/3240925.3240940.

[4] [[4]] M. Hwu, “Using Box Breathing to handle tilt/stress from Gaming.,” Healthy Environment, 2021. https://www.1-hp.org/blog/hpforgamers/using-box-breathing-to-handle-tilt-stress-from-gaming/ (accessed Aug. 03, 2021).

[5] [[5]] nhs, “Breathing exercises for stress.” https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/breathing-exercises-for-stress (accessed May 21, 2021).

[6] [[6]] C. Venkateswaran, M. Ramachandran, K. Ramu, V. Prasanth, and G. Mathivanan, “Application of Simulated Annealing in Various Field,” Mater. its Charact., vol. 1, no. 1, 2022, doi: 10.46632/mc/1/1/1.

[7] [[7]] S. Kirkpatrick, C. . Gelatt, and M. . Vecchi, “Optimization By Simulated Annealing,” Constraints, vol. 220, no. 4598, 1983, [Online]. Available: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.220.4598.671?casa_token=XGQARKDjfhYAAAAA:lRbJ0qrR6226ul2LMHgeOYmj49lueAftYnrPn8bw3rX8wqMrWc_fofpDg_FdJWISu54G6V_X-g204Q.

[8] [[8]] D. Brennan, “WebMD,” 2021. https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-box-breathing (accessed Jan. 12, 2022).

[9] [[9]] S. Dar, V. Lush, and U. Bernardet, “The Virtual Human Breathing Relaxation System,” in 5th Experiment@International Conference (exp.at’19), 2019, pp. 276–277, doi: 10.1109/EXPAT.2019.8876478.

[10] [[10]] Hutong Games, “playMaker.” https://hutonggames.com (accessed Jul. 29, 2021).

[11] [[11]] E. A. Holloway and R. J. West, “Integrated breathing and relaxation training (the Papworth method) for adults with asthma in primary care: a randomised controlled trial,” Thorax, vol. 62, no. 12, pp. 1039–1042, Jul. 2007, doi: 10.1136/thx.2006.076430.

[12] [[12]] A. Zaccaro et al., “How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing,” Front. Hum. Neurosci., vol. 12, 2018, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353.

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