The quest for natural interactivity we have witnessed in the past few years has put the area of synthetic characters into the limelight. In the GAIPS group we believe that human computer communication can be greatly enhanced with the use of these synthetic characters. Thus, we are researching theories and techniques for building believable synthetic characters that humans like to interact with. The basis of our work lies in fundamental research areas such as intelligent agents architectures, facial expression, body expression, gestures, emotion and attention and affective neuroscience. We draw our core knowledge from these disciplines and we apply it in practical situations such as intelligent learning environments, computer games and virtual storytelling.

We believe that all these research contributions allow us to build characters that are not only believable but also as remarkable and unforgettable, as humans are.