A simulation-theory inspired social learning system for interactive characters

Humans (and many other animals), display a remarkably flexible and rich array of social competencies, including the ability to interpret, predict and react appropriately to the behavior of others. We believe that developing systems that have these same sorts of social abilities is a critical step in designing animated characters and robots who appear intelligent and capable in their behavior, and who are intuitive and engaging for humans to interact with. Research in human development suggests that the ability to learn by watching others, and in particular, the ability to imitate, could be crucial precursors to the development of appropriate social behavior, and ultimately the ability to reason about the thoughts, intents, beliefs, and desires of others. In this paper, we present Max T. Mouse, an anthropomorphic animated mouse character who uses his own motor and action representations to interpret the behaviors he sees his friend Morris Mouse performing (a process known as simulation theory in the cognitive literature). Max's imitation and social learning system allows him to identify simple goals and motivations for Morris's behavior, which we consider a front-end component needed for the larger project of developing characters who act in accord with a full theory of mind.