3D Animator
The Felt Experience And Empathy Lab
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
The ARC Laureate felt Experience & Empathy Lab [fEEL] has developed a suite of artificially intelligent [AI] digital companions using innovative design approaches with people with lived experience of dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. Its aim is to develop characters that can provide meaningful companionship and emotional support, as well as experiential learning opportunities. I worked on the development of a prototype AI character, Sophie, building a library of animations to help people with neurological disorders connect with the AI companion. This initiative involved working with a 3D Animation lead, riggers and other animators and learning to take advice and giving it to others. To do this, I interviewed two of the individuals that Sophie’s character was based on to help me recreate the mannerisms of these individuals and make the AI character’s movements more realistic. It also involved creating a series of modular animations that could transition from one to the other with no clipping. I particularly enjoyed creating the subtle motions that brought these characters from being an audio-visual artwork to an AI character that could communicate and form social connections.The AI companions have been deployed in aged care residential facilities in Australia as well as in exhibition/education contexts. My work is also being referenced by a MPhil candidate at UNSW.