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Chapter 33EMBODIED CONVERSATIONAL AGENTSIN E-COMMERCE APPLICATIONSHelen McBreenCentre for Communication Interface Research, The University of EdinburghAbstractThis section discusses an empirical evaluation of 3D embodied conversationalagents, in three interactive VRML e-commerce environments: a cinema boxoffice,a travel agency and a bank. Results showed participants enjoyed speakingto the agents and expressed a desire for agents in the cinema to be informallydressed but those in the bank to be formally dressed. Qualitative results suggestedthat participants found it difficult to assign a degree of trust to the agentsin the banking application.1. IntroductionThe emerging interest in embodied conversational agents (ECA’s) coupledwith the growing evidence [1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12] that embodiment can enhanceuser interface design has fuelled a challenging research agenda and developingembodied agents that behave socially in an interaction has become the principalgoal for many interdisciplinary researchers involved with the developmentof intelligent communicative systems. Virtual Reality Modelling Language(VRML) is an effective tool to describe 3D environments increasing the informationdensity for the user and adding additional layers of perception andmeaning to the experience [5]. Inhabiting 3D environments with 3D embodiedagents and endowing these agents with conversational capabilities can promotean effective social interaction. Cassell et al [6] have explored the affordancesof embodiment and showed that an ECA can improve the interaction and theexperience for the user because the agent “enables the use of certain communicationprotocols in face-to-face conversation which provide for a more richand robust channel of communication than is afforded by any other mediumavailable today”.Hayes-Roth [7] has proposed that the Internet should be inhabited withsmart interactive characters that can engage users with social communication