Seminar on Human-AI Integration

Title: Democratizing Lifelike Avatars

Speaker:  Kiran Chhatre
     KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
     Sony Computer Science Laboratories – Kyoto, Japan

Date: May 2, 2025 (Fri), 15:00-16:00 pm (JST)

Venue: Ishibashi Memorial Hall, 3F, Daiwa Ubiquitous Computing Research Building (On-site only)

Language: English

We are pleased to host the following seminar by Kiran Chhatre , a PhD student from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. As the topic lies at the intersection of Human-AI integration, we encourage everyone with interest in this interdisciplinary area to attend.

Abstract:

In this seminar, I will explore how to combine real‐world data with synthetic data to create lifelike, emotionally expressive 3D avatars. I will discuss how we generate 3D synthetic data from video and motion capture to enrich behavior modeling, leading to controllable speech‐driven gestures and facial animations. Through VR‐based user studies, we find that affective states and animation diversity significantly enhance user engagement and presence. Finally, our goal is to democratize avatar creation, enabling more natural human–avatar interactions in immersive environments.

Bio:

Kiran Chhatre is a PhD candidate at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. During his PhD he has been a guest PhD candidate at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Perceiving Systems department). Currently Kiran is a PhD intern at Sony CSL Kyoto, working under the mentorship of Prof. Jun Rekimoto.

His academic website is https://chhatrekiran.github.io/