EMPATHI

The Project

SPIRIT – Scalable Platform for Innovations on Real-time Immersive Telepresence, (SPIRIT, 101070672), which is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme, researches, develops, and demonstrates low-latency and scalable solutions that will ultimately bring real-time immersive telepresence into practice.

Telepresence represents the next generation of communication applications that will significantly improve immersive experiences in both human-to-human and human-to-machine interactions by blurring the physical and virtual worlds. While this is already influencing how we work, it will have an even greater impact in the future, contributing to increased resilience to environmental disruptions, industry productivity, and energy efficiency. Due to their complexity, cost, data compression, and bandwidth requirements, these solutions have not been scaled yet.

The EMPATHI (Emotion Modeling for Personalized Avatars Telepresence in Heritage Interaction) project, proposed by RE:LAB, EMOJ and UnivPM, is developed in the framework of the SPIRIT project through the funding of its second open call, with the aim of to enhance SPIRIT’s Real-Time Animation and Streaming of Realistic Avatars use case by integrating an innovative emotional recognition component.

The use case of EMPATHI is projected around an emotionally responsive 3D avatar modelled as Ludovico Ariosto, the Renaissance poet, to guide visitors through the “Atelier Furiose Interazioni” technological exhibit at Palazzo del Mauriziano in Italy. This avatar translates in real time, into corresponding emotional representations through an Emotional GUI, the producer’s emotions, ensuring a natural and engaging interaction.