Third-Person Interactive Control of Humanoid with Real-Time Motion Planning Algorithm

Interactive avatar control means a control mechanism using AI techniques to improve user navigation efficiency as well as visual realism in a 3D virtual environment. This paper reports a novel approach to enhancing intelligent navigation interface with a third-person control mechanism. We use the concept of CT-space roadmap to design a new motion planning algorithm that can generate collision-free motions for the upper-body of an avatar walking in a cluttered virtual environment. We have designed a mechanism to allow motion generation and execution to occur in parallel such that collision-free motions can be generated in real time. We believe that this type of intelligent interface can enhance the efficiency of avatar navigation as well as improve the realism of the generated avatar motions. The same techniques can also be applied to the motion control of humanoid robots to avoid obstacles in real time