Non-verbal interface of a personal agent based on symbiotic computing model

Distributed workers working at distant places have been supported by various kinds of groupware tools which enable a sharing of information, documentation, schedule and communication among them, which have been introduced into face-to-face offices of enterprises at the beginning for improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation and general development of collaborative practice. However, due to difficulties for isolated workers to share work awareness of a distant workplace, a new framework to take empathetic care of each worker working at home or a isolated workplaces is required. In this paper, first, we propose a concept of a partner agent watching over a worker working with other co-workers at a distant workplace, and second, we design a partner agent running on the OMAS platform to communicate with other agents. The agent dedicated to a worker has functions to watch over him/her using various kinds of sensors and knowledge on behavior of workers at work.