Most of us interact with computers of one sort or another on a daily basis - but this 'interaction' is generally task-oriented and rather one-sided. Making computer interfaces more 'human' has been a long-standing ambition for researchers. A team of European researchers has developed exciting prototypes that go some way to doing just that.
The virtual-companions-for-conversation system developed by researchers at EU-funded COMPANIONS ('Companions: persistent multi-modal interfaces to the Internet') moves on from traditional task-based interaction to social interaction.