NEM: A LANGUAGE FOR ANIMATION OF ACTORS AND OBJECTS

Abstract

The animation of actors and objects is considered in the framework of knowledge representation, with particular regard to motor knowledge. In our opinion, a formal model for motor knowledge should fill a gap between action planning and low level computer animation graphics; such model should be able to "virtualize" the actor and the interaction with the environment so that the planner could produce (and rely on) high level abstract actions, characterized by high autonomy and naturality. The paper discusses some general aspects about actions, actors, and scenes, and finally describes the NEM language, for the representation and animation of humanoids in a scene, which is meant to provide a software laboratory for experimenting with action schemas.