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With the rise of the aging population, the demand of care increases yet the turnover rate of caregivers for geriatric patients has increased over the past few decades. While many factors contribute to the caregivers’ turnover rate, inadequate training and lack of communication skills and relationship-building skills are vital issues. Technology can help in providing training for soft skills. Embodied Virtual Human (VH) assistants and Augmented Reality (AR) can be a key method to train caregivers and to improve their experience in interacting with older adults, and their perception of the interaction. We designed and developed an immersive simulation in AR where caregivers interact with an embodied VH in two different conditions, i.e., first with an unaware VH and then with a VH having simulated awareness achieved through human-in-the-loop. We conducted a study with caregivers of older adults to evaluate the usability and technology acceptance of our system. The findings suggest that the majority of the participants found the system acceptable, and rated the system as user-friendly and easy to use. 

We present an Augmented Reality (AR) experience, enabling user interaction with a Virtual Human (VH) of an older adult. We demonstrate the feasibility of the technology to foster communication and social connection between caregivers (users) and older adults (the VH). We developed a 3D model of an embodied virtual geriatric patient that demonstrates awareness of its environment and conversations, and implemented a networking protocol for remote response control with a human in the loop.