Can We Take Out CARLA from the Uncanny Valley? Analyzing Avatar Design of an Educational Conversational Agent

The integration of conversational agents into virtual-reality educational environments holds immense promise. However, the uncanny valley phenomenon looms as a critical challenge, potentially impacting the effectiveness of these educational agents. This manuscript delves into the pivotal role of avatar design within virtual-reality educational systems and its implications for user experience during learning sessions. In this work, a comprehensive comparison of two distinct avatars used by a virtual-reality conversational educational agent was undertaken, exploring their impact on user acceptance and enjoyability. Through user feedback, the avatar design that mitigates the uncanny valley effect was determined, ultimately allowing to choose the best avatar to enhance human-computer interaction.