Applying biometric principles to avatar recognition

Marina L. Gavrilova, University of Calgary
Roman Yampolskiy, University of Louisville

Abstract

Domestic and industrial robots, intelligent software agents, and virtual world avatars are quickly becoming a part of our society. Just like it is necessary to be able to accurately authenticate identity of human beings, it is becoming essential to be able to determine identities of the non-biological entities. This paper presents current state of the art in virtual reality security, focusing specifically on emerging methodologies for avatar authentication. It also makes a strong link between avatar recognition and current biometric research. Finally, future directions and potential applications for this high impact research field are discussed. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.