How a virtual human could be your coach

A mixed reality project is researching how humans interact with virtual humans over smartphones and video-based chat services.

Characters created by USC's ICT Mixed Reality Lab have realistic voices and faces which can nod and smile to help the user feel like they are engaging in the conversation.

The aim of the project is to improve the persuasiveness of artificial intelligence and help humans to be better guided by robots into making decisions.

BBC Click's Marc Cieslak finds out more.

More at BBC.com/Click and @BBCClick.