Generating Steering Behaviors for Virtual Humanoids using BVP Control

One of the main challenges on animating embodied autonomous characters in real-time applications is the ability to generate believable behaviors, more precisely, actors capable of moving in a natural and improvisational manner. In this paper we propose an elegant and low cost solution based upon boundary value problems (BVP) to control steering behaviors of characters. We use a field potential formalism that allows synthetic actors to move negotiating space, avoiding collisions, and attaining goals, while producing very individual paths. The individuality of each character can be set by changing its inner field parameters leading to a broad range of possible behaviors. To illustrate the technique potentialities, some results exploring situations as steering behavior in corridors with collision avoidance and competition for a goal, and searching for objects in unknown environments are presented and discussed.