The Design and Development of an Embodied Semi-Autonomous Mentoring Intelligence (SAMI) for Use in Virtual Reality Interventions, Operationalized for the Self-Management of Chronic Pain

Abstract

Introduction: Avatars are becoming more common in virtual reality, used as a guide, teacher, companion, or mentor through immersive experiences. Special attention needs to be paid to their design to ensure credibility and working alliance, to allow for the optimal delivery of behavior change content.Methods: We present a new embodied Semi-Autonomous Mentoring Intelligence (SAMI) avatar used in an immersive virtual reality intervention for the self-management of chronic pain. We discuss the research findings that were taken into consideration and guided the design and development of SAMI, such methods to promote working alliance with non-human agents, optimal characteristics of non-human agents, and features of effective “automation”.Conclusion: We provide a table of considerations and recommendations for researchers involved in designing future virtual reality characters. We provide suggestions on how future research could advance SAMI further for use in pain management and related interventions.

Mapping the Design Space of Technology-Based Solutions for Better Chronic Pain Care: Introducing the Pain Tech Landscape

“…For example, ML has been used most often for classification or diagnosis of patients with pain, yet there are still relatively few trials of ML-guided pain treatments, including behavioral or psychosocial (29). Chatbots, or digital conversational agents, have been used fairly extensively in depression and anxiety treatment, but rarely for psychological treatments for pain (30,31). Although some sensor technologies, such as activity trackers, are now a standard component of many cognitive-behavioral pain interventions, other sensor applications, such as pain assessment, are still in their infancy (32).…”