Curtin University is a full partner in a European Union 5th Framework project called InterFace.
The coordinator at Curtin is Andrew Marriott but many suffer under his whip....

A brief description of the project follows.

Multimodal Analysis/Synthesis System for Human Interaction
to Virtual and Augmented Environments

Sector: Virtual Environments and Imaging
Technical : Virtual Reality, Multimodal Interfaces, Auditory/Visual Emotion Analysis
Uses : Multimodal Web Interfaces, Shared and Augmented Environments, Telepresence

 
Project Abstract :
The project will define new models and will implement advanced tools for audio-video analysis, synthesis and representation in order to provide essential technologies for the implementation of large-scale virtual and augmented environments. The metaphor, which will inspire the project approach, is oriented to make man-machine interaction as natural as possible, based on everyday human communication means like speech, facial expressions and body gestures from both sides. A case study application on Internet will be developed and demonstrated.
 
Curtin's activities in the 3 year project cover roughly 12 man months.