Question Answering with BERT: designing a 3D virtual avatar for Cultural Heritage exploration

Abstract

Recent technological developments are changing how people experience physical and virtual environments. Technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR), today, are impacting daily life and are being used in various domains including Cultural Heritage. Applying intelligence to applications using these technologies, through AI and Deep Learning can provide a more immersive user experience. In this paper, we propose the design of a system that realize an avatar with question-answering capabilities, for the specific purpose of giving help in immersive navigation of cultural heritage sites. It is based on a BERT model tailored to the Italian language and will use the Unity platform for the implementation. The system in its current state works as a prototype and will be used soon inside virtual tours of Sicilian Cultural Heritage sites.