10107780Overcome the fear of public speaking with MRClosedLaunchpadInnovate UKVirtualSpeech was founded from a bedroom in Leamington Spa in 2016 as the first virtual reality (VR) app to overcome the fear of public speaking and practice communication skills in a safe, risk-free environment. Since then, we have expanded to a suite of award-winning soft skills courses, which combine e-learning with practice online and in VR. Now, we are looking to leverage the next state-of-the-art technology for overcoming the fear of public speaking: Mixed Reality (MR) and Generative AI. This project will focus on the development of an MR solution, where digital avatars are overlaid onto a user's physical environment. This means that a user can go to the exact room they will be speaking in and practice in the most realistic way possible, giving them the opportunity to improve both their competence and, crucially, their confidence. Practicing with MR will increase the realism, accessibility, and effectiveness of active learning, enabling the learner to learn through experience directly at the point of need. We will integrate Generative AI into our diverse range of avatars to be able to simulate a range of conversations for people to practice roleplays with. The avatars will have the ability to speak and respond to the learner in real-time, as well as have the ability to ask the user questions based on what they've said, and be reactive to what the user is saying (eg. clapping at the end of a presentation). The avatar will then provide feedback to the learner on both the content and delivery of what the user said. The avatar will act as a coach, highlighting the user's strengths and areas for improvement, and even offer 'ideal' responses for them to learn from. We will create three environments to practice communication skills: a meeting room (1 avatar), a conference room (10+ avatars), and a job interview scenario (3-4 avatars). The output of this project will be an innovative new solution to overcome the fear of public speaking. There will be a working demo product ready to sell into the adult education and higher education sectors.