Abstract

In today's world, the concept of agents has been widely adopted across multiple domains and disciplines. One of the fields in which this term became significantly popular is the field of computing and computer science. One emerging sub-field of computing is Virtual Worlds, and with the advancements of technology, the concept of Metaverse. When the concept of Metaverse is used in the domain of education, it is typically referred to as the EduVerse. As technology advances and Metaverse applications are becoming popular with the general public, the role of embodied virtual agents is becoming increasingly relevant. While various types of virtual agents have been developed and studied across different domains in the scientific literature, there remains a lack of synthesized understanding regarding their use in educational virtual environments and, to an extent, in EduVerse applications. Building on this notion, this paper attempts to address these gaps and provides a narrative review of agents in the domain of computer science and AI, a survey of the most frequently used types of embodied virtual agents in the context of education, synthesizes their potential when they are used in different applications, and finally this paper discusses potential future research directions on using embodied virtual agents in EduVerse applications.