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Kuzushi Labs · Applied research and engineering

Engineering conversational avatars

Avashi's client-commissioned research: avatar generation, procedural animation, text and voice, persistent memory, and the mobile and budget constraints that closed the engagement.

Arunank Sharan · May 2026 · 8 articles · 7,090 words

An experimental project, now closed. These articles connect inspected code and asset measurements with the decisions behind the work. Reference contracts and proposed acceptance profiles are identified as such.

Start the series →Project overviewDownload articles and examples

Parts 1–3 examine the brief and generation approaches. Parts 4–6 connect animation, conversation and memory. Parts 7–8 cover mobile resource budgets, evaluation and research closure.

  1. PART 01 · 5 min read

    An internal avatar platform: the research brief and the approach map

    The client brief, five engineering contracts, the explored approaches and why Avashi remained experimental.

  2. PART 02 · 5 min read

    Parametric generation: FLAME, Anny and the topology contract

    The implemented parametric face path, body-model exploration, approximate facial controls and export correctness.

  3. PART 03 · 5 min read

    Blender, imported avatars and the gap after generative 3D

    Blender and imported-asset experiments, measured asset properties and the work between a generated mesh and an animated character.

  4. PART 04 · 5 min read

    Expressions, lip sync and the alternative Live2D path

    Procedural layers, ADSR timing, speech/emotion arbitration, playback synchronization and the alternative 2D path.

  5. PART 05 · 5 min read

    Text and voice on top of the avatar runtime

    Streaming text, Pipecat and LiveKit, event identity, cancellation and a coherent conversational lifecycle.

  6. PART 06 · 5 min read

    Memory across conversations: identity, retrieval and correction

    Document, vector and graph memory; identity scope, prefetch, corrections, projection repair and evaluation.

  7. PART 07 · 5 min read

    Why the rendered avatar was too heavy for mobile

    Measured file properties, transfer and graphics-memory arithmetic, pixel ratio and a concrete mobile acceptance profile.

  8. PART 08 · 5 min read

    Evaluating the complete avatar product—and knowing when to stop

    How to evaluate assets, runtime, conversation and continuity—and make a bounded decision to restart or stop.