"Like Having Family Nearby": An LLM-Powered Family-Resembling Avatar for offering Psychological Support and Training Guidance during Stroke Rehabilitatio

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 "Like Having Family Nearby": An LLM-Powered Family-Resembling Avatar for offering Psychological Support and Training Guidance during Stroke Rehabilitation

Peixuan Xiong Computational Media and Arts Thrust The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Guangzhou, China pxiong843@connect.hkust-gz.edu.cn 

Zhenyu Wang Intelligent Transportation Thrust The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Guangzhou, China zwang209@connect.hkust-gz.edu.cn Kaishun 

Wu Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Guangzhou, China wuks@hkust-gz.edu.cn Yuling Wang∗ 

Bingchen Guo The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Guangzhou, China ucabbg1@ucl.ac.uk Xian Li School of Design Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen, Guangdong, China 12011010@mail.sustech.edu.cn 

Xian Li

School of Design

Southern University of Science and

Technology

Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

12011010@mail.sustech.edu.cn

Xian Li

The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun

Yat-sen University

Guangzhou, China

sophielixian@163.com

Chao Liu The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) Guangzhou, China cliu009@connect.hkust-gz.edu.cn 

Nianci Zhao The Chinese University of Hongkong, Shenzhen Shenzhen, Guangdong, China niancizhao@link.cuhk.edu.cn 

Chen Gong The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, Guangdong, China gongch33@mail.sysu.edu.cn The Hong Kong University of Science The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, China 

Yuling Wang∗

Bingchen Guo

The Hong Kong University of Science

and Technology (Guangzhou)

Guangzhou, China

ucabbg1@ucl.ac.uk

wangyul@mail.sysu.edu.cn and Technology (Guangzhou) Guangzhou, China The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong, China 

Mingming Fan∗

Department of Rehabilitation

Medicine

and Technology (Guangzhou)

Guangzhou, China

The Hong Kong University of Science

and Technology

Hong Kong, China

mingmingfan@ust.hk

Figure 1: Personalized companion–coach system: (A) Avatar enrollment. Assembling a family-member avatar by reconstructing head avatars from a single photo and voice cloning from voice recording. (B)Runtime. The patient converses with the avatar. The avatar uses Gemini for dialogue and uses Qwen3-VL for action understanding. The avatar can simultaneously serve as a conversational companion and provide rehabilitation training guidance. 

Abstract 

Stroke rehabilitation is prolonged and emotionally demanding, yet family members cannot provide continuous companionship or coaching. We explore a family-resembling avatar that offers psy chological support and training guidance when relatives cannot be present. We conducted an empirical user study with six stroke patients and their family members (N=12). Our qualitative find ings suggest such companions may reduce loneliness and increase perceived warmth, while action-relevant guidance can comple mentcaregivers’ limited rehabilitation knowledge. Participants also raised concerns about emotional dependence, privacy, and the need for stronger clinical alignment to avoid inappropriate guidance. We discuss implications for designing family-resembling companion coach avatars with clear boundaries, privacy-preserving personal ization, and supervised deployment in rehabilitation workflows.