1. Virtual Human Project

2. What is it? Embodied Conversational Agents Fake real intelligence!
No deep understanding
No real NLP

3. Tools AIMLpad – Source: Web locations:
(has a great tutorial)
Also on sourceforge

4. AIMLpad Notepad based for Windows Has hooks for Wordnet OpenCYC
Built-in script langauge
Editor interface
Microsoft agent interface

5. How do you build one? Pick your topic areas.
Define the knowledge for the area.
Build scripts using AIML
(Covered in another talk)
But How Do You Make It Really Work?

6. Process Choose a topic area for your bot Design Elements
Personality
Quirks, habits and verbal idiosyncrasies
Backstory
Humor
Write and test
Add AIML and have your group and friends try it out

7. Backstory Character Sketch Past history Friends Family
The elements that make a person have depth

8. Features of Uniqueness
Personality
Personal comments
“In my opinion”
Quirks
Habits
Verbal idiosyncrasies
Ways of phrasing
Idiomatic expressions – cool, “fur surely”, etc.

9. Humor
Funny comments
Side or snide remarks
Tell a joke?

10. Project Document Describe your chatbot Describe your design process
Lessons learned
Submit the bot to me in a zip file.

11. Resources AIML and AliceBot - http://www.alicebot.org/ Cyn project
Tutorials for AIMLpad program
AIMLpad is downloadable from my AI page

12. Install AIMLpad Get the zip files from the web
Unzip into a directory – point all the unzips a the same target and the files will go to the right place
Run the exe and when the window appears click on the “cartoon speech bubble”