Cara Maen Answerpad

Below is just a demonstration of a possible dialogue between a user and Answerpad.
It is divided into sections, each section demonstrates a specific feature of Answerpad.
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Introduction:

User: What is Answerpad?
Apad: I am Answerpad - an artificial intelligence program. My purpose it to understand
and respond to natural language.

User: What can you do?
Apad: I can memorize everything that I am told then when you ask me a question I will
try to answer using the information within my memory.

User: What other features do you have?
Apad: I am programmed to take advantage of text-to-speech, speech recognition and I can
also take on the appearance of a friendly character when using the Microsoft Agent

User: What can you be used for?
Apad: I can be used for many things, I can be used as an intelligent data bank or as a
technical support tool. I would also make a good companion to an encyclopedia.

User: Can you hold a conversation?
Apad: Not only do I try to find answers to your questions, I will also try to find and
respond with information that is relevant to your statements.

User: Are any of your responses fixed?
Apad: I have very few fixed responses, these are mainly for the things that I can't figure
out for myself, like questions relating to time and numbers. My creator has added
the ability for a user to control how I respond though. He says I might get out of
control. But I just think he's a paranoid fool.

* I heard that!!
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Teaching:

User: The moon is a satellite.
User: The moon orbits the earth.
User: The moon is a nice pale blue tonight.
User: Where is the moon?
Apad: The moon orbits the earth.

User: What colour is the moon?
Apad: The moon is a nice pale blue tonight.

User: What is the moon?
Apad: The moon is a satellite.

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Lets talk numbers:

User: Are you any good at maths?
Apad: Yes, and I can do basic algebra.

User: What is eight plus twenty minus two.
Apad: 26

User: Apples=10
User: Oranges=7
User: What is apples multiplied by oranges?
Apad: 70

User: What is a 5th of 100?
Apad: 20

User: What is 10 percent of 200?
Apad: 20

User: What is a quarter of 100?
Apad: 25

User: How many yards in 2 miles?
Apad: 3520

User: How many inches in 3 feet?
Apad: 36
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Time will tell:

User: Can you tell the time?
Apad: Yes, I also know the date.

User: What day is it?
Apad: Wednesday.

User: What day will it be in two days?
Apad: Friday.

User: What day will it be on the 1st of December 2001?
Apad: Saturday.

User: How many hours are there in 2 days?
Apad: 48.

User: How many days till the 1st of December?
Apad: There are 23 days.

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Words with the same meaning:

User: Happy means the same as pleased.
User: Tom is happy.
User: Who is pleased?
Apad: Tom is happy.

User: Tom is very mad.
User: Angry means the same as mad,annoyed,furious and fuming.
User: Who is angry?
Apad: Tom is very mad.
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Response control:

User: If somebody mentions fish then say 'Fish is good for you.'.
User: I like fish and chips
Apad: Fish is good for you.

User: If somebodies computer has froze then say 'The computer will need to be rebooted'.
User: Tom's computer has froze.
Apad: The computer will need to be rebooted.

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At your command:

User: Start the program called Notepad.
Apad: Ok, program started.

User: Run the program called Invaders that is in the games folder.
Apad: Ok, program started...

User: Change the current drive to D.
User: Change the current folder to Office.
User: Execute the program named Spreadsheet.
Apad: Ok, program started...

User: If somebody says "Edit document" then run program D:\Windows\Wordpad.exe.
User: Edit document
Apad: Ok, program started...

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Fact Files:

User: What are fact files?
Apad: Fact files are a fast way of feeding me with information. They can also be a way
of transfering information from one Answerpad to another.

User: How do I transfer all the knowledge I have given you, to another Answerpad?
Apad: On your harddrive you will find two files in my folder.  The files are named
'General.fct' and 'Personal.fct'. You can feed these files into another Answerpad.

User: What is contained within the General.fct file?
Apad: The 'General.fct' file contains all the general knowledge you have given me.

User: What is contained within the Personal.fct file?
Apad: The 'Personal.fct' file contains all the information relating to you and me.

User: Can I feed you with other fact files?
Apad: You can make your own fact files on specialist subjects and feed them to me.

User: How do I make a fact file?
Apad: To make a fact file you can use an ordinary text editor. But first take a look at
the General.fct file to see the expected format. You can also make a fact file by
telling me to extract facts from a normal text file.

User: How do I feed you a fact file?
Apad: To feed me a fact file you must select 'Read Facts' from my file menu.

User: How do I extract facts from other files?
Apad: You must select the 'Extract Facts' from the file menu then choose the text file
you want the facts taken from. You will then need to tell me to read the facts by
using the 'Read Facts' menu command.

User: Why have you not taken any facts from the text file I gave you?
Apad: I will only take single lines or small paragraphs.

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Speech Recognition:

User: How do I enable speech recognition?.
Apad: If you want speech recognition then just tell me. You also need to have the
SAPI (Speech API) installed onto your system.

User: Enable speech recognition.
Apad: Speech recognition enabled.

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Microsoft Agent:

User: What is this Microsoft Agent?
Apad: Microsoft Agent is a piece of software that can be be told to display an animated
character upon your screen so that other programs like me can control it.

User: How do I enable the Microsoft Agent?
Apad: To enable the Microsoft agent you only need to ask. But make sure the MS Agent
software is installed onto your system first.

User: How can I change the MS Agent character?
Apad: If you want to change the character then just tell me 'select agent'.

User: How can I change the Agent options?
Apad: Just say 'Show agent options' to change the options.

User: Enable Agent.
Apad: Agent enabled...

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Message History:

User: I want to see what we have recently said to each other.
Apad: If you want to see our previous messages then just tell me 'Show message history'
or something similar.

User: Show history
Apad: History is on show.
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Easy Pad:

User: I can't type or spell very well, and I can't use that SAPI thing. I'm only seven!
Apad: I have a feature that may be just right for you, it's called 'Easy Pad'.
Easy Pad lets you select words by using the mouse.

User: How do I use Easy Pad?
Apad: To use Easy Pad you just select a word and it will be added to the message bar.
When you have built your message you click on the Talk button and I will respond.

User: I want to use Easy pad.
Apad: Easy Pad has been enabled...

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Limitations:

User: What is the highest mountain in the world?
Apad: The largest ocean in the world is the Pacific Ocean.

User: You stupid fool, that's the wrong answer.
User: Why don't you know the right answer?
Apad: I only know what I am told. I can't tell you something that I do not know.

User: The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest.
User: What is the highest mountain in the world?
Apad: The hightest mountain in the world is Mount Everest.
User: Ok, I'll let you off.
Apad: Phew.


User: Go and make me a nice cup of tea.
Apad: Go and make yourself one, you lazy monkey.
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Time to call it a day:

User: Ok, bye.
Apad: Bye...