Hi guys,

So….I’m painfully new and feeling a bit out of my depth when it comes to chatbots, but also incredibly excited because it’s something new.

I’m looking for a base API/engine for a chatbot for a University project which I’m also planning on continuing development afterwards, and I was hoping that the gurus here might be able to offer suggestions on where to start.

What I’m looking for is a bot which I can do the following with:
[ul]
[li]Connect to IRC[/li]
[li]Connect to a MySQL database[/li]
[li]Will be able to hold random conversations with users[/li]
[li]Will be able to manage a character sheet, rules and NPC database, including new input[/li]
[li]Will be able to look up the weather in the area that the IRC game is based in and post pre-defined descriptions based on the result[/li]
[li]Will be able to manage an event calendar and sign up, while also posting a countdown[/li]
[/ul]

I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew but I want to make the bot interactive instead of having to post a series of commands like you need to with typical bots.

So instead of “!sheet add (ability)”, I want to be able to say “hey bot, can you add (ability) to my sheet?” or “hey bot, what’s the roll for (task)?” and it will answer in natural language.

What would you suggest as a good beginner-friendly base here?

Thank you so much!

Moira

Hi again, Moira.

I guess a good place to start is asking you what skills you have that might apply to chatbots. Things like programming languages, creative writing, general computer skills and web design/development could go a long way toward helping you to pick the right platform. Sadly, nearly ALL chatbot platforms available today have a bit of a learning curve, and different platforms will require basic knowledge in different aspects of CS. Additionally, various platforms may only meet a few of the criteria you’ve listed “out of the box”, and will require additional solutions to be integrated in order to function as you intend. So the question here is what do you already know? Once we have that information we can help you to pick what will work best for you.

“I’m painfully new and feeling a bit out of my depth”, Moira said.

Being painfully new may fade away, but building even a simple chatbot can be challenging.  Ask any college student who is given that for an assignment.

In some sense, feeling a bit out of your depth with Artificial Intelligence, may feel like that even when you are no longer a newbie.  And, there is certainly nothing wrong at all with being a newbie to A.I.

For example, figure out how to build a working chatbot engine, no easy task, even if you know what you’re doing… And now, thousands, or tens of thousands of records are needed for your new chatbot engine to approach convincibility.