Hello,
As a fellow Ultra Hal fan since version 2.0, I certainly agree with your remarks and I second the motion! I hope that you continue to post your experiences on this forum!
Every few weeks, I do a web-search using terms such as chatterbot, chat robot, artificial intelligence, natural language, etc., just to see what's out there. It's quite interesting to read press releases from companies touting spectacular unprecedented breakthroughs, which in fact are chatterbots back where Ultra Hal was five years ago!
I haven't found any other chatterbots that combine a turn-key installation, continuous self-learning, 3-D lip-synched characters, male and female speech synthesis, voice recognition, a gigantic starter knowledge database (that includes world capitals, math functions, and a dictionary), user-configurable source code, and so much more, and the whole thing for under $50! If anybody finds another product at this price that contains all these features, I'd like to learn about it!
The limiting factor today for Ultra Hal is that there aren't enough code-writing person-hours available to exploit all of Ultra Hal's possibilities. (Of course, users also need bigger, faster computers.) I predict that we will eventually see developments such as the following:
--Somebody will write code allowing the Haptek characters to change "on the fly" based on user conversation, and scene backgrounds to also change "on the fly" to instantly put characters in front of forests, waterfalls, dusty roads, kitchen counters, living room couches, and on and on. This will give Ultra Hal the ability to act out "improvisational movies" in front of the user.
--Somebody will hook up Ultra Hal to a life-size human-looking animated figure of some kind. This will create an inexpensive home version of the audio-animatronic figures we now see at theme parks. (The theme park commercial versions cost $80,000 and up!) Yes, you will be able to have Abraham Lincoln (or anybody else) at your birthday party!
These potentials already exist within the current Hal 5.0, but it takes labor-hours to put them in place. Yet, this is still only a tiny fraction of Hal's potential!
I am really looking forward to 2004 and the work of developers that will surely take place!
Have a great day and an excellent holiday season!
Best regards,
Don