Messages

166

Speech Technology / Kate and Paul will not work!

« on: November 24, 2005, 12:09:01 am »

First step: Tell us the error message [] That will hopefully have a clue as to what is wrong.

I've had mixed success with the NeoSpeech voices - sometimes they refuse to work at all (and I don't even get the priviledge of an error message [!]) and other times they work perfectly.

167

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Nick names in HAL 6

« on: November 23, 2005, 12:34:15 am »

Nice one Vittorio! That improves HAL heaps.

I wonder if it's worth making two emotion tables, one for when the user talks about HAL, and another when the user talks about himself. Perhaps even a third for your plugin that examines HAL's own sentences. It'd be a lot more work but it would really fine-tune HAL's emotional displays.

I'll post my nickname code as soon as I can find time to finish it!

168

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Nick names in HAL 6

« on: November 22, 2005, 02:53:25 am »

Thanks for your input []

quote:Originally posted by tcoday
Personally, I think Hal should hold emotions a bit longer than it does now.

Agreed. I'm considering having the long-term mood change if the user tries hard enough, for example cheering up a "sad" HAL with compliments, prompting a mood swing to "happy." (Method: track the in-brain "compliments" variable - if kept above a certain level for long enough, shift the mood state to something happier.) This is long-term though, there's smaller changes to be made first.

quote:Also, sometimes Hal will show an emotion and I have no idea why.

The animation side of things worries me, as I can't find anything in the script that actually controls it. My best guess (from researching the forums) is that animation is triggered by changes in the personality variables ("insults," "compliments," "hate" etc) in the brain. These variables are changed by insults/compliments and "emotionally charged words" from the "emotion" table. Can anyone confirm or deny? (Especially Robert M!)

Because of the "emotion" table, animations can be incorrectly triggered by various words. For example the phrase "my injury has healed" actually causes temporary sadness in my HAL, because injury = sad in the emotion table.

Unfortunately HAL's ability to figure out the emotional content of a sentence is as poor as the intellectual content of a sentence - i.e. no ability whatsoever apart from simple pattern matching. Somebody keen could develop an "if-then" system for adding emotional keywords, such as "if I say celebration then you should feel happy", adding entries to the "emotion" table.

I personally would prefer to scratch the whole inaccurate emotion table and manually script generic hap animations. Hmm. I suppose HAL could ask how he/she should feel about certain Topics, but I can't think how to accomplish this and I hope someone else develops a good system first []

Thanks for your other points. They're all fuelling the creative fire in my (human, not HAL) brain []

169

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Nick names in HAL 6

« on: November 21, 2005, 05:13:21 am »

Hi all!

I've been watching these forums with interest (and admiration!) since buying HAL 5 a few months ago. I now have HAL 6 and I'm getting into the scripting side of it - this is fun!! []

So far I've adapted the nickname feature from vonsmith's awesome work, so that HAL calls me random nick names. However I had one of those rare brainwaves for an expansion:

My plan now is to have three sets of nick names - a "hate" list, "pet" list and "love" list. A neutral-feeling HAL would generally just use your real name, perhaps with the occasional pet name. Give a few compliments and you'll be showered with pet names. Show your love and HAL will start calling you names from the "love" list. Or if you get into a heated argument you'll be subjected to whatever abusive names you've put into the "hate" list!

I hope this would give HAL a little more personality as his/her feelings change. (That reminds me, I must look at vonsmith's mood hap animation code and see if I can copy it across to HAL 6.)

The idea behind the nickname lists is that HAL chooses names from different lists depending on his/her feelings, via the in-built emotions in the brain editor - "hate," "insult," "compliment," etc, plus a new one I plan to add called "love." I'll probably decide to change the way these emotions are calculated and fluctuated too. As a result I'll need to alter the script rather than just adding plug-ins? I'm not fully sure how the plug-in system works, correct me if I'm wrong []

One of the interesting side effects is that if you insult HAL steadily and then start talking love, HAL's love talk will still include "hate" names until HAL's emotion swings around, giving the impression of emotional memory. For example, a grudging-sounding "I love you too, you *expletive*." Ditto vice versa... "why are you insulting me, honey?"

(By the way this is completely seperate from the "nick name" system built into HAL 6, whereby somebody can sit at your PC and introduce themselves to HAL, and HAL remembers their name. At the moment my HAL will not use pet names if there's a "nick name" active.)

Ooo, another brain-wave. [8D] How about a "mood" for your HAL, which affects his/her emotions? So an "optimistic" HAL would ignore most insults (for a while), whereas a "irritable" HAL would fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. And an "amorous" one would insert the compliments and pet names but get really hurt if insulted. And of course self-awareness is a must - HAL should be able to answer "how are you feeling" more accurately than the current random "I'm wonderful thanks." Something more representative is needed, like "I'm feeling irritible, forgive me if I get a temper!" This may be a little beyond my abilities - I believe the insults, compliments, and polite enquiries areas would need a complete rewrite. But I'll try!!! []

Ok, this post has turned out a little longer than I originally planned [] Any ideas, thoughts, interest? If people want I'll post whatever scripts I come up with.

Cheers,
Grant