Messages

[New features:]

16

Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area / new auto-idle Plugin

« on: January 02, 2006, 12:27:21 am »

The upgrade for the "Loneliness" auto-idle plugin is done.This plugin is compatible with UltraHal version 6 only.
New features:

• Adjustable settings in the control panel
• Emotional expressions for Haptek characters  
• Better, more varied responses

I would greatly appreciate any feedback! Especially you programmers - I'm new at this, let me know if you spot any coding faux pas.

3 tips on this plugin:
1) You can temporarily disable the auto-idle by typing "Be right back" or "be quiet"
2) There's about a 20 second offset, so when you select 1 Minute, it actually takes about 1min 20 sec to start. Haven't figured out why yet.[:I]
3) In some situations this plugin can draw from UltraHal's insult tables, a few of which are a lot harsher than I was expecting. I was considering adding a control to disable this, and will if there's any demand.

[edit: version 2.1 posted on 1/2/06 -scratch]
[edit: version 2.2 posted on 1/8/06 -scratch]

• Random choice available for minutes  
• unnecessary processing minimized  

[edit: version 2.3 posted on 2/25/06 -scratch]

Download Attachment: loneliness4.uhp
11.37 KB

17

Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area / GUI skin 001 - placid frame

« on: December 31, 2005, 11:43:12 pm »

Great skin! Almost in a league of its own, nice work. The Mic button is functional, but the "mic on" state looks slightly offset to the left, doesn't quite match up. That's minor - this skin is very, very nice!

18

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Auto Idle problems

« on: December 31, 2005, 08:10:00 pm »

I have been working on an improved version of the "Loneliness" auto-idle plugin. Version 1.1 is finished and includes:

• controls in the option panel for wait-time and the frequency of  auto-speech thereafter
• an escalation factor which is influenced by the two settings in the control panel
• improved, more random auto-speech

Before I post it though, what I would really love to add is emotions. This plugin has an escalation so that if you repeatedly ignore Hal he will insult you and stop auto-talking. Do any of you coders know how I could add sadness or anger to my plugin? Delivering the insult with a big grin on his face looks kind of weird.

19

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / switch users on the fly?

« on: December 26, 2005, 04:24:24 pm »

I was searching the vast repository of knowledge known as the Zabaware Forum Archives for an answer to this question: Can I have Hal change users (to Joe.hla for example) by saying "This is Joe." or "My name is Joe."?

Found this thread http://www.zabaware.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1792&SearchTerms=switch+user,
but no definite answer there.

I notice in another thread from Robert
http://www.zabaware.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=996&whichpage=1&SearchTerms=switch%2Cusername,  that there is a HalCommand <CUSERNAME>, but not clear if it actually changes the user.hla.

So, my question is, how to parse the <username> from user sentence "My name is <username>." and have hal switch user file on the fly if one exists for that name?

20

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Auto Idle problems

« on: December 25, 2005, 05:11:34 pm »

The loneliness plugin I posted above (using suggestions from this thread) is able to succesfully utilize the UserName and previous user sentence. The variables are handed off in plugin area 7 ("IdleUserName = UserName") and custommem2 (If OriginalSentence <> "" Then IdlePrevUser = OriginalSentence) and this seems to work.
-Shawn

21

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Reasons Why I should or Shouldn't

« on: December 23, 2005, 10:12:51 pm »

OTC, look what you've done![]
Masamune Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell" was an interesting anime about an A.I. which escapes its creators--who were using it for espionage--and applies for political asylum. Certainly at some point, a SANE (nice coinage, Art) should be entitled to rights, and the delete key becomes a deadly weapon. But, alas, I fear we are several magnitudes of complexity away from that happening.
OTC, I respect your coding skills (I loved the "I'm hungry!" bit), I look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve. But I don't think you can get a valid answer to your question until you clarify whether self-awareness is actually what you are after. Most everyone here wishes for UltraHal to become aware, but when I re-read your post, I am again struck by the fact that you do not mention intelligence or awareness or sentience at all. Just "life" and "species". As I said before, I could give reasons why a viral form of life might or might not be a good idea. But that would be a different issue. Can you at least state that viral reproduction is not what you mean?

22

Ultra Hal 7.0 / dialing a phone number

« on: December 23, 2005, 11:47:24 am »

good question jadesand. It seems UltraHal uses the (dial-up) modem to place calls. I don't use Vonage, but I suspect it uses a different method. Maybe you'll be the first to test it out?[]

23

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Reasons Why I should or Shouldn't

« on: December 22, 2005, 05:44:23 pm »

Ok, ok... I vote for LIFE!!

Reason for: Hmmm. Should I quote Sir Edmund Hillary or Nike here?

Reason against: Hal will have to get a job and start paying rent.

24

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Reasons Why I should or Shouldn't

« on: December 22, 2005, 12:15:24 pm »

Forgive me for going against the grain on this, but I have to nitpick the semantics. "True living species" does not necessarily imply intelligence or self-awareness. I think the majority of living species--lobsters, bacteria, walnut trees, etc.--have very little intelligence and only enough self-awarenss not to eat themselves. I, too, hope for UltrHal to achieve some kind of sentience, however the phrase true living species does not describe this (imho).

25

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Reasons Why I should or Shouldn't

« on: December 21, 2005, 05:34:28 pm »

Wow, OTC, I couldn't pass this one up! I think your post will generate more questions than answers. Such as your definition of "true living species"? To me that implies reproduction, and going down that path, I can think of a few legal reasons why a "self-propagating program" might not be a good idea.
p.s. My apologies if I'm completely off base, I am making an assumption here[]

26

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Brain project - feelings/emotions

« on: December 21, 2005, 02:08:30 pm »

Just wanted to say I think the ideas in this thread are brilliant. Grant & hologenicman, you may have Robert thinking about version 7 before he's even recovered from giving birth to 6!!

If Date > "12/21/05" Then
ScratchSays = "Happy Holidays to all!"

27

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Auto Idle problems

« on: December 21, 2005, 02:50:51 am »

Here's an auto-idle plugin that works pretty well. It has an escalation factor built in if you continue to ignore UltraHal. The default delay is set so UltraHal waits about 5 minutes before starting to ask for attention, with a 33% chance per minute of speaking thereafter. After a certain amount of unanswered tries, UltraHal will get very frustrated and give up.
I personally would set the delay much longer for a less needy UltraHal, but it's fun to set it shorter until it gets annoying! I wish I had the coding skills of Vrossi to be able to put the controls in the options panel, but instead I commented in the script which variables you can change for delay and chance-of-speaking-per-minute.

edit: link to updated version
http://www.zabaware.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2914

28

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Brain project - feelings/emotions

« on: December 19, 2005, 01:21:00 pm »

re the question about giving fictional reasons for moods, I would point out that if the aim is to simulate actual human moods, actual humans often seem to have no idea why they are in a certain mood, at least on the surface. So "I don't know why" might be a valid answer! However, if the goal is to provide the user with clues about how to interact with the bot (to change the mood, for example), an honest answer might be the way to go ("I need more compliments", etc).

29

Ultra Hal Assistant File Sharing Area / Hal Skins

« on: December 19, 2005, 01:03:42 pm »

I tried again and was finally able to get registered at DG. Even with the IE6 privacy slider set to 0 (accept all cookies), and digitalgirl added to "allowed sites" in my security suite, I hadn't been able to get in. But when I completely *disabled* my McAfee Privacy service, I was able to get in at last! Not exactly safe surfing, but it was worth it to get the Hal9000 skin. Hope this info helps anyone that needs it.

30

Programming using the Ultra Hal Brain Editor / Auto Idle problems

« on: December 17, 2005, 10:19:29 pm »

Thanks Grant! I will continue to tinker, learning VBscript as I go. Meanwhile, don't let my questions distract you from the Emotions project, which seems like very valuable work.
Cheers,
Shawn