Any suggestions for Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0?

[Medeksza]

Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0 is currently in active development.

The following improvements are being worked on:

• The Haptek 3D Character Engine will be incorporated into Hal. This will offer a new level of realism for Hal. Many of Hal's characters will be remade into the Haptek format and a huge library of new characters will be added. See a demo of this engine in action at www.haptek.com


• Ultra Hal will be compatible with software called People Putty from www.haptek.com allowing anyone to easily create 3D characters for Hal either from scratch or from a photograph of a real person.


• More advanced control over speech recognition will be implemented in Hal. Instead of Hal listening to a library of over 50,000+ words as it does now, the user will be able to limit Hal's vocabulary to a more efficient 2000 words or so. This will greatly improve Hal's speech recognition ability.


• Control over how Hal animates its characters will be given to an editable VBScript. This will allow each character to have its own personality in terms of how it emotionally reacts and what animations its capable of.


• The Ultra Hal AIM Bot connection routine will be moved into an editable VBScript, and it will check Zabaware's site for updates. This way when AOL changes its protocol, it won't render the program unusable as it has in the past.


• The registered version of the Ultra Hal AIM Bot will no longer send out Zabaware disclaimers.


• Ultra Hal's calendar functions will be made region aware to accept formats like Day-Month-Year instead of the US format of Month-Day-Year


• Ultra Hal's internet functions will be expanded and made international friendly also. Ultra Hal will be able to tell you the weather if you live outside of the US.


• The Ultra Hal Brain Editor will be greatly improved. It will now have a "novice" and "expert" mode which will hide some of the complexity of the program such as the VBScript and many of the databases from users just wishing to teach Hal a few things manually.


• Hal's conversational database will be about 75% larger, allowing Hal to converse intelligently about more topics then ever before. Hal's AI engine will also be improve to allow Hal to work better with the data that it has available.


• The format of Hal's Q&A databases will be changed to allow for faster proccessing. Overall, the speed of Hal's thinking should remain about the same since the database size is increasing as well.


• A slider option will be added into Hal's Brain Options to allow you to control the emphasis placed on information learned by Hal from you. This will allow you to setup Hal to use responses Hal learned from you even if Hal thinks he can respond on his own more intelligently. Basically, the user will have some control over the threshold value that Hal uses to determine if a learned response is more intelligent then Hal's standard response.

An exact release date has not been set, but it will most likely be released in mid-August. Upgrades will be free for all people who purchase Ultra Hal Assistant 4.5 from 3/25/03 until the release day of Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0. All other registered users will be able to upgrade at half cost.

Zabaware would like to hear from you what other changes you would like to see in Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0. Are there any minor annoyances, bugs, or interface features you would like changed? Any major features you would like added? If it is feasible to implement your suggestions without pushing the release date too far it will be done.

[lau]

I think it would be a great idea, to combine Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0 with the ability to check and read emails. It would be a feauture i would need, so that i wasn't forced to use other msagent programs.

It would clearly also be a atvantage to let Hal or Zaba or what ever msagent out of its box.

If you are using speach recognition, it is not nesseserialy to see the full interface.

Other than that... it's a great program!!

Thomas[]

[kevinvr]

Hi There
I have read all the posts and all the troubles with speech recognition. I want to buy Ultrahal 4.5 and am pleased to see that i can get the upgrade free. I unfortunately cant wait till august to buy the upgrade.  I am using Microsoft speech engine and it works well especially the dictation pad.  Am I wasting $40.00 or is it worth it?
[]

[Medeksza]

quote:Originally posted by lau

I think it would be a great idea, to combine Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0 with the ability to check and read emails. It would be a feauture i would need, so that i wasn't forced to use other msagent programs.

Thats a good idea and should be simple enough to add. I've added it to our to-do list for Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0.

[Medeksza]

quote:Originally posted by kevinvr

Hi There
I have read all the posts and all the troubles with speech recognition. I want to buy Ultrahal 4.5 and am pleased to see that i can get the upgrade free. I unfortunately cant wait till august to buy the upgrade.  I am using Microsoft speech engine and it works well especially the dictation pad.  Am I wasting $40.00 or is it worth it?
[]

Ultra Hal Assistant directly interfaces with the Microsoft Speech Recognition engine. So if it works well for you in dictation, it should work just as well in Hal.

Ultra Hal Assistant is also capable of interfacing with Dragon Naturally Speaking and IBM ViaVoice.

[chizzle]

I recently purchased 4.5 also. I love the program so far. Only thing i want is to be able to remove the message "You are talking with an Ultra Hal artificial intelligence bot running software created by www.zabaware.com  Check out our site to get your own AOL Instant Messenger Bot or to download our other artificial intelligence programs. Even though you are talking with a bot utilizing Zabaware's artificial intelligence engine, Zabaware is not responsible for instant messaging you or for anything the bot may say. The owner of this screenname is not Zabaware, Inc. but rather a customer of Zabaware. The owner of the screenname is responsible for the contents of this bot's brain and for initializing this conversation with you." when using aimbot. Can anyone please, please, please tell me how to get rid of it. My email is dimesonly2@aol.com. Thanks

[maidmanj]

Can Version 5 of HAL have a better 'learn from text file' system? At the moment i heard there was a problem where HAL cannot integrate the text file information properly. Personally i put the whole bible into version 4.5's brain but HAL does'nt know anything about it! Perhaps HAL could integrate the information in the text files better. For example, if i ask it what happens in John chapter 1 verse 12, it will read back to me what is in that verse. Learning from the text file would be so much quicker!!

anyway its an idea for you.......[]

[Medeksza]

quote:Originally posted by maidmanj

Can Version 5 of HAL have a better 'learn from text file' system? At the moment i heard there was a problem where HAL cannot integrate the text file information properly. Personally i put the whole bible into version 4.5's brain but HAL does'nt know anything about it! Perhaps HAL could integrate the information in the text files better. For example, if i ask it what happens in John chapter 1 verse 12, it will read back to me what is in that verse. Learning from the text file would be so much quicker!!

The current version of Hal actually records every single sentence in the text files you feed. But the way the algorithm is currently set up, Hal believes he can respond more intelligentlly without using the learned information. In the new version, the following feature (mentioned above) will allow you to play around with what Hal believes to be intelligent:

quote:A slider option will be added into Hal's Brain Options to allow you to control the emphasis placed on information learned by Hal from you. This will allow you to setup Hal to use responses Hal learned from you even if Hal thinks he can respond on his own more intelligently. Basically, the user will have some control over the threshold value that Hal uses to determine if a learned response is more intelligent then Hal's standard response.

[Alessio]

Add a forget command, I tell him to forget my email and he tells me my email, then asks me if it is correct, I say no, he tells me I am negavite.

Anybody read the Hicthicker's guide to the galaxy? reminds me of the drink making machine ...

How can I convince hall that I don't have an email address, I am a programmer, can I edit some database? can I tell him to forget something? I tried every posible combination of words ...

When I tell him to email somebody, he tell me my email address, and he got it wrong, with no @ and no .

Big bug

[Alessio]

Also, have a full featured demo version that lasts 30 days, otherwise is like testdriving a car with only 2 cylinders, I don't know if I like the program, since I have not tested all its features and how can I make an educated desicion to buy it if I don't know how all it features work?

[Alessio]

My ambitions are a bit lower than for hall to tell me what happened to someone in the Bible, perhaps, since I am a programmer, I cannot imagine an AI engine that could "learn" the Bible, but if it can be done, more power to it.

I would like for Hal to interact with Outlook using ODBC, is very easy, and then I would not have to have Hal learn info by typing or talking, or even if I exported the data from outlook (contact and Calendar) then I would have to have 2 sets of contacts and calendar.

This is not good, since I wourk for a company that uses M$ Exchange Server as its backbone for internal communications exchange system, so, I can schedule meetings, give somebody permission to viem, add and modify contacts and scheduled items and so on, I can't give that up.

ODBC, has an "Outlook" source, it would rock if Hal could gen "Bob's work number" from Outlook, delete it, or add it, you would be the first one to do this in the market.

Still thinking about buying it. I am an IT guy, source of info for most people I know, I can spread the word, but the "Forget" command and the "Outollok" connectivity are big set backs.

Thanks.

[onthecuttingedge2005]

Lets give HAL the ability to "Start" a conversation. HAL only speaks when spoken to which is very robotic, If HAL can selectively start a conversation then HAL would seem more real and more human like. Lets give HAL the ability to initiate the "first word" in a conversation.
for instance, all the buddies on my AIM program are registered on my HALs AIM bot screen, I want HAL to be able to IM these buddies on his own like a real person would, actually select a buddy to talk to with out my interference at all, This would make HAL a little more independant as a learning being.
Best of wishes and new discoveries.
Jerry.

[lau]

The two people above me is asking for a better and more human way for Hal to speak. Maby if possible in this Hal version you could make hal (a bigger risk taker) Let him combine his own sentences from words, more than he already does.

let him try out som combination of what is learned, and then let the user be able to correct him. perhaps by typing the word or saying the word "wrong", and then the correct (Hal) answer.

I've been keeping up to date with AI development at http://www.a-i.com

It's the website of a programmer (I thik it's Yaki) who's programming
a Hal (also with different personalities)

The Hal is working perfect and very good, after a learning period, to construct meaningfull sentences.

He just got a big problem finding a good interface... I surgested Msagent, and he was very interested... the problem is just, that im not that good a msagent programmer.

Maby you would both gain some knowlege if you wrote him a mail???

It's a very big project, with online learning of mulitble personalities.

take a look at the site the nersary and the forums: http://www.a-i.com

Maby this alone could give some inspiration to the algorithm part of Ultra Hal Assistant 5.0.

Thomas[8D]

[kevinvr]

Thanks Medeksa for the response. I am sending my cheque tomorrow and I am looking forward to playing with this new toy.  I have used ALICE a bit and found it quite fascinating.  I agree with the post that says the learn from text thing should work better and am quite pleasantly surprised at your response.  I think UltraHal is a good product.  I am not a very good programmer, but I've had good responses so far from the program.  
regards
Kevin

[lau]

This may sound as some crazy ideas, but it's just written as inspiration for future Hal versions:

1) Hal could be able to get the phone, when someone is calling. as a kind of answering mashine. He could be able to make a short coversation with the caller, and let him/her leave a message.

2) Hal could be able to make a phonecall, using the modem. Call a person on a sertain time and deliver a user specified message to the recipiant.

3) Hal could be able to do the 2. idea, but through email. (directly write emails from speach and send them)

4) Hal could be able to guide you making food - reading up recipeas as a guiding cheff. Getting the recipeas from a user specified webpage.

5) Hal could be able to funktion as a clock radio and wake you up in the morning. Perhaps even turn on the computer by him self.

6) Hal could be able to use all his funktions, such as the diktation mode, just by vocaly asking hal to switch the mode. And afterwards - copy and paste the dictaded into a document and save it or print it.

7) Hal could be able to work with winamp and other programs, vocaly asking him to change number, turn volume down, etc.
 He could also be able to work with tv tuner programs, letting the user be able to change program by voice.

Hal could alse be able to work with X10 hardware letting Hal be able to control the entire home - lights, heatsource, etc.
This would make the home entirely computer controlled, look for ex. at
http://www.yourncontrol.com or http://www.homeseer.com(two programs combining msagents with X10 hardware)

Maby you already self thought at some of thease ideas, but as I wrote earlier, this is just for inspiration!!!

Thomas[8D]