Thendral
Abstract:
Chatterbot is a Natural Language Communication System where human and machine can interact. Thendral is a Chatterbot tool for human- machine conversion that supports bilingual (English and Tamil). It is an Artificial Intelligence based simulation system that facilitates human conversation with the machine in both English and Tamil. User can give a question or a statement as an input. The System will generate proper response based on context of the user input. User has to select either English or Tamil Language in addition to that they have to choose any existing domain for conversation. The System has a provision for input in both English and Tamil by using virtual keyboard. In addition to that input for Tamil can be feed by means of Azhagi and input for English can be feed directly through keyboard. The system identifies the main context of the input statement as to what the user is trying to ask, no matter in what style the user frames their question. Based on the main context obtained from the user input, response is formulated from the knowledge base and provided to the user in both text and voice. Suppose user is not satisfied with the system response, then it provides some other related response up to certain number of times. The System also has a provision for the user to give their suggestion that related to proper response that may consider later to update with the knowledge base. Here Healthcare domain is considered in both languages. It provides diagnostic advices for some kind of diseases. In this system separate interface is designed to add domains and update knowledge base. The system can be used in various domains like call centres, public forums and helpdesk of any organisation.
Overall System Architecture
SCREENSHOTS
Home Page
Start Screen provides the first point of communication where users can interact with the chat bot.
Start Screen of THENDRAL Chat bot
User Registration Form
Here, users can register themselves with a username and password. A provision for checking the availability for the username is also given. After registration, users can login to start interaction with the bot.
User Registration Form
User and Admin Login
Registered users can login in with their credentials (username and password) and then proceed interaction with the chat bot. Admin can also login via this login page and can make changes to the knowledge base.
User and Admin Login
Domain Selection
Users can chose one of the available domains and proceed with language selection. Currently, the domains available are Health Care and Casual Talk.
Domain Selection
Language Selection
After the selection of domain, users can select the languages with which they want to communicate with the chat bot. The system supports two languages (Tamil and English).
Language Selection
QA Form
This is a main page through which users can interact with the database. Registered users after domain, language selection can post their queries here and can arrive at the answer. User are given provision here to suggest answer and notify admin if they get a dissatisfactory answer. Users can also make use of virtual keyboard for inputting queries. Answer is provided to the user as voice output in addition to text output.
QA Form for English
QA Form for Tamil
User’s Suggestion
If the user queries for a question and if the answer was not found satisfied, suggest option can be chosen with which users can suggest their own answers by clicking ‘Suggestion’ button. Suggested answer notifies administrator and necessary actions can be done to enrich the database.
User’s Suggestion for English
User’s Suggestion for Tamil
User’s discomfort
In case the answer provided by the chat bot is not a satisfactory one, users can show their discomfort by clicking on ‘Not satisfied?’ button. System notifies this event to the administrator where respective actions can be taken.
User’s Discomfort
Virtual Keyboard
Users are given provision to ask their queries either by using keyboard or by using a virtual keyboard. Virtual keyboard facility can be used by clicking on ‘Virtual Keyboard’ button. Virtual keyboards are available for both the languages (Tamil and English) with which users can frame their queries.
Virtual Keyboard for English
Virtual Keyboard for Tamil
Administrator Rights
Administrator are given rights to add new Entry to the knowledge base, review the answers suggested by the users, review the unsatisfied answers and update the knowledge base.
Administrator Rights
Adding New Entries
Administrator can add new word and new answer to the knowledge base by providing the unique id for the word and unique answer key for the answer.
Adding New Entries
Review Suggested and Unsatisfied Answers
Users can sent notifications to the administrator in case of suggested and unsatisfied answer. Those notifications can be viewed here and respective actions like accepting the suggestion, discarding the suggestion, searching the WorldNet can be taken to update the knowledge base.
Review Suggested and Unsatisfied Answers
Word Net search and Knowledge Base Update
Here, words that are unassigned with the unique id can be searched for their meanings, words in the knowledge base can be searched and words can be updated to the knowledge base.
Word Net search and Knowledge Base Update
Author : Balaji Venkatesan
