[Bragi]

I would soon like to start adding some more learning features in the android app. I've got plenty of ideas, so I think I need to do a little triage and start with only 1 or 2 and work my way up from there. So which feature(s) would you prefer/enjoy the most:
-a button on every input/output line that you can press for adding possible variations that a bot could also say or would have to respond to in the same way.
-a topic to handle statements of the form 'when I say 'the sun is shining', you have to say 'Cool Bob Marley song'.  (this would be simple at first, with only exact inputs-outputs, so no subject/object resolution (yet)).
-record favourites (like the 'like' topic, but for statements of the form 'what is your favorite')... any other conversation topics here?
-record family trees (go through  the contacts and ask what the relationship is, store this and answer to questions.
-allow for patterns to be added/edited through a textbox directly in the android app.
-any other ideas?

[Freddy]

They all sound good - how about a button for good/bad replies ?  So if you get a weird reply you can click bad reply - then it forgets about that response and maybe you can suggest a better one.  With a good reply you can let the bot know it is being clever

[Bragi]

I've been doing some thinking about how best to do a 'correct' and 'wrong' button. I think that it's possible, at least up to a certain level. I'll have to make it topic specific:  when you say 'incorrect' after return the current time, it needs to be handled differently compared to when it simply doesn't know an answer.

[Art]

There was a bot that would acknowledge a "positive" or "Correct" response whenever the user ended the reply with a "!".
ex: Because it needs to feed!

The name of the bot escapes me at the moment but it was set up this way and over time, worked pretty well. It also accepted the word "No" as a negative and did not reuse that incorrect response in the future.

With all due respect, Family tree programs already do lookups and relationships for you when requested so why reinvent the wheel, to a degree? This brings up an interesting question: Should a bot / assistant be able to handle every aspect of every program or just the basic stuff? Thoughts? Where is the line drawn?

[Bragi]

'family tree' was perhaps a badly chosen word. 'relationships-web' might be better. What I meant was the idea to gather information about the people defined in the contacts list so that the bot can respond correct for both 'call my sister' as for 'call Ingrid' if only the name 'Ingrid' is defined in the address book. The system can do that if it has the information, so it needs to be built somehow. If it can be imported, great!  But at the moment I only have the contacts list, which doesn't specify relationships between people. So, I could create a topic that tries to start a conversation about who the people in the contacts-list are.

But you are right, this was one of the things I seriously considered while looking for initial features. That's why there is no support yet for the agenda: I would basically have to rebuild the entire agenda app (or at least the screens). There are plenty of other examples like that. So instead of going full-on the Siri way, I figured lets go for something else first.

It also accepted the word "No" as a negative and did not reuse that incorrect response in the future.

That's basically how I would implement the 'correct' and 'wrong' buttons: as shortcuts that send the corresponding text to the bot. This way, it can be handled by the topic that produced the last result and you can also say the commands instead of using buttons.

[Art]

Jan,

That's a great idea / approach for a Contacts listing. You could assign a "family based tree" structure to say all the relatives in one's family, (Father, his Brother - [your Uncle], his kids - [your 1st cousins]), etc. "Call Edwin" - Computer: Your 1st cousin or your Uncle [since they might have the first name].

Another listing category might be strictly for business contacts.

One for professionals like Doctors, lawyers, brokers, real estate, insurance, mechanics, etc.

Perhaps a different listing for real Friends (as opposed to Internet Friends who exist only through typed text messages or maybe skype friends).

Yes, plenty of ideas abound...good food for thought (and for bots too).