Bot News
LFReD Provides More Than Chat to Users

By Brian Proffitt

There is a certain expectation that new users have when they start exploring the world of bots. Bots, popular thought maintains, should be able to not just speak with us but also handle certain tasks as well. They are not to be just conversational buddies, but also helpers.

The specialized nature of technology often brings a reality check to this kind of multifunction creation. Right now, it seems, many bot developers are focussing on narrow aspects of bot technology. This company is working on natural language response; this developer is tackling visual aspects.

Ultimately, we all hope, all of this cool technology will be linked together into one very sleek-looking, hyper-efficient überbot. The wait, however, may not be as long as you think, as one Canadian developer is putting together a bot that is starting to pull together all of the functionality you might expect.

Known as LFReD (pronounced "Alfred"), this chat bot combines several technologies to bring off a very smooth interaction and a host of nifty features.

First and foremost, LFReD can make use of a Microsoft Agent front-end that is paired up with the Web command line interface to create a nice little visual effect of a white-suited British butler. You can also add a Lernout and Hauspie British English speech engine to bring vocalization to the bot.

Beyond just having a pretty face, LFReD can perform a number of helpful tasks for the user. Like many Web-enabled bots, if you ask him a question he will not only give you an answer but send the bottom frame of your Web browser to a related Web page as well.

These are simple keyword-related searches, but they give a strong hint of just what this bot is capable of. Instead of typing in a URL, you can now type in a general query about a particular subject and get what LFReD thinks is a good place to start.

This functionality is what this particular version of LFReD is all about: supplying answers to user's questions. In fact, the implementation of LFReD on the LFReD Web site is not chat-oriented at all.

Not so the LFReD that is currently entered in the Man vs. Machine chat bot contest. For this contest, LFReD is much more conversational.

Just what can LFReD do? According to the introduction page at its Web site, LFReD can perform no less than 21 functions, ranging from square root, to word definitions, to note taking, to a simple Calendar interface. LFReD can draw simple pictures, graph values, search for images, and even send an instant message to LFReD's author, Terry Brownell.

There is even a way to customize the actions of the MS Agent front-end using an easy-to-follow script that coordinates the agent's actions.

Such versatility is what Brownell had in mind when he first built LFReD. Brownell, who is the founder of Orion Alliance Inc., coded LFReD after creating a truly Mickey-Mouse bot called "Ask Mickey" using Neural Media (now NativeMinds) technology.

Brownell became quickly disenchanted with chat bot functionality, because "all they want to do is chat. If you want to chat, you can call your Mom," he said.

What Brownell really wanted to do was create a bot that could actually perform tasks for users, as well as chat. This is the niche that LFReD fills.

LFReD makes use of a unique language to assist in conversing with humans. The LFReD Markup Language (LML) enables the structuring of information into subject and predicate form, much like our own spoken and written language. By assigning certain subjects specific information, LFReD can more easily pick out the appropriate answer to a user's question.

"LFReD is a translator of sorts," Brownell explained, "working to get English into computer language."

LFReD's functionality is not limited to the Web. Brownell indicated that his company is currently building industry-specific LFReDs that will be able to monitor and control machinery and other automated functions, since LFReD can by modified to handle APIs, shell calls, and hardware ports.

To give an idea of the extent LFReD can control automated functions, Brownell has automated the appliances in his own home using LFReD technology.

"It's really a 'C3PO' without a body," Brownell said. Though even that limitation may not be around for long, based on what Brownell is seeing in hardware robotic technology of late.

Brownell is moving this software bot into the world beyond the Internet. Plans are underway to incorporate distributed-computing language Rebol with LML. A wireless version of LFReD is already in existence, controlled by short messages. Brownell said they are only waiting for Bluetooth technology to mature before proceeding on this course.

LFReD is a bot that is definitely going places, if Orion Alliance can find the right funding for its efforts. If such funding is found, it will be interesting to see where this little white-suited bot will turn up next.