What is a Chat Bot?

A chatbot is a communication system that interacts with a user through instant messaging and artificially replicates patterns through human interaction (Egencia 2018). There are two types of chatbots: Machine learning and Natural language. The machine learning chatbot is artificial intelligence and understands the human language. Machine learning does not understand commands, but as more people speak to the chatbot, the more the chatbot will be able to understand. Natural language chatbots or rule-based chatbots are limited and require specific commands. Chat bots based on rules are only as smart as they were programmed to be (Schlicht 2016). 

What did I Create?

The chatbot I created, CakeBot, is a chatbot for a cake company. The CakeBot allows users to instantly and efficiently order a premade cake or design a cake from scratch. The CakeBot guides users through the steps of designing a cake. Users will be able to tell the CakeBot the flavor of the cake, flavor of frosting, and add decorations for a unique and lasting memory. 

How Did I Create it?

I began the process of creating the chatbot by writing down what I wanted the chatbot to be able to do. I began writing down who my chatbot is. Then I drew out all of the steps that the chatbot will do to guide the users. After the CakeBot asks the user if they want to create a cake from scratch or order a premade cake, I made the chabot offer the user a selection of cake flavors: I only allowed the user to be able to order a cake from scratch, as seen in the video, because I wanted a fluid conversation within the chatbot and the user. Originally, I didn’t have a selection for how many tiers the user wanted, so I added the tiers before the cake flavors, which is not shown in the images below. The next step was to ask the user what flavor of frosting they would like. I set the chatbot up in a way for the user to be able to click the flavor selections. Before creating the chatbot in BotSociety, I was going to have the user type out the flavors they wanted, but chatbots are supposed to make it easier for the user to do their tasks so I added quick replies.  

Once the user selects the cake’s tier, flavor, and frosting, the user will have the option to add decorations. I wanted the fluidity of the conversation to replicate a real life experience the user and chatbot would have as if the conversation were between a baker and customer. In the original conversation, the chatbot would guide the user to checkout. I changed the checkout so that the user would be given a website to checkout from, because having the chatbot allow the user to enter their credit card information through the chatbot just didn’t sit right with me. I refined the chatbot by adding multiple paths so that the chatbot wasn’t going down the line in one straight path and conversation. By creating more paths, my chatbot looked more organized and I was able to easily find parts of the conversation instead of just scrolling through the chat.

What Went Wrong and What Worked

What I found most challenging about creating this chatbot were the amount of selections and results. Chatbots relate to the butterfly effect, which is where multiple choices lead to multiple endings. My chatbot provides a photo of the user’s selections in a cake form. I found it difficult to have to write multiple ends, because it’s a large thinking process. The user uses my chatbot by selecting every first option, leading to only one ending. The software, Bot Society, was a bit challenging in the beginning when I was first learning the software, but after about twenty minutes, thanks to a video tutorial, I was able to begin designing my CakeBot. 

Throughout this process, I am most proud of the creativity I was able to come up with when designing the chatbot and the user’s conversation. I knew I wanted to write something more unique than a user checking their bank balance or asking for the weather. I wanted to create a fluid conversation where the user would want to keep chatting with the CakeBot and write it out so the user wouldn’t feel bored. I’m very proud  that I successfully designed my very first chatbot and one that I have not yet seen in the real world.

Egencia. (2018, January 3). What is a Chatbot and How does it Work?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38sL6pADCog

Schlicht, Matt. (2016, April 20). The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Chatbots. Chatbots Magazine. https://chatbotsmagazine.com/the-complete-beginner-s-guide-to-chatbots-8280b7b906ca