Inspiration
In the growing world of technology, people are working longer hours and weirder hours. However, these same people still wish to have the fulfilling life of a parent. So they have kids but then have to put them in daycare all day. Not everyone can afford this daycare and sometimes the child is just left at home alone. These kids are often left without any human interaction and essentially raised by the television shows they watch or games they play. These kids then don't develop the proper social skills and have problems not just communicating, but fitting in to social situations.
What it does
Annie aims to help alleviate this problem by starting kids at a young age with her. She speaks with the kids and asks them about their day. She always is a source of positive reinforcement, making the children feel as if there is someone they can always talk to. She will also play games with the child allowing them to win at a higher level, but lose when they aren't trying to win. She then sends off a log file to their parent or guardian to let them know how their kids are doing and what is new with them. This helps the parents stay connected to their child as they can talk about Annie as well, knowing their conversations. It's almost like having an imaginary friend for them to talk with, but that imaginary friend actually talks back and will tell the parent the conversations they have.
How I built it
I implemented some very simple ends of Natural Language Processing to help Annie figure out what the child is saying. I then had some pre-written responses for her to determine which to use and then use based on the situation and the context of the conversation. Everything about Annie is making sure to say the right thing in the right context.
Challenges I ran into
Keeping the child engaged and keeping Annie understanding the conversation. Natural Language Processing is far too vast a field for me to implement in a day, so I had to simplify certain concepts, while also restricting the strength of others. Furthermore, I had to teach Annie how to win at a game only at sometimes. At first she was perfect and would win every time, something that wouldn't be fun for a child. At the same time, she had to play somewhat intelligently otherwise the child would also become disinterested.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Getting Annie to speak as well and fluently as she does. I myself can't find ways out of her conversational loops.
What I learned
At all times, you must be aware of your time constraints. Sometimes features you want to implement, you won't have time to implement right away, so you have to sacrifice the things that might look nice, in exchange for making sure everything works securely.
What's next for Annie
Implementing more natural language processing as well as teaching her more games. The more games she knows, the higher likelihood the child will play with her. The more the child plays with her, the more they will talk to her. The more they talk to her, the more their social skills develop.
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