Intelligent Dialog Tutor and Conversational Agents -- Continuation

The report describes research done to develop a prototype of an easy to use authoring system for an intelligent, computer-based trainer. It focuses on simulated agents who are capable of mixed-initiative dialog with the user through a natural language interface. Trainees converse as they would in normal English discourse asking quests, giving answers, and making comments. The simulated agent generates appropriate responses within any defined domain. The resulting tutor provides individualized instruction based on trained performance. The system is fully authorable and conversational agents are easily created for new scenarios. Technologies used include: natural language processing, semantic analysis, discourse management, agent control architectures, and distributed object-oriented software. Prepared in collaboration with the Amber Consortium.