Chat Bot Not Reacting to Trigger Words

[fdputhuff]

I have created a chat bot that runs in a tight, circular path. It stays with 2 topics about 99% of the time.

The issue is, it will no longer react to any trigger phrases. So, it won't go to topics like Greeting, End Conversation, etc...

What do I need to provide here that will make it possible for you guys to help me diagnose this issue?

My guess is that I am unknowingly skipping something that checks for trigger words in the background, but I have no idea what that might be.

Thanx in advance...

Frank D. Puthuff

Dell Technologies

[Pstork1]

Can you show us a screenshot of the Topics list to get started?  Unless something at the top of the list of Topics is highjacking any request there should be nothing that keeps the bot from responding to the system keywords.

[fdputhuff]

Hey Pstork1,

Thanx for replying.

There are seven topics I am not using and can't delete.

• End of Conversation
• Confirmed Failure
• Confirmed Success
• Lesson 1-4

[Pstork1]

You should be able to delete Lessons 1-4 since you created them.  But the others are system topics and can't be deleted.  If you pull up the details on Lessons 1-4 you should see a delete button in the upper right corner.

For your other problem, the Bot isn't reacting to any trigger phrases because none of the topics that are turned on have Trigger phrases defined.  Lessons 1-4 have trigger phrases, but they have been turned off so the BOT ignores them.

[fdputhuff]

"For your other problem, the Bot isn't reacting to any trigger phrases because none of the topics that are turned on have Trigger phrases defined."

The Topics that are left have trigger phrases. They are system topics. There is no on/off switch.

My guess is that somehow, I am not allowing the BOT to check if the user input is a trigger word.

This thing literally lives in two topics, unless a trigger word is used. Base Question and Return to Base Question. The only reason I have the 'Return to Base Question' topic is because I can't make it go to the beginning of the topic it is currently in.

• Greeting has 52 trigger phrases
• Thank You has 4 trigger phrases
• Escalate has 65 trigger phrases
• Start Over 3 trigger phrases
• Good Bye 67 trigger phrases

[Pstork1]

Are you saying that the Bot doesn't respond if you type in "Hello" or "Goodbye", which are two of the system trigger phrases?  If so, then I would assume that is because you have the bot hard coded to start in the Base Question and return to the Base question so its just ignoring everything else.

[fdputhuff]

"...you have the bot hard coded to start in the Base Question and return to the Base question..."

This is basically what I have done. I figured any input from anywhere was checked for trigger words. What does a topic or action need to look like, in order for the user's input to be checked against the triggers? Then, if no triggers are found, I can send the input to my search action.

[Pstork1]

I need to know more about how you are getting to the Base Question.  If you've set the bot to start automatically and be in the base question then it won't listen for anything prior to the base question.  If the authoring canvas then automatically finishes the base question by navigating to the Return to Base Question. Then again the bot never listens for input.  If the Return to Base Question deposits you back at the base question then you've created a loop that the bot can't break out of.

Without more details of what you are trying to accomplish I'm not sure how to help you break out of that loop.

[fdputhuff]

It feels like a pretty simple Bot.

When you enter the bot, it runs through the greeting topic, just message boxes, and then goes to the Base Question.

Base Question:

1. Message Box: What would you like me to look up?
2. It takes the user input and stores it in a global variable.
3. This variable is checked against an excel spreadsheet to see if it is in the list.
   1. If the variable is found, the definition of their input is output in a message box
      1. The bot is sent to the Return to base question topic
      2. The bot is sent to base question and asks for next input
   2. If the variable is NOT found on the spreadsheet:
      1. The bot sends an email with the bad input and user name to me
      2. The user is told it was not found
      3. The bot is sent to the Return to base question topic
      4. The bot is sent to base question

I'm guessing I need to break up step two somehow in order for the BOT to check for trigger words. What kind of thing would I need to do in order for it to want to check for triggers?

[Pstork1]

I think the problem is that you send the bot to the base question instead of to the Greeting or a variation of the greeting.  The variation would be something like "Did you find what you were looking for?  or Do you want to search for something else.  Then a keyword topic on keywords like Something else that would take them back to the base question.