Building advanced Chat Bots & Voice Interactive Assistants
Stève SFARTZAPI Evangelist - Cisco [email protected], @SteveSfartz, github://ObjectIsadvantag
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/Cisco/DevNet/SteveSfartz
• API Evangelist @CiscoDevNet• Cisco Spark Apps & Tropo APIs • code addict, nodejs, love story
with #golang• France and all around Europe• hosted @PIRL – Paris Innovation
Center & Research Lab• twitter://@SteveSfartz• github://ObjectIsAdvantag
“vision without execution is
hallucination”
-- Thomas Edison
[email protected]@SteveSfartz
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Zero to advanced Voice Machines, ChatBots
Demoes & code samples +39-069-480-4685, [email protected]
Challenges & Lessons learntT
so what’s on the menu
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From Zero to advanced Voice Machines with Tropo
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What is Tropo ?
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Cloud APIs enabling developers to quickly and easily embed communication capabilities into their applications and business processes.
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+• Ask
• Call
• Conference
• Hangup
• Record
• Reject
• Say
• Transfer
Tropo in a nutshell
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say("hello world");
Text to Speech
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Play an Audio File
say(“http://.../troporocks.mp3");
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Outbound Voice Call
call("+14155550100");say("Tag, you’re it!");
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Send a Text Message
call("+14155550100", {network:"SMS"});say("Tag, you’re it!");
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Asking a Questionvar result = ask("What's your favorite color? Choose red, blue or green.", { choices:"red, blue, green"});say("You said " + result.value);log("They said " + result.value);
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Voicemail Applicationrecord("Leave your message. Press pound when finished.", { beep:true, timeout:10, silenceTimeout:7, maxTime:60, terminator:'#', recordFormat:"audio/mp3", recordURI:"ftp://.../file.mp3" });
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How to setup your own Voice Machine
• Signup at http://tropo.com
• Create a new Scripting app
• Point to an IVR script: http://bit.ly/TROPO-IVR
• Pick a phone number
• Save the application
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Globally availableGlobal Outgoing Calls & MessagesNumbers in 42 countries80 speech languages
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Account Types
• Free• Low-volume• Restricted use• No production
usage• 24x7 support
Developer
• Pre-paid• Credit Card• Self-service
signup• Shared Cloud• one minute
billing increments
Production
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Check upcoming talksvia CodeMotion Rome’s
Voice Machine
+39 069 480 468516
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CodeMotion Rome Voice MachineIVR = Interactive Voice Responder
• Call +39 069 480 4685 and listen…
• Dial 1 to receive more details by SMS, 2 for next• Check a session details on your mobile phone• Text your email to the caller /!\ you’re texting US !!! • Launch CiscoSpark, and meet the bot…
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{CodeMotion} Rome Voice Machine
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How to setup a custom IVR• The IVR is composed of :
• a local phone number • a custom script executed by the Tropo Scripting platform
dials #1
+39 069 480 4685« Welcome »
details via SMScalls
Voice Machinescript
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IVR script highlights
• Forking a new session to send a SMS
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Join the Cisco DevNet code labshttps://github.com/CiscoDevNet/codemotion-rome-2017
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Serverless is great• no deployment hurdles, scalability from day 1
… but • tedious dev cycles (commit, push, test)• painful to diagnose (read logs through)
Þ local emulators to the rescue run and debug locally integrate in a CI/CD tool chain
Lessons learnt
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Tropo Ready!
• Tropo Ready!
• + URL to the project
• Browse the project
https://github.com/ObjectIsAdvantag/tropo-ready-vscode
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Tropo Emulator in practicehttps://github.com/ObjectIsAdvantag/tropo-ready-vscode
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Best practices: ChatOpsDiagnose & follow real time activity
“Follow your application usage in
real-time”
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Best practices: ChatOpsDiagnose & follow real time activity
“Follow your application usage in
real-time”
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Best practices: ChatOpsDiagnose & follow real time activity
“Diagnose a Serverless script”
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How to setup ChatOps
To stream logs and get instant view about your Voice Machine activity:
1. Create a ChatOps room
2. Add an Incoming Webhook
3. Post messages
Voice Machinescript
Log2Sparklibrary
/newlogs
POSTmessage
« ChatOps »Room
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3
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From Zero to advanced Chat Bots with Cisco Spark
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Cisco Spark
Secure & Open
Complete & Simple
Spark for DevelopersUser Integrations, APIs/SDKs...
Spark Hybrid ServicesCloud + Prem
Partner ServicesInterconnect
Message Meeting Call1:1 and team messaging Cloud-based phone systemAudio, video, and web meetings
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‘Your App’ now with
Cisco Collab!
Spark APIs extend Cisco Collaboration Cloud
GET
POST
DELETE
PUT/Rooms
/Memberships
/Messages
/Webhooks
/People
/Teams
https://developer.ciscospark.com/
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Meet the roomId bot
• Add [email protected] to a room
1. The bot sniffs room identifier,
2. Posts the identifier in a 1-1 space,
3. And finally leaves the space you originally invited it to join
https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/node-sparkbot-samples
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• nothing more than an API responding to events
• a few lines of code with a Bot framework
What it takes to build a Chat Bot
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Run a bot sample
• Leverages the node-sparkbot framework• aimed at Cisco Spark bot education • https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/node-sparkbot
• Community frameworks• Flint: https://github.com/flint-bot/flint • BotKit: https://github.com/howdyai/botkit
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https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/node-sparkbot-samples
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Cisco Spark Cloud Service
1. interacts in spacesvia a Cisco Spark client
Cisco Spark User
Your Bot code runningOn-premise or on a Public Coud
2. posts notifications to registered WebHooks
Publicly accessible APIs
3. posts messages as notifications fly in
Bot Architecture
Register WebHook events your bot is interested to listened to Messages /
created Memberships /
created
As events happen in spaces, receive notifications from Cisco Spark
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Cisco Spark Cloud Service
1. interacts in spacesvia a Cisco Spark client
Cisco Spark User
DMZ
2. posts notifications to registered WebHooks
Publicly accessible
3. responds to Webhook events
Your Bot code runningon-premises
Enterprise secured
2b. forwards notifications
Bot Architecture: on-premises
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Cisco Spark Cloud Service
1. interacts in Roomsvia the various Spark Clients
Cisco Spark User
Tunneling infrastructure
Your Bot code runningon your local machine
2. posts notifications to registered WebHooks
Dev environmentPublicly accessible
2b. forwards Webhook events
3. responds to Webhook events
Bot Architecture: dev machine
ngrok, localtunnel…
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Bot Contest
Sign in on CiscoSpark
Meet the [email protected]
Take the challenge
Win an iPhone7…
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Meet the QuizBot
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https://github.com/LucaCalabrese/codemotion-spark-bot Java, AWS, PostGreSQL, WebHooks @LukeCalab
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@QuizBot help
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@QuizBot now
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Enhance the User Experience
• Help command• better show at the invite, welcome message• But how much help do the bot really
provide?• /hlp • Help• #help• HELP!!!
Þ Fallback command
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Fallback command
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Add conversations to the game…https://github.com/ObjectIsAdvantag/devnet-botkit-sample
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…and context storagehttps://github.com/CiscoDevNet/botkit-ciscospark-samples
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Bot Frameworks survey
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Bot community frameworks
• Flint, https://github.com/flint-bot/flint
• BotKit, https://github.com/howdyai/botkit
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Community frameworks for Cisco SparkFlint
First Bot framework for Cisco Spark
Highly tuned for the Cisco Spark API (webhooks events, moderation…)
Basic Key/Value data store
Coding best practices (ES6, exception handling, logs, retries, rate limitation)
BotKit
Largest community Bot framework
Cross platform support with code reuse (no magic convert button: events name, message formatting)
Advanced Key/Value data store (user / space level)
Powerful conversational paradigm
https://github.com/flint-bot/flint https://github.com/howdyai/botkit
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Taking bots to the next stage
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Taking bots to the next stage
• But who created the bot ?• What is the usage policy ?• How can I contact support, send feedback ?• What about my data privacy ?
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@CiscoDevNet /about
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Taking bots to the next stage
Is the bot down ?
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Bot MetadataHealthCheck
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Is the bot down ? a proposal
• Register the Bot in a Universal Database• Chat services supported• Healthcheck endpoints• Author, Policies• Metadata again…
• chatbot.land domain reserved• who’s in ? twitter://@SteveSfartz
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Taking bots to the next stageHosting
• Many options: IaaS, Containers, PaaS• Concerns: Availability, Scalability,
Security, Rate Limitation• Pricing balance: who’s willing to pay for
the bot, and how much• Heroku PaaS Free Dynos• AWS/Google/Microsoft free plans• Currently testing Serverless Functions
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Google Functions pricing
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The Serverless Functions opportunityhttps://github.com/ObjectIsAdvantag/devnetexpress-bot
Remember? a bot is nothing more than a POST endpoint …with an healthcheck !
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The Serverless Functions opportunity
> gcloud alpha functions deploy sparkbot --entry-point googlefunction --stage-bucket objectisadvantag-functions --trigger-http --memory 128MB --timeout 1s
https://github.com/ObjectIsAdvantag/devnetexpress-bot
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The Serverless Functions opportunity
• An easy way to remove the Serverless burden
https://github.com/ObjectIsAdvantag/devnetexpress-bot
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Taking bots to the next stage
• Pick Bots coding best practices & frameworks• Exception management, Retries• Help, Fallback command, Healthcheck• Conversations (test is challenging)
• Choose the best hosting approach • Monitor your bot activity
• Chatops + Analytics
• Think twice before going to NLP and then choose the best approach (local vs 3rd party)
https://devnetcreate.io/2017 Nick Marus’s Talk
• Hosting• Security• Rate limitation
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Taking bots to the next stageMachine Learning
• The bot companion learns from interactions
• Use case: classify my Twitter Followers
• Who’s ready to pay for it ?• Data Privacy vs Real Cost
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Join the Cisco DevNet code labshttps://github.com/CiscoDevNet/codemotion-rome-2017
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Bot Contest
• Sign in on Cisco Spark
• Meet the [email protected]
• Take the challenge• Win iPhone7…
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Meet Cisco at CodeMotion Rome
March 24th 9:40: It's all about Developers, discover Cisco DevNet11:30: Build advanced Voice Assistants and Chat Bots14:10: How to embed Video Calls and Messaging without being a Media, WebRTC, XMPP or SIP expert
All day: Learn by taking a code lab with proctors
March 25th
11:30: Microservices and containers networking: Contiv, an industry leading open source solution from Cisco
https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/codemotion-rome-2017
Thank you
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@CiscoDevNet@CiscoSparkDev@SteveSfartz