SMS Bots were created by Sergey Teterin (RU) who first realized the project in russia, where mobile messaging is just as popular as in the rest of europe.
When he introduced us to the concept in 2004, we planned to train a cocktail conversation bot together for ROBOEXOTICA 2005. This we did(*), and thanks to a microgrant from the city of Vienna the SMS Bot project will grow a solid branch in Austria. The cocktail conversing bot shall be split in two unilangual versions and around april 2006 the training for a bot with different talents is to kick off.
(*)we failed in making it send SMS messages though - this problem is to be taken care of as i write by our pal Adrian Dabrowski, who could be brought onboard the project!
Here's the original description of Sergey Teterin's SMS Bots:
Our specially educated 'artificial personas' communicate with you by means of sms. They will be at your disposal for the conversation with you on any subject around the clock, 24 hours a day.Who are they, these sometimes wise, sometimes dull virtual creatures - "first swallows" of the coming Era of Artificial Intelligence or just an illusion of communication? The author of the project - Sergey Teterin is offering you just to play with them, to feel what "the humour from machine" is.
... the cocktail conversation SMS bot which was trained in an online group effort won the ACRA (Annual Cocktail Robot Award) 7.0 in the conversation category!
News as of May 2006:
