15-492: SDS Assignment

In this assignment you will learn about using spoken dialog systems, and how to build your own.

Your tasks are:

1. Telephone dialog systems:
   • a. Call TellMe at 1-800-555-8355 and get two sets of driving directions between two different pairs of points you know. Evaluate TellMe's system with respect to recognition accuracy, speech output quality and dialog management.
   • b. Call the following two different systems:
     • CMU's Let's Go 412 268 3526 http://www.cmuletsgo.org Bus schedules (around CMU)
     • and AMTRAK 1-800-USA-RAIL
     Use these systems for some appropriate task (describe what you asked and if you got the intended information).

   Compare these with each other and the TellMe system.

2. Building your own Dialog System

   Register with TellMe Studio (http://studio.tellme.com) and write a simple pizza ordering application in VoiceXML. The system should at least:

   • Greet the caller
   • Collect the data on the size, toppings and drinks
   • At the end echo back the answer (you don't need it to actually order the pizza)
   Use the TellMe developer documentation to find examples to modify. Start simply and add to it. You should provide your developer ID and pin number in your submission.