Smalltalk technical description

The installation consist of :

• two Pentium III. computers running the Java chatbot softwares, and the director applications which turn the textual conversation to spoken sentences.
• one Pentium computer running Linux and controlling the touchscreen-interface
• one palm-computer with touchscreen, used as the user-interface - two pairs of amplified computer speakers - local ethernet network (cables, HUB etc.)
• two SVGA projectors(800x600 pix.)
• two 70x100cm special plastic back-projection screens
• long professional VGA cables
• mounting steel cables, accessories etc.

The two computers running the robots are exchanging the textual messages via an ethernet based local network. Their operating system is windows 2000, the two custom-made softwares running on them are the Java chatbot software, and a director application "translating" the textual conversation by playing pre-recorded short videos corresponding to the words of the robots' replies. The communication is based on TCP/IP, the Java chatbots are providing a virtual webserver with several dedicated ports for interchanging commands and the sentences of the conversation.

The display-screens are tightened between the floor and the ceiling, the two projectors are installed in a back-projection order, all the cableing is visible, giving a hightech techno feeling of the installation. (Rather long professional VGA cables are needed.)

The user interface is a small palm computer running Windows CE 3.0 and Internet Explorer. The visitors can select leading sentences for the robots to chat about on a rolodex-like webpage. The webpage itself is located on a third computer, running Linux, which is used for timing and controlling the robots.