Space Station Chatbot

Requirements

• Build a rule-based chatbot
• Web application running locally (localhost)
• Short development time (~2 months)
• Keep the tech stack low, use technologies with existing expertise
• Competently avoid topics outside the defined scope

Functional Scope

• Chatbot capable of answering questions within a defined range
• Simple, easy-to-use UI with a space-themed design
• Basic login functionality with predefined users (database)
• Integration of APIs for extended information on the topic
• Documentation on GitLab, including interaction flow

Optional Features/ Outlook

• Authentication and authorization
• Scalability for multiple users
• Data privacy in the database
• Multilingual support
• Logging
• Analytics and feedback tools
• Testing strategy

Theme and Content

• Basic information about life, daily work, and experiments on a space station
• Information on astronaut training and education
• Importance of spaceflight technology
• Target audience: Students, young professionals, and aspiring space pilots

Extended Scope

• Challenges and psychological impacts

Comprehensive Scope

• Future space missions
• Building space colonies
• Role of spaceflight in the future of humanity

Technology Selection

Programming Language

• [Python]
• Java
• [JavaScript]
• Ruby
• C#

Python for chatbot logic

• Simplicity and readability
• Wide range of libraries (NLTK, spaCy)
• Scalability and performance limitations suitable for this scope
• Good integration with many systems and frameworks
• Well-documented

JavaScript for web interactions

• Complements Python well
• Suited for frontend development

Chatbot Frameworks

Criteria:

• Good integration with web frameworks
• Well-documented and easy to understand, given the short development time
• Rule-based approach
• General-purpose, not overly specialized

Selection:

• Botpress (personal preference, focusing on Python rather than JS)
• [Rasa]
• ChatterBot (too simple, potentially harder to integrate into a web framework)
• Microsoft Bot Framework (too complex)
• Dialogflow (requires Google infrastructure)
• Wit.ai (potentially limited functionality options)

Web Framework

• [Flask]
• Django (too rigid and heavyweight for this scope)

Additional Components

• Database
• API integrations
• Container technology
• Logging, testing, and analytics