Flexible conversation management using a BDI agent approach

We describe a BDI (Belief, Desire, Intention) goal-oriented architecture for a conversational virtual companion embodied as a child's Toy, designed to be both entertaining and capable of carrying out col- laborative tasks. We argue that the goal-oriented approach supports both structured conversational activities (e.g., story-telling, collaborative games) as well as more \free- owing" engaging dialogue with variation and some unpredictability. BDI plans encode the knowledge required for the structured engagements, with the use of multiple plans for conversa- tional goals providing variation in the interactions.