(This item is displayed on page 857 in the print version) Peedy introducing himself when the window opens. Notice that Peedy's animations correspond to the words he speaks.įigure 17.28. 17.28), and the words he speaks appear in a cartoon bubble above his head. When the window opens, Peedy introduces himself (Fig.

To run the example, you must go to and download and install the Peedy character file, a text-to-speech engine and a speech-recognition engine. You can view this example atĪ/agent2/sdk/samples/html/peedypza.htm The Peedy character interacts with users by helping them choose toppings and calculating the totals for their orders. Peedy's Pizza Palace is an online pizza shop where users can place their orders via voice input. The following example, Peedy's Pizza Palace, was developed by Microsoft to illustrate the capabilities of the Microsoft Agent control. For complete details on downloading this control, visit This section introduces the basic capabilities of the Microsoft Agent control. These products are available free for download from Programmers can even create their own animated characters with the help of the Microsoft Agent Character Editor and the Microsoft Linguistic Sound Editing Tool. Microsoft provides speech recognition and text-to-speech engines for several languages at A text-to-speech engine is an application that translates typed words into audio sound that users hear through headphones or speakers connected to a computer. The Microsoft Agent control also uses a text-to-speech engine, which generates characters' spoken responses. To understand speech, the control uses a speech recognition enginean application that translates vocal sound input from a microphone to language that the computer understands. Microsoft Agent technology enables users to interact with applications and Web pages through speech, the most natural form of human communication. Microsoft provides basic information on Agent technology at For instance, the Peedy character-animation set includes different flying animations, which the programmer might use to move Peedy on the screen. Each character has a unique set of animations that programmers can use in their applications to illustrate different points and functions. The Microsoft Agent control provides programmers with access to four predefined charactersGenie (a genie), Merlin (a wizard), Peedy (a parrot) and Robby (a robot). Agents in these programs aid users in finding answers to questions and in understanding how the applications function. Microsoft employs its Agent technology in applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Microsoft Agent characters can speak and respond to user input via speech recognition and synthesis. Microsoft Agent is a technology used to add interactive animated characters to Windows applications or Web pages.

Msagent For Windows 10