HelpBot

HelpBot is an SMS messenging bot aimed at helping people who do not have data (or have run out of data) on their mobile device but have texting capabilities.

Currently, HelpBot has the following features (see below for examples):

• Google Maps
• Weather

HelpBot will have support for these in the future:

• Yelp
• Sports

Sample Usage

Google Maps Integration

Text HelpBot:

Transit directions from columbia/beechlawn to 330 philip street, waterloo depart at now

Response:

1) Walk to Columbia / Beechlawn (distance: 88 m, duration: 1 min)
2) Take BUS (headsign: Conestoga Mall) from Columbia / Beechlawn (11:06pm) to Columbia / Phillip (11:10pm). There will be 2 stops.
3) Walk to 330 Phillip St, Waterloo, ON N2L 3W9, Canada (distance: 0.1 km, duration: 2 mins)

Weather

Text HelpBot:

Weather in waterloo

Response:

Currently, in Waterloo, it is 12.89 degrees (11.0 degrees - 15.0 degrees) with overcast clouds.

Development

Virtual Environment

$ pip install virtualenv
$ virtualenv --no-site-packages
$ source bin/activate
$ bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

Start Heroku App

$ heroku login
Enter your Heroku credentials.
Email: <email>
Password: <password>
$ heroku create
$ git push heroku master

Set heroku environment variables:

heroku config:set GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY=<insert google maps api key>
heroku config:set WEATHER_API=<insert open weather api key>

Configure a Twilio Number

Go to your Twilio account and add a phone number. Then, configure the phone number so that its messaging webhook is the heroku application url.