Virtual Intelligent Personal Assistant for Bat Researchers

The paper presents a Virtual Intelligent Personal Assistant (VIPA) designated to facilitate the field work of the bat researchers. It is a mobile software based on BDI Architecture developed using freely available Open Source technologies. Its initial version includes some basic functionalities such as gathering of fully customizable field data, processing of this data, analysis and reports. VIPAs are software agents designated to assist users in performing specific tasks. They are able to communicate, cooperate, discuss, and guide people. One major advantage of the VIPAs is that they collaborate with the user in different ways, and in virtually unlimited tasks and applications, by hiding the complexity of difficult tasks, performing them on behalf of the user, and teaching the user to monitor events and procedures.