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Voice-bot for Book An Appointment

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 Voice-bot for Book An Appointment

N.M. Pathirage D.W.W. Gunasekara A.P. Kumara

Digital Lab, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC. Digital Lab, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC. Digital Lab, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC.
nawanjanamadhushankha dinojwaruna2@gmail.com anil@slt.com.lk
@gmail.com

N.D. Madanayake J.M.C.M. Bandara

Digital Lab, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC. Digital Lab, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC.
navindudananga123@gmail.com chathuramahasen@gmail.com

ABSTRACT Whether it's making a doctor's appointment, booking appointments

is a routine chore that people frequently perform. However,
This study examines the creation of a voice bot system that uses
conventional ways of scheduling appointments, such phone calls or
RASA NLU to schedule appointments. There is a rising need for
online forms, can be time-consuming, challenging and can result in
effective and user-friendly appointment scheduling systems in the
mistakes or misunderstandings.
current digital era. Traditional methods can come with difficulties,
such as lengthy procedures and probable mistakes. The goal of this
The inefficiency and user friction associated with the current
project is to develop an efficient speech bot system that can
appointment booking systems are the issues we address in this
comprehend and analyze user inquiries about scheduling
research. We want to give people a more streamlined and user-
appointments. The system seeks to accurately handle diverse user
friendly experience by utilizing RASA NLU to create a voice bot
requests, such as date formats, time preferences, and service types,
that will allow them to book appointments easily using natural
by utilizing RASA NLU. The system's ability to understand user
language commands and responses.
input and retrieve the data required for appointment scheduling is
significantly improved by RASA NLU. Additionally, the research
As pointed out in [2], Approximately 15% of the US gross domestic
manages and stores appointment information in a SQLite database.
product is accounted for by the healthcare sector. The amount of
The study's final findings show that RASA NLU was successfully
public funding required to support health care, which presently
used to build a speech bot system. The technology efficiently
accounts for 45% of all health care expenditures, is predicted to
responds to user inquiries and offers a simple appointment-making
double by 2050 due to the rapid growth of healthcare costs.
process. The system shows better efficiency, accuracy, and user
satisfaction in the appointment booking process by employing
In this situation, scheduling appointments becomes a critical
RASA NLU's capabilities and using SQLite.
component of managing patient care and maximizing healthcare
Keywords resources. However, the conventional ways of scheduling
appointments in the healthcare industry, such as phone calls or
ML- Machine Learning, NLU- Natural Language Understanding, online forms, can exacerbate system inefficiency and consumer
AI - Artificial Intelligence, STT - Speech To Text, TTS - Text To
frustration.
Speech

A study gap exists on the specific application of voice bots for

1. INTRODUCTION
The proceedings are the records of the ICIIT conference.
By enabling automatic and effective interactions with people,
conversational artificial intelligence (AI) has changed a number of
sectors. The development of voice bots, which are intended to
recognize and react to user input in natural language, is one
promising use of conversational AI. In this study, we investigate
how to create a voice bot for scheduling appointments using RASA
NLU, a well-liked open-source natural language understanding
framework. [1]
appointment booking utilizing RASA NLU, despite studies
addressing the usage of conversational AI and voice bots in a
variety of fields. By examining the efficiency of RASA NLU in
precisely interpreting user goals, retrieving pertinent information,
and successfully scheduling appointments through voice
interactions, this research intends to close this gap.
The main key objectives that are going to be covered in this
research are, Create an appointment-making voice bot using RASA
NLU, analyze how well the speech bot performs in interpreting user
intentions and retrieving pertinent data, compare the speech bot's
user experience and satisfaction to more conventional appointment

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booking techniques, determine the speech bot approach's potential
drawbacks and shortcomings and make suggestions for
improvement, by focusing on these goals, we hope to enhance
conversational AI and offer information on how to effectively use
voice bots for scheduling appointments, which will be
advantageous to both customers and service providers.
2. RELATED WORKS
The growth of voice assistants and natural language understanding
(NLU) technology has completely changed how people interact
with computers.[3] These developments have resulted in the
development of voice-bot systems that can automate chores like
arranging appointments in recent years. This review of the literature
intends to investigate the current research and advancements in the
area of voice-based appointment scheduling, with an emphasis on
the use of the RASA NLU framework.
Voice-based solutions are extremely popular now because they are
convenient and hands-free. Accurately detecting user intentions
and reading useful information from spoken language are two
major implementation issues for voice-based appointment booking
systems. By enabling the interpretation of user requests and the
mapping of those requests to suitable actions, NLU approaches play
a critical role in tackling this difficulty.
A well-known open-source framework for creating conversational
AI systems is RASA NLU. It is a good fit for voice-bot systems
because it offers the features needed for intent categorization, entity
recognition, and dialogue management. Researchers and
developers can modify RASA NLU to fit particular application
domains, such as appointment scheduling, because of its modular
architecture and adaptability.[4]
The development of a health assistant bot is explored in the
conference paper named "Health Assistant Bot" by Nayak, N. K.,
Pooja, G., Kumar, R. R., Spandana, M., and Shobha, P. It also
examines its implementation, features, and prospective advantages
in the healthcare industry. The study's primary findings are
included in the report, along with the bot's conversational interface,
natural language processing abilities, and integration with
significant health databases and resources. The use of AI-powered
health assistant bots in this research adds to the body of literature
by showing their potential to enhance healthcare services and
accessibility. [5]
The development of a conversational interface for appointment
management and medical advice in the Sinhala language is
explored in the paper "Sinhala Conversational Interface for
Appointment Management and Medical Advice" by Rajapakshe, D.
D. S., Kudawithana, K. N. B., Uswatte, U. L. N. P., Nishshanka, N.
A. B. D., and Piyawardana, A. V. S. The research, which was
published by IEEE, focuses on the development and functioning of
the interface with the goal of offering customers an easy-to-use
platform to make appointments and get medical advice in Sinhala.
The authors go over the interface's functionality with regard to
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database integration, natural language understanding, and ease of
use. In order to improve healthcare accessibility for Sinhala-
speaking people, this research adds to the body of literature by
addressing the specific requirement for a conversational interface
in the healthcare field. [6]
The potential of NLU technologies, including the use of RASA
NLU, has been shown in earlier studies. These sectors include
healthcare and hospitality. This research underline that successful
voice-based interactions depend on precise intent identification,
entity extraction, and dialogue management. On top of this
foundation, the current study is on creating a voice-bot system for
scheduling appointments, utilizing RASA NLU's capabilities and
addressing the unique difficulties and demands of appointment
scheduling. By utilizing a unique communication medium that
imitates telephone calls, the voice-bot system created for
scheduling appointments utilizing RASA NLU sets itself apart
from other existing studies.
This system uses a service provider's communication infrastructure
to enable users to engage in genuine and seamless voice
conversations, in contrast to prior research that largely focuses on
text-based or online interactions. With this telephone-based
strategy, the system provides users with a simple and familiar
experience that mimics regular phone calls while employing the
capabilities of RASA NLU for precise intent identification and
efficient appointment scheduling. With this innovative application,
there are now more opportunities to improve accessibility and user
engagement by incorporating voice-based technologies into actual
healthcare environments. This is the speciality of the entire system
while other systems are working with web applications that work
with a call center. In normal call centers there are receptionists to
book an appointment or solve the issues related to their domains.
But in this scenario there are no humans acting as the receptionist.
All the work is done by the voice-bot because of the power of the
AI revolution.
3. METHODOLOGY
The entire methodology of the system is the user voice wave going
through with the Flask API. Then it is converted to text by using
speech to text transferring API. After the message processing with
the algorithm that is built by using the RASA framework. The
relevant data for the conversation is stored in the database files
which are related to the doctor details and patient details. In the
algorithm the user given data checked with relevant doctor
appointment scheduling and also proceeded it further. Then the
responses are generated from the voice-bot according to the user's
communication dialogue and convert the response to the sound by
using text to speech API. After the response comes to the user by
using the FLASK API.
Following diagram (figure 1) displays the process that is described
above.
 Figure 1: Overall methodology
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The figure 2 that is shown below gives a detailed explanation of
how the voice bot system works and clarifies how the user and the
voice bot communicate with one another. The figure 2 emphasizes
the information flow and exchanges involved in the user-bot
interaction while showcasing the complex interplay of numerous
components. Beginning with the user's input and the voice-bot
receiving the instruction through speech recognition, the sequence
of events is visually shown. The picture also describes the
succeeding steps that help the speech bot accurately interpret the
user's request, such as intent recognition, entity extraction, and
dialogue management.
Figure 2: Results for the make an appointment
The following figure 3 represents the patient details stored into the
database which is relevant to the above conversation and some of
other patient appointments.
Figure 3: Updated patient table according to the appointment
The following figures (Figure 4, 5) are showing the results of the
performance and accuracy of the entire system and survey which is
related to the users satisfaction. For this survey there were 30 test
cases.
297
Figure 4: Performance Analysis – Performance and accuracy up to 5
stories
Figure 5: Survey Using Different Test Cases
The new application of a voice-bot system for booking
appointments utilizing RASA NLU supports the findings and
analysis discussed in the study article. This system makes a number
of original contributions and advancements in voice-bot and
healthcare automation. The following is a summary of the major
novelties:
Patient Data Integration: The voice-bot system has the capacity to
safely store patient data in a SQlite3 database. This integration
makes it possible to record all patient information, including
contact information and medical background, enabling precise and
effective appointment scheduling.
Integration of the user interface with the backend system is
seamless thanks to the study's successful demonstration of the link
between the voice-bot system and the Flask endpoint. By offering
a simple interface for scheduling appointments, this connection
improves the user experience for users.
Future Integration with Asterisk: The article highlights the voice-
bot system's intended integration with Asterisk, which will make it
easier for users to make phone calls to the voice-bot. By enabling
 users to make appointments and call in for necessary details, this [6] D. D. Rajapakshe et al., “Sinhala conversational interface for
connection increases the system's usability. The system's reach and appointment management and medical advice,” 2020 2nd
utility will be significantly expanded when Sinhala and Tamil are International Conference on Advancements in Computing (ICAC),
added in the future. 2020. doi:10.1109/icac51239.2020.9357155

In conclusion, the study article offers fresh insights into the

effective application of a voice-bot system for scheduling
appointments using RASA NLU. Voice-bot technology and
developments in healthcare automation are demonstrated through
the integration of patient data storage, a fluid user interface, and
future integration with Asterisk. These results lay the groundwork
for further research and development in order to enhance the
appointment scheduling procedure and increase the functionality of
voice-bot systems in the healthcare sector.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our supervisors,
for their important leadership and assistance throughout the course
of this research project. Their experience, wisdom, and guidance
were invaluable in determining the course of our work and ensuring
its successful conclusion. We honestly value their commitment,
tolerance, and the effort they have put into guiding us. We are
grateful to have had the chance to work with them since their
contributions have been genuinely priceless.

6. REFERENCES
[1] Rasa NLU chatbot - computer science program at Texas
Wesleyan University,
https://cs.txwes.edu/student_projects/bryan_bao/report.pdf
(accessed Jul. 27, 2023).

[2] D. GUPTA and B. DENTON, Appointment scheduling in

health care: Challenges and opportunities,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/074081708021658
80 (accessed May 30, 2023).

[3] T. Young, D. Hazarika, S. Poria and E. Cambria, "Recent

Trends in Deep Learning Based Natural Language Processing
[Review Article]," in IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine,
vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 55-75, Aug. 2018, doi:
10.1109/MCI.2018.2840738.

[4] T. Bocklisch, J. Faulkner, N. Pawlowski, and A. Nichol,

“Rasa: Open source language understanding and dialogue
management,” arXiv.org, https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.05181
(accessed May 30, 2023).

[5] N. K. Nayak, G. Pooja, R. R. Kumar, M. Spandana, and P.

Shobha, “Health assistant bot,” SpringerLink,
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-1338-8_19
(accessed May 27, 2023).

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