Virtual Companion: A Human Friendly Chatbot

This research introduces a novel virtual companion chatbot designed to provide emotional support and foster social interaction. The chatbot employs a dual-stage process to predict user emotions: it first analyzes textual input to assess emotional state, followed by an analysis of audio files to capture vocal cues. These outputs are combined into a cohesive emotional profile, which is then processed by a Large Language Model (LLM) within a predefined template. This ensures the chatbot's responses are emotionally aware, supportive, and non-harmful. The multi-modal emotion recognition system enhances the chatbot's ability to engage empathetically, demonstrating the potential for AI-driven companions to offer nuanced emotional interactions