Herobot: The new digital helper in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district!

Herobot: The new digital helper in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district!

On April 25, 2025, the district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg presented the new chatbot "Herobot" on its website. This innovative application should ensure the answering of questions about administrative services around the clock. In particular, questions about the appointment booking at the registration office can be clarified at any time. The first district deputy Dirk Noll emphasizes that Herobot offers a low -threshold addition to the conventional contact paths and thus facilitates access to administrative information. This is particularly advantageous for working citizens, since they often need information outside of the regular opening times of the administration.

Herobot is not only practical help, but also a digital orientation tool. The chat bot answers simple questions and is available in special locations, such as during the corona pandemic, to quickly clarify frequent inquiries. The user finds its place on the website of the district very easily: Herobot appears as a speech bubble on the lower right edge of the screen. Users can also give feedback directly in the chat window, which should enable continuous improvement in the application.

technology and development

The technical basis of Herobot is AI-based and data protection compliant. This development shows how modern technologies are used to optimize the administration service. The chat bot is not intended as a replacement for personal advice. For more complex questions, employees who can offer deeper support are still available.

A fascinating comparison is the chat bot "Bobbi", which was introduced in Berlin as a virtual citizen assistant in Berlin. Bobbi aimed to generate a relevant mass of uses for research work, based on structured data from the service database in Berlin. With methods of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning, Bobbi was able to efficiently understand user inquiries and provide answers from his database. This procedure is different from the training methods that are used for more recent Large Language models.

experiences and outlook

The user behavior with Bobbi has shown that the chat bot was increasingly used as a qualified search engine. Despite the initial successes, smears have been shown over the years in the evaluation of the results compared to the regular service portal search. Users expected better system behavior that Bobbi could not offer. Due to a lack of further development, the research cooperation and the operation of Bobbi end on December 31, 2024.

The knowledge gained from the use of Bobbi is flowing into future, AI-based applications. This shows that the experiences from previous projects can create essential foundations for new developments in the field of digital administration. The district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg is therefore a promising path with Herobot in order to meet the increasing need for efficient administrative support.

Overall, it can be seen that the integration of such technologies not only increases efficiency, but also contributes to promoting the proximity of the administration. The chatbot is available at www.hef-rof.de and represents an important step towards a digitized administrative landscape.