CHALLENGE 4: Teach Grok Bot Your First Task

Level: Intermediate · No Code

Give your Bot a skill and a routine. A skill tells the Bot how to do a task. A routine tells it when to run that skill.

Choose your task before opening Teach a Task. Pick one: dining menu, office hours, campus shuttle, library or gym hours, course announcements, campus events, assignment due dates, or weather. Use a public page if possible, and decide which input should change next time, such as the location, name, course, or date. If the site requires a login, sign in once on the Bot’s computer; never put a password in the skill.

What you’ll do and learn

• Teach the skill: Do the task once on the bot’s computer with Teach a Task. The bot saves the steps, not where you clicked. It should also notice what should change next time, such as a name, a date, or a search.
• Read it back: In chat, the bot lists the steps and what it will treat as an input. If it saved a value that should change, tell it before you continue.
• Add the routine: A skill does not run on its own. Tell the bot when to run it. That can be a time, such as weekday mornings, or an event, such as when a message shows up. Ask it to show you the result, and not to send, post, or submit anything by itself.

Steps

1. Open the chat with the bot you want to teach.
2. Click the monitor icon on the right side of the chat header to open that bot’s computer panel. On a Mac, Cmd+Shift+I opens the same view.
3. A panel opens with a live preview of that bot’s computer, above Routines.
4. Click the preview to open the full screen view.
5. Click Teach Task in the top right and do the task once. Stop the recording when you are done.
6. Go back to the chat and wait for the bot to list the steps. Correct anything it got wrong, especially a value that should change next time.
7. Ask for the routine in chat. For example: “Run that skill every weekday at 9am. Show me the result here. Don’t send or submit anything.”
8. When the Bot shows a confirmation card for the routine, review and confirm it. Open the same computer panel again and check that the routine appears under Routines.
9. You are finished when the Bot has summarized the learned skill and the routine appears under Routines. Then complete the submission items below.

Note: If you do not want the routine to run during this session, ask the bot to pause it after you take the screenshot. You can turn it back on later.

Examples

• Dining hall menu: Open the dining page, find one hall, and copy today’s lunch. “Run that skill every weekday at 8am. Show me the menu here.” (What changes: the hall, or lunch vs. dinner).
• Office hours: Search a department page for a professor and copy their office hours. “Run that skill every Monday at 9am. Show me the hours here.” (What changes: the professor’s name).
• Campus shuttle: Open the shuttle page and report the next departure from one stop. “Run that skill on weekdays at 4pm. Show me the next bus here.” (What changes: the stop, or the route).
• Library or gym hours: Open the hours page and report if the building is open today, and until when. “Run that skill every weekday at 8am. Show me today’s hours here.” (What changes: which building).
• Course announcements: Open one course page and copy the newest announcement. “Run that skill every weekday at 9am. Show me anything new here.” (What changes: which course).
• Campus events: Open the events calendar and list this week’s events that match a word, like a club name or “career.” “Run that skill every Sunday at 5pm. Show me the list here.” (What changes: the search word).
• Assignment page: Open a syllabus or assignments page and copy the next due date. “Run that skill every Monday at 9am. Show me the next due date here.” (What changes: which class).
• Weather before class: Open a forecast page for campus and report today’s high and if it will rain. “Run that skill every weekday at 7:30am. Show me the forecast here.” (What changes: the campus, if not on the main one).

What to Submit

• A screenshot of the bot’s summary of the skill (the learned steps in chat).
• A screenshot of the routine (using the confirm card, or the routine listed in the Routines tab).
• Two sentences stating what the skill does (including what changes each time) and when the routine runs.