Penn State students may not be turning to AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) solely as a way to procrastinate on their homework any longer.

Five Penn State students have started an automated program that can be accessed via AIM to answer questions about events and more in the State College area.

"All you have to do is add NittanyBot to your AIM buddy list and then go ahead and talk to him," Abin Matin (senior-industrial engineering) said.

As of right now, NittanyBot, which signed on for the first time three weeks ago and has chatted with about 300 people since, can give information on bar specials and locations of apartments, campus buildings and bars, John Volence (junior-mechanical engineering) said.

"We add stuff basically every day," he said. "We just added a virtual bartender. It will tell you how to make different drinks."

Volence said the project was originally started as part of Engineering 407 (Technology-based Entrepreneurship).

"The goal was to create a company with other people in the class, and we wanted to do something that was student-oriented," he said. "We decided to go with the AIM bot approach because there are already so many Web sites out there."

Matin said the members of his group all had similar problems, such as waiting in line at restaurants, and they thought other students would have those problems, too.

"One of the things you can do is look up buildings on campus," he said. "I know my finals are always in [random] buildings, but now you don't have to Google them to find them."

Chris Sykora (junior-aerospace engineering) said he thinks the NittanyBot will be more popular than Web sites that offer similar kinds of information because so many students use AIM frequently.

"We notice a lot of Web sites don't have enough information," he said. "We're trying to be as comprehensive as possible."

Volence said that right now, the group is working on adding fraternity locations, beer distributor specials, Penn State sporting events and Late Night Penn State events.

Matin said they also want to add a schedule of bands performing at local bars.

Sykora said that he has been working on the NittanyBot Web site, www.nittanybot.com.

"Our goal is actually that you can use the NittanyBot through your browser," he said.

Since AIM can also be accessed on cell phones, the NittanyBot can be especially useful to get students information when they are not near a computer, Matin said.

Anthony Sauerzopf (senior-finance) said he thinks NittanyBot "sounds awesome" and he would go to it for information.

"I'd like to see them add other things, like speakers coming to campus," he said.

Cameron Lefevre (senior-information sciences and technology) said that although he would probably not use NittanyBot, he thinks it's an "interesting idea."

"I would imagine there are students that would take advantage of that," he said.