The concept of chatbots is not a new idea, and the general idea of text-based electronic communication is one which most are familiar with, although terminology may be different. Here is a very brief overview:
Chatbot or short Bot is a text-based dialog system that allows communication with a technical system. A chatbot platform is a unified base that provides the same components such as messenger channels, security, administration for different chatbots. The components of the platform are not visible to chatbots running on the platform.
If you’re interested in learning more there are some excellent resources available which give more background information to get you started.