The innovative reapplication of a multiagent system for human-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation was a consequence of appropriate agent-oriented design. The use of intelligent agents for simulating human decision making offers the potential for analysis and design methodologies that do not distinguish between agent and human until implementation. With this as a driver in the design process, the construction of systems in which humans and agents can be interchanged is simplified. Two systems have been constructed and deployed to provide defense analysts with the tools required to advise and assist the Australian Defense Force in the conduct of maritime surveillance and patrol. The experiences gained from this process indicate that it is simpler, both in design and implementation, to add humans to a system designed for intelligent agents than it is to add intelligent agents to a system designed for humans.

First, besides dealing with time constraints and other constraints of the job shop domain (for example, equipment constraints), crew planners must also deal with space constraints to prevent space discontinuities in duties, positioning crew where they are needed, whether as passengers in trains or other transportation means. Second, crew planners must also deal with complex train frequencies, such as week frequencies (for example, a train might only run on weekends), year periods (for example, only during summer), and special days (for example, on holidays and days before holidays), which put additional constraints on the combinations of tasks. These two aspects are critical to the quality of the final schedules and the efficiency of the scheduling process, requiring abstraction techniques to be used extensively. Third, the work periods of crew do not have fixed times, as shifts in industry, but can slide during the day to accommodate the irregularity of the train operation, although subject to constraints. The resource-sliding dynamics make it difficult to analyze activity demand and resource contention as is usually done in the job shop domain (Sadeh and Fox 1991).

The Artificial Intelligence and Information Sciences Office of the Research and Engineering Directorate at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) has as its basic responsibility the function of "consulting through research," that is, matching technology in universities, industry, and other NASA centers to space station applications. This requires staying abreast of the state of the art by conducting technology development and applications research in knowledge-based systems, machine vision, and robotics. A significant contribution of the AI office is the support of space station system engineering and integration (SE&I) activities. The AI office was formed in October 1984 and currently has a staff of twelve civil service personnel. Facilities include a Symbolics 3600 and a Symbolics 3670; a VAX 11/780 operating under ULTRIX (a Unix lookalike); and a robotics laboratory with a multiple-arm mobile robot, vision sensors, and mock-ups for simulating satellite servicing.

That's what Rolls-Royce is working on with their autonomous naval vessel concept that plans to have a 3,500 nautical-mile range. The company sees a future in the next 10 years or so where autonomous boats are out in the water for up to 100 days, eliminating the need for remote controlled ships or crews. Rolls-Royce general manager of naval electrics, automation and control, Benjamin Thorp said in a news release, "Such ships offer a way to deliver increased operational capability, reduce the risk to crew, and cut both operating and build costs." The ship is all conceptual, but the Verge reported a Norwegian company is launching an automated cargo ship next year that plans to be autonomous by 2020.