Intelligent Agent Technology
A problem computer users face is that as applications become
more powerful, they also become more complex. And while users
cope with the complexity, they must still deal with the mundane
aspects of computer usage, such as backing up, repetitive file
management and arranging windows. Charles River Analytics, Inc.,
Cambridge, Massachusetts has brought to the market an autonomous
intelligent software product that relieves users of many routine
housekeeping and preparation tasks.
Open Sesame! software reduces computer-use complexity by relieving
users of many routine tasks.
Called Open Sesame!, the software "learns" a user's
behavior and offers automation and coaching suggestions to the
user; it reduces the number of mouse and keyboard operations
required to accomplish a given job because it automatically carries
out actions that were previously done manually. The product's
developers credit NASA funding support and technology background
with "critical" assistance in developing Open Sesame!
and other company software components.
Available for Apple Macintosh computers, Open Sesame! is based
on Charles River Analytics' hybrid neural network/expert system
technology. It compares high level events (like opening a folder
or quitting an application), generated by the user's mouse clicks
and key strokes, to information stored in its neural learning
module and its inference engine. The neural learning module looks
for repetitive patterns that have not been automated; when it
finds one, it creates an observation and, on approval, automates
the task it observed.
Founded in 1983, Charles River Analytics has both personnel
expertise and technical roots in NASA technology. Prior to starting
the company, president Dr. Alper Caglayan had worked five years
at Langley Research Center on digital flight systems R&D.
Dr. Greg Zacharias, vice president, served at Johnson Space Center,
where he worked on the preliminary design of the Space Shuttle
Orbiter's reentry autopilot.
In addition to this NASA-acquired knowledge base, much of
the company's computational intelligence technology was developed
under NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.
A Langley SBIR project on neural guidance research generated
software components later incorporated in Open Sesame! A Johnson-sponsored
SBIR contact on hybrid neural network expert systems environment
was instrumental in development of another Charles River product,
a neural expert software system known as NeuX.
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