This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Published by The Mars Society. - 1 - POWER SYSTEM AGENTS: THE MOBILE AGENTS 2006 FIELD TEST AT MDRS William J. Clancey NASA/Ames Research Center Intelligent Systems Division MS269-3 Moffett Field, CA 94035 and Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL William.J.Clancey@nasa.gov Maarten Sierhuis USRA/RIACS (NASA/Ames) Richard L. Alena NASA/Ames Research Center John Dowding UC/Santa Cruz, CA (NASA/Ames) Michael Scott and Ronnie van Hoof QSS Group, Inc. (NASA/Ames) ABSTRACT During the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) Rotation 49 (April 23- May 7, 2006), we field tested and significantly extended a prototype monitoring and advising system for the habitat crew that integrates data from the MDRS power system. A distributed, wireless network of functionally specialized agents interact with the crew to provide alerts, access and interpret historical data (through voice command), and display troubleshooting procedures. In practical application during two weeks, the system generated speech over loudspeakers and headsets to alert the crew about the need to investigate generator-inverter- battery problems that had not yet come to their attention. This field test accomplished a milestone for the “CEV Agent-Mediated Situational Awareness” task in NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program 12B, Human-Systems Interaction. INTRODUCTION The Mobile Agents Project has developed and field tested over five years a general technology for integrating diverse hardware and software in a wireless network. The purpose of the project has been to develop an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) communications system that automates data management, workflow between crew and robots, and alerting and advising for navigation, scheduling, life support, and astronaut health.