Nomad: mobile agent system for an Internet-based auction house

The paper discusses Nomad, a mobile agent system integrated with eAuctionHouse, a next-generation Internet auction server. With the Nomad system, mobile agents travel to the eAuctionHouse site and participate in auctions on the user's behalf. Users can create agents using Java or can automatically generate agents from Nomad's template agent library     

Developing Nomad for robotic exploration of the Atacama Desert

Recent years have seen renewed attention to planetary exploration, and robotics is recognized as essential to many upcoming missions. In this article we describe the ongoing efforts of the Nomad project to develop robots for planetary and terrestrial exploration. The project is developing, demonstrating, and evaluating systems capable of long-distance, long-duration missions. In 1997 this work has resulted in the Atacama Desert Trek, in which a mobile robot named Nomad, explored the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Nomad's 45-day objective was to travel 200 km across the rugged, barren landscape. We then will describe the technologies for Nomad's transforming chassis, high data-rate communication, safeguarded teleoperation and autonomy, panoramic imaging and visualization, and remote science. We then focus on issues of long-distance, long-duration exploration and describe the events and results of the Atacama Desert Trek.