U.S. Air Force Awards Stottler Henke $750,000 Contract to Develop Intelligent Adversary Modeling Tool to Create More Accurate Battle Simulations.

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Easy-to-use AI Planning Tool Will Enable Smarter Computer-Generated Forces and Characters in Computer Games

Seeking more accurate battle planning simulations, the U.S. Air Force has awarded Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. (www.stottlerhenke.com) a $750,000 contract to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based intelligent adversary modeling tool that can more realistically and dynamically portray the behaviors of opposing forces for Course of Action (COA) analyses. Once completed, the tool, called MADCAP (Modeling Adversaries for COA Assessment via Predictive Simulation), will also have applications in commercial video game development, where increasingly advanced AI software is being used to define more life-like character behavior.

The two-year contract was awarded to Stottler Henke by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, NY.

Like Stottler Henke's SimBionic(R) and SimVentive(TM) simulation and game authoring tools, MADCAP is designed for use by non-programmers. MADCAP will enable subject matter experts -- such as military analysts and intelligence personnel -- who are not software programmers to build models of how forces would react under specific battle scenarios, thus making the outcomes of battle planning simulations more realistic and useful to U.S. military commanders.

Similarly, game designers will be able to use MADCAP to imbue characters with clever behavior which is not simply scripted and predictable, but adapts as the situation changes. As a result, the game player's experience will be more engaging and challenging.

"At Monolith Productions, our planning system was critical to the success of the AI for F.E.A.R., but it was a major development effort," said Jeff Orkin, AI developer of Monolith's popular games F.E.A.R. and No One Lives Forever 2. "A tool like MADCAP could have dramatically accelerated our AI development and provided designers with more control. I am convinced that planning systems are the future for modeling character behavior, and MADCAP will give developers a huge head start."

MADCAP enables simulation and game designers to develop goal-driven intelligent behaviors using a two-tiered approach. SimBionic behavior transition networks enable game designers to draw flowchart-like diagrams to specify decision-making logic for each game character. A hierarchical task network planner then enables game characters to achieve their goals by dynamically constructing plans from a library of plan fragments. These two reasoning methods are tightly integrated, so they can be combined easily to build game characters and simulated forces that think and act quickly yet strategically.

MADCAP has two core components: A visual editor to specify how the user wants opposing (red) forces to act, based on an array of behaviors and tactics at their disposal (rather than precise scripting of each step); and an engine that plugs into a simulation to control the red forces during a COA analysis.

"MADCAP is a highly dynamic, goal-driven adversary modeling tool," said Richard Stottler, president of Stottler Henke Associates. "Once the user establishes a list of goals for the adversary, the software will deliberate, assemble an action plan and modify it appropriately as circumstances change. No other tool offers non-programmers such easy visual behavior authoring, combined with sophisticated AI planning capabilities."

Stottler Henke expects to deliver an initial version of MADCAP integrated into a designated Air Force COA simulation in 2007. The company also plans to offer MADCAP capabilities in a commercial product in 2007.

Founded in 1988, Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. applies artificial intelligence and other advanced software technologies to solve problems that defy solution using traditional approaches. The company delivers intelligent software solutions for education and training, planning and scheduling, knowledge management and discovery, decision support, and software development. Stottler Henke's clients include manufacturers, retailers, educational media companies and government agencies. Stottler Henke received a 2004 "Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning" award for innovative technology. For the past three consecutive years, Stottler Henke was named one of the "top 100" companies making a significant impact on the military training industry by Military Training Technology magazine, and in 2005 received a Blue Ribbon recognizing it as a company that leads the industry in innovation. Email: [e-mail]. Web: http://www.stottlerhenke.com.