SUMPY: A Fuzzy Software Agent

Abstract

SUMPY is a software agent "living" in and helping to maintain a UNIX file system for better disk space utilization by compressing and backing up. Built using subsumption architecture, SUMPY displays a "plug and play" property. A new UNIX maintenance task can be added to SUMPY's repertoire without modification of existing layers. One of SUMPY's layers sports a fuzzy control mechanism enabling it to achieve its goals in a realworld manner. Another restricts SUMPY's activity to times of slow CPU use. An experiment in agent architecture and in the use of agents for such maintenance tasks, SUMPY promises to prove useful, and has added no significant problems to the test systems. Key words: autonomous agent, fuzzy controller, software agent, subsumption architecture. 1. Introduction Autonomous agents have shown considerable promise in robotics [1,2,3,12,13], software development [5], information mining in network environments [4,10], life science [11], and in other fields. Thus control stru...