New IBM Computer Chip Mimics the Human Brain

For over half a century, computers have been little more than calculators with storage structures and programmable memory, a model which scientists have constantly aimed to improve. On the other hand is the human brain, the world’s most sophisticated computer, which can perform complex tasks rapidly and accurately using no more energy than a 20 watt light bulb and occupying the space of a two liter soda bottle.

IBM has been researching on a cognitive computing project called Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE). And through reproducing the structure and architecture of the brain, the SyNAPSE project models computing systems that emulate the brain’s computing efficiency, size and power usage without being programmed. This involves a combination of principles from nanoscience, neuroscience and supercomputing.

For this SyNAPSE project, a world-class, multi-dimensional team has been assembled, consisting of IBM researchers and collaborators from Columbia University; Cornell University; University of California, Merced; and University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded approximately US$21 million in new funding for phase 2 of the SyNAPSE project, a multi-year cognitive computing initiative.

IBM researchers describe the inspiration for the project.

In a sharp departure from traditional concepts in designing and building computers, IBM’s first neurosynaptic computing chips recreate the phenomena between spiking neurons and synapses in biological systems, such as the brain, through advanced algorithms and silicon circuitry. The first two experimental prototypes have been fabricated and currently undergoing testing. Systems built with these chips won’t be programmed like present day traditional computers. Instead these new computers, cognitive computers, are expected to learn from experience, create hypotheses, identify correlations and memorize. Effectively perform the same functions as a biological brain.

Why the shift away from traditional computing and towards cognitive computing? What are the scientists trying to achieve? The goal of SyNAPSE is to create a system that not only analyzes complex information, but also to dynamically rewire itself as it interacts with the environment. While these chips contact no biological elements, their various components are based on the design of neurobiology; Integrated Memory (Replicated Synapses), Computation (Replicated Neurons) and Communication (Replicated Axons).

In the future, computing chips will be able to collect unfiltered & complex information from real-world environments through various sensory modes and act via multiple motor modes in a coordinated, context-dependent manner.

“Imagine traffic lights that can integrate sights, sounds and smells and flag unsafe intersections before disaster happens or imagine cognitive co-processors that turn servers, laptops, tablets, and phones into machines that can interact better with their environments,” said Dr. Modha. “If this works, this is not just a 5 percent leap. This is a leap of orders of magnitude forward. We have already overcome huge conceptual roadblocks.”

IBM Cognitive Computing Project – An Overview

Those familiar with IBM will know they have a rich history in the field of artificial intelligence, stretching all the way back to 1956 when IBM performed the world’s first large-scale cortical simulation. IBM’s latest venture is no doubt a big step forward for mankind, changing the world forever. Think Terminator & Matrix sounds sci-fi? Think again.

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