Imani Daye

NEUROMORPHIC/ NEUROSYNAPTIC CHIPS

September 19, 2014
Every year there are hundreds of new innovations in technology that help us to
understand our environment, and make our own lives far easier. Some of these advances
are on a large scale, such as a more efficient engine in a vehicle. Were as some of these
advancement come from something as small as a computer chip, or a specific type of
coding. One such advancement is the Neuromorphic or Neurosynaptic microchip.

The Neuromorphic chip is a microchip that is designed to allow a computer to

operate closer to that of the function of a human brain. This was best demonstrated at the
Qualcomm headquarters were a robotic dog, Pioneer, was able to recognize action figures
and place them in the correct area. This may not seem like much, however Pioneer was
able to complete the task without excessive lines of code, and with only being shown the
action once. It is able to recognize objects it hasn't seen before and place them based off
the similarity to past objects. In essence it is able to draw from past experiences in order
to complete a current task.

Qualcomm will be releasing how the technology can be embedded into silicon
chips that can power a wider variety of electronic devices (Technological Review). Thus
allowing things like our cell phones and laptops to process images, sounds, and data in
ways that they aren't specifically programmed for (Technological Review). The simplest
example would be an alert on your cell phone. It could learn and track trends for events
you like to be reminded of. so there would be no more remembering to set your alarm for
work in the morning.

Imani Daye
NEUROMORPHIC/ NEUROSYNAPTIC CHIPS
September 19, 2014
MIT isn't the only technological journal publisher that is covering the
advancements in this field. A simple Google, or Bing search can help you to find a wide
variety of different articles that have be published. In most cases one would make the
argument that Google is the better search engine of the two, myself included. Just like in
those cases you'd be right. Although Bing had well informed articles, some were simply
blogs loaded with personal points of view on the subject of A.I..

The best Google article I could find is from Gizmag, an online technology blog
that highlights important scientific advances. Although the article was written just over a
year ago, the information with in it is still very reliable. The author a Dario Borghino was
able to give a very informed article on not only the chips but also and attempt to reverse
engineer the human brain. It appears that he himself is a very well informed individual
due in part to his studying software engineering at Polytechnic University. I believe it
was written to inform the general public of the tests going on at the University of Zurich.
This is mostly do in part to the fact that most of the information posted comes from the
studies done by the university.

In order to continue my research I did a search of the library databases in Proquest

science section. Through that I was able to immediately locate numerous articles using
the keywords "Neuromorphic" and "Chip." Although these articles were incredibly easy
to access, they are time consuming in the effort it takes to understand some of the
concepts.

Imani Daye
NEUROMORPHIC/ NEUROSYNAPTIC CHIPS
September 19, 2014
MLA WORKS CITED
"MIT Technology Review." MIT Technology Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept.
2014. <http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/526506/neuromorphic-chips/>.
Borghino, Dario. "Neuromorphic Chips." Neuromorphic Chips Could Help Reverseengineer the Human Brain. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.gizmag.com/neuromorphic-chips/28586/>.
"Neuromorphic Chips Ana Machine Learning." Mechanical Engineering 136.9 (2014):
35. ProQuest. Web. 21 Sep. 2014.
Brderle, Daniel, et al. "A Comprehensive Workflow for General-Purpose Neural Modeling with
Highly Configurable Neuromorphic Hardware Systems." Biological cybernetics 104.4-5 (2011):
263-96. ProQuest. Web. 21 Sep. 2014.