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Brains and Machines

Brains and Machines
Scientist and journalist Sunny Bains writes about making intelligent hardware, augmenting and understanding human perception, and cool computing and imaging technologies.

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A silicon spinal cord?
2009-08-27 16:43:00
There has been a huge amount of progress in the area of using brain probes to read our intentions, and then relay those to a limb that would otherwise be paralyzed (or, for that matter, to a prosthetic limb). I've written about related subjects in the past, both for EE Times and the IEE (now IET), but was really impressed to see that there has now been a full demonstration of the technology (albeit, in a monkey) and that there are new clinical trials underway to show how implanted brain probes can help real human patients. There's also an important trend towards wireless implants. If you're interested in this, you might want to read my new piece in New Scientist magazine on the subject.Some cool research I didn't have space to cover in this feature is described in a new paper by Jose Carmena and Karunesh Ganguly about how our brains can learn to cope with this kind of implant. Until recently, most experiments with brain probes required regular, and often laborious, manual ‘t...
More About: Silicon

No free will for Christof
2009-06-09 20:46:00
Christof Koch and I see eye to eye on a few things. For one, we're both Mac-heads. (Although I have no Apple logos anywhere on my body). For another, he used to be a neuromorphic engineer: building analog neurons out of silicon. A couple of nights ago I came across a podcast talk by Koch and found we had something else in common... neither of us see any evidence for the existence of free will.Since I'm a physicist by training (he's a biophysicist and neuroscientist, now focusing on consciousness), much of his argument was familiar to me. First, obviously, classical mechanics is deterministic: cause and effect. No room for free will there... Second, even though some classical systems are mathematically complex (or chaotic)—which means that you cannot predict their behavior far into the future—they are nevertheless still deterministic. You might not be able to figure out what's going to happen next, but it's still going to happen.Then we get to the ugly subject of quantum mec...
More About: Free , Free will

300Mb of soul
2009-05-10 21:24:00
So I finally got around to watching Caprica, the spin-off pilot from the mostly-wonderful Battlestar Galactica. As a scientist, I'm usually pretty happy to just let the science-fiction bits of such programs wash over me: to just suspend disbelief and treat them as fantasy. With Battlestar this was particularly easy to do, as so little of the science was really explained. But with Caprica, the way they said you could create a virtual human personality was so plausible, well-explained, and—in my view—so completely wrong, that I thought it worth putting something on the record.So the idea is this. If you take all the data about us that potentially exists—from photos to medical records, to Google searches, to school results (supposedly about 300Mb)—you can then infer everything you need to know in order to recreate our personalities. This is an absolutely terrific plot device if you're a TV writer, because it means that you can recreate a person without having their permission...
More About: Soul

IBM cognitive computing project: so far so good...
2008-11-24 11:40:00
I don't know much about this widely-publicized project to build a electronic brain in a brain-sized package as I've just found out about it and I haven't yet managed to get my hands on any real technical information. However, reading the IBM press release I found out something very positive that has been omitted from most of the coverage so far. One of the researchers collaborating with IBM is Kwabena Boahen, head of Stanford's Brains in Silicon Lab, a former student of Caltech's Carver Mead, and a key researcher in the neuromorphic engineering community. Exactly what this means in terms of the approach that the researchers are taking is hard to say, but I'll do my best to find out.
More About: Project , Computing , Good

Stretching electronics
2008-09-22 13:57:00
I've been interested in on-chip and chip-to-chip communications for many years, partly because optics looked likely to be an important technology in this area, and partly because dense interconnectivity is important for neural systems. However, you may be interested in an advance in interconnects for a different purpose: allowing electronics to stretch and conform. The UIUC team that did the work have used it to build a hemispherical detector, and the technology may well have an important impact on wearable sensors and actuators. One of the impressive things about this work is how quickly it's evolved: in the space of a couple of years they've gone from lines of silicon with a little give, to fully-functional very-stretchable circuits and systems. Not surprisingly, the team have already started up a company to exploit the new technology. I know I'm not the first to write about this work, but the other stories I'd read didn't really explain the technology or the importance to...
More About: Electronics , Stretching

Analog for all?
2008-02-22 18:25:00
If you've been following my analog posts you'll know that one of my concerns has been that we don't train enough engineers who are really comfortable working in this area. Analog has two major problems: not only is it just generally more difficult to design (much harder maths!), but once you do you have to go and have a chip fabricated (i.e. spend time and money) to see how it works in practice. Digital designers have an easier job to begin with, better tools, and can reliably simulate using systems like field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) if they'd rather not work in software simulation alone. Plus there are a gazillion of them, which also helps them to make progress! If you're interested in building brains into machines, this matters because analog technology seems to be the most appropriate (in terms of both power and behavior) in which to implement artifical neurons that behave in biologically-plausible or -inspired ways. This is basis of neuromorphic engineering. Alt...

Developing systems, challenging assumptions
2008-01-11 21:26:00
I was on the phone today with Mary Lou Jepsen, founding Chief Technology Officer of One Laptop Per Child and now founder of Pixel Qi, a commercial spin-off company of OLPC that will be putting their new ambient-light-viewable displays into cell phones and laptops. Mary Lou and I both started off in holography about twenty years ago, and have (miles permitting) been friends for most of that time. And she has never ceased to amaze me: both in her talent and in her fortitude. I haven't been following the OLPC story that closely, partly because—as a freelance—I know that it's too big a story: it's of interest to consumer journalists, tech writers, even those writing the political pages. In that kind of environment it's hard to sell freelance pieces. But talking to her today made me realize that there was a story about engineering that was worth my telling... a story about how to not just think about building a system from the ground up, but to re-think it. A story about how to ...
More About: Systems , Assumptions

Developing systems, challenging assumptions
2008-01-11 21:26:00
I was on the phone today with Mary Lou Jepsen, founding Chief Technology Officer of One Laptop Per Child and now founder of Pixel Qi, a commercial spin-off company of OLPC that will be putting their new ambient-light-viewable displays into cell phones and laptops. Mary Lou and I both started off in holography about twenty years ago, and have (miles permitting) been friends for most of that time. And she has never ceased to amaze me: both in her talent and in her fortitude. I haven't been following the OLPC story that closely, partly because???as a freelance???I know that it's too big a story: it's of interest to consumer journalists, tech writers, even those writing the political pages. In that kind of environment it's hard to sell freelance pieces. But talking to her today made me realize that there was a story about engineering that was worth my telling... a story about how to not just think about building a system from the ground up, but to re-think it. A story about how to ...
More About: Systems , Assumptions

Launch of The Neuromorphic Engineer
2007-11-25 00:23:00
One of the many things that have kept me from my blog in the last month or two has been working on a new progression of a newsletter I edit called The Neuromorphic Engineer . The new format is is more accessible, searchable, and generally usable, plus it allows for different kinds of content including blog posts. I've put a few of my own posts up as well as all the old newsletter archives, and there will be new content every 2-4 weeks. If you're interested in how people are trying to build technology that emulates the neural systems of various animals (particularly, but not exclusively, using analog technology) then check this out. In general the articles are more technical than my blog, but less technical than journal papers. I'd really like to hear what you think and any suggestions you may have.
More About: Launch

Radio Lab
2007-11-09 00:43:00
I've always been addicted to radio, but I haven't usually been that impressed by science programming. In my experience it tends to be too news, business, and application based, with not enough about the ideas. However, I've become addicted to Radio Lab since I heard it plugged on my other favorite US radio show, This American Life. Decided it was worth mentioning here because I started to realize how many of the shows have been somehow related to the brain and perception. Listening to Christof Koch talk about how the claustrum may help synchronize neural activity (in the episode on Emergence) in particular made me want to share. The show's a little odd. In many ways it feels like it's more aimed at teenagers than adults. But the ideas it discusses are often sophisticated and thought provoking, and even with subjects I'm familiar with, I've usually come out learning something new. Great for those of us who have a long commute!

Holographic data storage comes of age
2007-10-19 02:00:00
It's a little far from the usual topics I cover here, but I thought I'd mention an article of mine on holographic data storage that has just come out in SPIE's quarterly magazine this month. The subject is not completely unrelated to building intelligent systems, as I mentioned in a previous post, but I'm not going to pretend that the work covered in the article is at the heart of the subject. The reason that the article is special to me is not only that the subject is technically interesting, but it also marks an important anniversary in my career. It was on 19 October 1987 that I published the first issue of Holo graphics International magazine. Since then, holography has gone through many ups and downs and, though my interests have moved more towards intelligence (artificial and otherwise) and related subjects, I've always tried to keep an eye on what was going on the field. It's extremely nice, on my 20th anniversary of covering the field, that I'm able to report on som...
More About: Storage , Data , Data Storage

From spinal cords to sofas
2007-10-15 15:49:00
Those of you interested in my last article on central pattern generator chips may also want to read a new piece I've written for EE Times, this time on the use of CPGs in modular robots. It partly covers the salamander robot built by Auke Ijspeert and his team EPFL (and widely reported on after an article about it appeared in Science), but goes on to discuss how CPG-based locomotion may is being used to make Roombots: modular, self-organizing furniture that can walk around on its own. This kind of work is an important step in the evolution of modular robotics, which I first got a chance to write about some years ago. There are very real problems to be grappled with, both in terms of the electronic and the mechanical design. This article explains how the EPFL team are handling the control side of this problem.
More About: Cord

Analog chip does job of spinal cord for locomotion
2007-09-18 16:27:00
While I was at Johns Hopkins University during the summer, I found out about the first demonstration of a new chip that can be used to stimulate locomotion in an animal (tested on a temporarily-paralyzed cat, see right). Unlike previous controllers, this one is tiny and low-power. However, it can still take account of the sensory input coming from the movement of the limbs through a tiny neural network. I find the work very interesting and, potentially, extremely important. Rather than explain it here, I recommend you check out the story I wrote for EE Times on the subject. Let me know what you think. Figure: The schematic of the experiment showing locomotion stimulated by a central pattern generator (CPG) chip. For more details of the electronics, click on the picture.
More About: Analog , Chip , Anal , Cord

Why nano is still macro
2007-09-13 00:37:00
In my review of Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near, I said that I felt the author's ideas about nanotechnology were unconvincing. I'd like to elaborate on that now. I don't claim to have huge expertise in the field: I'm not a chemist. But I have been following it for almost 15 years: I remember hearing Drexler talk about his work when I was based at MIT in the early 1990s and have had an interest in the subject ever since then. I've been editing a publication on the subject for several years and even refreshed myself in this area last month, attending a study trip on the subject for journalists in Switzerland. There is a mismatch between nanotechnology as it is understood by Kurzweil, Drexler, and much of the public, and what it really is. The fantasy version (depicted by an artist, right) is that machines will be arbitrarily constructed molecule by molecule, and that tiny nanomachines will operate and make decisions independently. Despite Drexler's work, I suspect the...
More About: Nano , Macro , Acro

Information they need, when they need it
2007-08-24 16:21:00
You may be interested in a full write-up I recently did for Electronic Engineering Times on the see-through night-vision goggles that I posted on last year. The article talks not only about the benefits of the approach right now, but the potential the new goggles have to become an increasingly powerful information platform in the future. There are actually two pieces. One by me, and another a wishlist written by O'Gara Group Chief Technology officer Bill Parker about the kind of components he'd like to see in order to build the next generation systems. (Bill is an amazing guy... he started off his career as an undergraduate at MIT by re-inventing the plasma ball, which led to it becoming a product). Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. Photo: GPS data superimposed on see-through night-vision image. Photocredit: O'Gara Group.
More About: Information

The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil
2007-08-17 20:52:00
I'm afraid I've had to post my first truly negative book review. New York Times bestseller or not, I thought the science so non-credible that I couldn't only get about half way through it before deciding that, in terms of making me more knowledgeable about the world, it was probably doing more harm than good. Have a read and see what you think.
More About: Biology , Transcend , Humans , Ology , Mans

Feeling virtual worlds
2007-08-08 17:37:00
Like many universities, EPFL has an innovation park for start-up companies: there I visited Force Dimension, a company that has exploited the delta robot invented by Reymond Clavel to create a haptic device. In this kind of system you don't expect your hand to explore a system directly (as with the virtual reality workstation I mentioned previously). Instead, your interaction with the virtual world is mediated through some kind of instrument. For instance, in the image on the right, you can think of the black sphere I'm holding as the handle of some kind of short, fairly blunt, tool. I can use this to probe the virtual landscape. If I hit a solid object, I will feel force feedback from the robot arm. The system also creates vibrations that allow me to feel textures and friction as I move around. Using the Force Dimension device was a lot of fun, and pretty realistic: the forces imparted were very large. The experience reminded me of when, at MIT, I got to feel the one ...
More About: Worlds , Virtual , Feeling , Feel , Virtual World

Augmentation or alienation?
2007-07-30 14:03:00
I've been trying to think about how the cultures of those with and without augmented senses may diverge, and the difficulties this may cause. The problem is already being grappled with by deaf people deciding whether to give their children cochlear implants, and the chance of a more "normal" life, or whether to encourage them to embrace signing and the deaf community. So, when I heard last week about a play on this subject here in London, Playing God by Paula Garfield and Rebecca Atkinson, I immediately bought tickets. Though it's a departure, I thought I'd review it and some of the issues it raises here. Also, the play's on until August 4th, so I wanted to discuss it right away while there is still an opportunity for people to go and see it if it's of interest. The story is relatively straightforward. Emma, who became deaf through meningitis at age 3, is married to computer-programmer John who was born deaf and humiliated by his family for his lack of normal speech as a child...
More About: Augmentation

Talk to the hand
2007-07-20 20:42:00
I'm interested in different ways of displaying information to our bodies, and particularly to our skin. So, in my June visits to the Washington DC area and to Switzerland (Zurich and Lausanne), I made a point of trying to see as many people working with tactile and haptic displays as possible. I had the opportunity to try three very different devices, which made me realize just how difficult a problem this is. The first of the three, shown right, was at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where I met with Steve Hsiao and Takashi Yoshioka, both members of the Mind/Brain Institute there. This stimulator is designed to present varying shapes and textures to the fingertips. If you click on the image, you'll see that this was a very large and expensive piece of equipment, with individual motors controlling each one of 400 pins. Not exactly portable. Plus, it's designed to show force images, rather than vibration images, so although you do get some sense of a texture or shape,...
More About: Talk , Hand

Talking Robots
2007-07-02 19:55:00
I just came back from a technical visit to Switzerland where I had the opportunity to visit many different labs relating to machine intelligence, micro and nanofabrication, and optoelectronics. I even got to visit my first synchotron. As a result, of course, I'm completely backed up and have had no time to post. Will try to get my act together next week. In the meantime, you may be interested in listening to a relatively new podcast called Talking Robo ts from Dario Floreano at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL, one of the places I visited. Floreano's lab was very impressive in its own right: I hope to report on it soon, either here or for another publication. But the podcast is very cool too. Among those interviewed who have impressed me in the past are Rod Brooks (who I've blogged recently), Barbara Webb, and Luc Steels. There are also lots of people I've only vaguely heard of or don't know, so it should be educational for me too. Hope you enjoy it... do let me k...

Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and the World Together Again, by Andy Cla
2007-06-17 16:47:00
This month I've reviewed a book (on the Books about Brains and Machines blog) that I absolutely loved when I was doing my PhD. It is one of the few in the field that I can recommend pretty much without reservation. I hope you enjoy the review, but am sure you will enjoy the book.
More About: Body , World , Andy , The World , Putting

Connecting in 3D
2007-06-09 20:18:00
I'm currently reading Ray Kurzweil's book, The Singularity is Near, which I'll properly review later. Among other things, the book talks about the supposed imminence of our being able to simulate the brain. I'm afraid I'm not convinced by his arguments. Don't get me wrong: it's not that I think it's not going to happen. It's just I really think he minimizes the engineering challenges that will have to be overcome to make it happen. I've been interested for many years in the challenge of building brain-like hardware and it's not (to say the least) a trivial problem. One thing in particular that he mentions but glosses over, is how we will tackle the problem of connectivity. We know that the brain has of the order a trillion neural processors, neurons, linked by as many as thousand trillion synapses: so that's an average of a thousand connections each. According to California Institute of Technology professor Yaser Abu-Mostafa, this connectivity is crucial for learning i...
More About: Connect , Connecting

Letting the physics do the thinking
2007-05-30 23:46:00
Although I've no doubt that digital computing will be crucial to the development of intelligent robotics, one of my interests is in the other—often neglected—technologies that will also be vital to making it happen. One of these is mechanics. The video shown here (top) is Domo, one of the latest robots being developed at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. As well as incorporating many new ideas, this robot builds on one concept that was developed at the AI lab a decade ago: the idea of compliant limbs. Matthew Williamson, an earlier PhD student of Rodney Brooks, worked on the arms for Cog in the mid to late 1990s. As you can see in the animated image (middle) this robot saws in what looks like a natural way. This is clever because, unlike the robot arms you see in car manufacturing plant (or on the Honda robot, ASIMO, for that matter), the limbs to not work by calculating exactly where they are supposed to be at every moment. Instead, they have s...
More About: Physics , Letting , Thinking

On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
2007-05-03 20:28:00
I've finally read On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins, first published in 2004. It's deeply flawed but also required reading, pulling together a plausible theory of how the neocortex (and therefore intelligence) works. Let me know what you think of my review* and, as always, let me know what you think I should be reading. I started Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near today. Note: Book reviews are always held on the Books on Brains and Machines blog rather than this one so that people can subscribe to them separately.

An Oxford Charade?
2007-04-25 17:28:00
Saw an interesting talk yesterday. The Visual Geometry Group from Oxford University claimed to have developed a technique for automatically tagging video content (both arbitrary objects and faces) so that it was easily searchable in real time. The faces could even be labelled as particular actors or characters using online resources. The goal was to have a video version of Google where you can search by names, faces, logos, object images, anything. Although searching is not an area I particularly follow, the work seemed to have important implications for machine vision and I was amazed at how effective it was as described in the presentation. The system works by breaking images down into small features (words) that together (in hundreds or thousands) combine to make objects and scenes that work regardless of the size of the object in the frame, it's position, or even its orientation. This is done off-line and is currently quite slow, though they're hoping to speed up to real time...
More About: Arad , Char , Hara

Hail to the neuromorphic engineers
2007-04-17 01:43:00
Mark Tilden changed my life. In about 1998 I started to become interested in analog computing for intelligence and came across a paper called Living Machines Mark wrote with Brosl Hasslacher a few years earlier. In it they talked about analog electronic creatures that were were very different to any other robots I had seen before. The 'nervous networks' that drove them were made of very few transistors, capacitors, and resistors—dozens rather than hundreds—and yet they, together, performed a rich, natural, and robust set of behaviors. The sun-seeking robots were even being used for interesting applications like satellite guidance and mine-clearing. It was a great story and it helped me understand what was important about intelligence in a way I hadn't before. What was more important, however, was that researching this piece made me more sensitive to other analog stories and introduced me to the community of neuromorphic engineers: people who try to build in silicon circuits...
More About: Engine , Engineers , Engineer , Romo , Morph

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