IBM new chip simulates human brain function (Fig)

IBM, 18th, unveiled a cognitive computer chip that simulates how the brain processes information.　　According to the Xinhua news Agency, Li, a U.S. IBM researcher 18th released their latest research results ——— a cognitive computer chip that simulates how the brain processes information. Memory processors combined the computers built on this chip will be very different from the way most computers are running today. Now the computer is "Neumann structure": That is, the memory and the processor are separate, between the two through the "bus" to transfer data.　　Over the past more than 60 years, computer memory capacity and processor speed have been increasing, but this speed is much greater than the increase in traffic between the two sides, so that the overall efficiency of the computer is severely limited, which is called "Neumann bottleneck." Modern neurobiology holds that memory exists in neurons and synaptic synapses. If you think of the human brain as a computer, the machine's memory and processor are combined.　　Each neuron does not work fast, but the brain has 100 billion neurons, all of which have about 100 trillion synapses connected, and the computational power is incalculable. IBM chips simulate this structure. The two chips that have been developed have no biological components and are entirely composed of silicon circuits, each containing 256 "neurons", one with more than 260,000 controllable "synapses" and the other with more than 60,000 learning "synapses".　　On the basis of these two chips, the researchers successfully enabled the computer to realize navigation, machine vision, pattern recognition, contact memory and classification. The long-term goal of the 21 million-dollar funding researcher is to build a chip system with 10 billion "neurons" and 100 trillion "synapses", with a capacity of no more than two litres and a power consumption of only 1 kwh per hour.　　The computer that eventually builds on this chip will be able to learn from experience, find connections, build hypotheses, simulate the structure and elasticity of the human brain. Modha, the head of the research project, said that now the computer is simply a "calculator", in dealing with some problems, energy consumption, programming is too complex.　　Cognitive computers do not replace traditional computers, but are expected to make many seemingly impossible computing applications a reality. In 2008, IBM and 5 American universities were funded by the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Project Research agency to begin research on cognitive computer chips. The research team announced 18th this month that it has received the next issue of 21 million dollars for further research.