Intel Creates Neuromorphic Research Community to Advance “Loihi” Test Chip

Intel recently, presented some important projects that look to the future . From its commitment to get to develop commercial quantum processors, up to Loihi a neuromorphic chip that mimics the functioning of the human brain to dramatically increase efficiency in the tasks of artificial intelligence involving model recognition.

In recent days, Intel hosted the Neuro Inspired Computational Elements (NICE) workshop on its campus in Oregon, with the aim of bringing together researchers from different scientific disciplines to discuss the development of next-generation computing architectures, including the so-called "neuromorphic computing".

During the workshop, Intel did not just update those present on its progress in neuromorphic research, but also announced a collaborative initiative for encourage the academic world to experiment with its own test chip Loihi .

Dr. Michael Mayberry, Intel CTO, senior vice president and managing director of Intel Labs, explained that the company has completed the manufacture and packing of Loihi beginning November and now the power-on and validation phase has begun.

“We were pleased to see 100% functionality strong large operating margin and a few bugs in general,” explained Mayberry. “The small-scale demonstrations we had prepared on our emulator worked as expected on real silicon, though obviously they were several orders of magnitude faster. The test involved recognizing a 3D object from multiple viewing angles . As measured in the laboratory, this particular application uses less than 1% of Loihi, learns the training set in seconds and consumes dozens of milliwatts.”

Intel delivered the first development systems to selected researchers who are working on different applications including perception, motion control, information processing and more.

But power is nothing without control and Intel remains focused on developing software tools, together with researchers. And it is precisely with this goal that the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community (INRC) is born, an institution that will allow Intel to create a network of collaborators of the academic world, the government and the industry.

Everyone will be able to participate in the development of Loihi in several areas, with some proposals. If deemed worthy by Intel, will receive grants to work on it and access a software development kit and Loihi test system, like the one you see in the image above .

“Because we have a high demand of Loihi development systems, we are working to enable cloud-based access to a scalable multi-user Loihi-based system, which we dubbed Neuromorphic Research as a Service (NRaaS),” concluded Intel, evidently quite confident that this project will be significant commercial repercussions.