NeuFlow Neuromorphic Vision System

A few articles in the scientific press alerted me to some interesting neuromorphic vision work going on at Yale:

e-Lab at Yale

Yale press release on NeuFlow

Eugenio Culurciello has developed has an extremely efficient visual processing computer on a single chip. This is based on algorithms used by the primate visual system in order to create synthetic vision systems which operate at speeds and power consumption levels that are much closer to those found in biological systems.

This is an excellent example of work in biological neural systems feeding back into development of more effective machine intelligence systems.

Pressure sensors for artificial skin

News article on the development of pressure sensitive materials for prosthetics and robotics

News and views piece on the journal pubs in Nature Materials

Pubs:

Highly sensitive flexible pressure sensors with microstructured rubber dielectric layers

Nanowire active-matrix circuitry for low-voltage macroscale artificial skin

Dunbar’s Number

Anthropologist Robin Dunbar hypothesises that the neocortex is optimised for 150 stable social connections. This number was generated by studies of non-human primate social groups, and anthropological studies of human groups from various historical periods. 

See also the work of Bernard and Killworth on small world networks in human social systems.

Commercial BMI: NeuroSky

I’m slowly starting to survey the current field of commercial brain machine interface products again and this is one that has received a lot of press recently: NeuroSky

I’m curious what they can actually do with this device, as it uses just a single EEG channel. The device itself is quite cheap at $200, but the research software seems to be overpriced at $500 for what appears to be very limited functionality.

Skull Removal Improves EEG Resolution

A recent paper by Voytek et. al reports increased spatial and temporal resolution of EEG in human subjects following removal of a skull section. There are some interesting implications in the paper for future possible BMI devices. 

Via Wired and Mind Hacks. Also see Voytek’s homepage

Value of the dynamical view of systems

…biologists and geologists have learned a priceless lesson: by bringing natural phenomenon into time, by making them dynamical and contingent, we make possible a more complete and more rational understanding of them.

Lee Smolin, Life of the Cosmos, p. 18

Morgan’s Canon

The neuropsychological version of Ockham’s Razor by C. Lloyd Morgan:

In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes, if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development.

Morgan, C. L. (1903). An introduction to comparative psychology, 2nd edition. London: W. Scott.

DARPA: Dearth of Computer Scientists in the U.S.

The Reg reports that the U.S. military research wing, DARPA, is decrying the declining trend in students with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in the U.S.  The publication from DARPA takes the form of a grant call for proposal concerning projects to reach out to kids to spark their interest in technology from a young age. It particularly highlights the lack of skills in dealing with complex systems. I’m glad to see someone in the U.S. government realises how deeply in trouble the nation is in terms of technical skills.

Navy Portable Cognitive Assessment Tool

Wired reports yesterday morning on a U.S. Navy call for proposals on a battlefield cognitive assessment tool for detection of post traumatic stress disorder. This doesn’t appear to be a “brain scanner” as Wired states, but more a software system for assessing cognitive indications of stress. 

The meat of the original CFP request calls for this:

The NCAT shall contain the following cognitive and mental health constructs: Simple Reaction Time, Reaction Problem Solving/Executive Functioning, Digit Symbol Coding, Delayed Memory Recall, The Controlled Oral Word Association with voice recognition technology, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test with voice recognition technology, Ruff Figural Fluency Test, Figure Copying Test with automated scoring for errors, Cube Drawing Test with automated scoring for errors, Trails A, B, and C and the GHAM for screening of PTSD, Depression and Generalized Anxiety. 

Interesting, because this would essentially be replacing a human assessment of human mental condition, with a machine intelligence based one. I can’t see it being very long before this type of system could be much better than professional psychologists at assessing human cognitive function. Of course this is only a snapshot view of mental state and doesn’t include history, but such systems could be developed as well.

The Awakening of Intelligence

“Intelligence comes into being when the brain discovers its fallibility, when it discovers what it is capable of, and what it is not.”

“I really don’t know. I only know this, and I really don’t know whether thought can function in any field at all, except this. I really don’t know. When I say, ‘I don’t know’, which doesn’t mean I am expecting to know, when I say I really don’t know –  what happens? I climb down the ladder. I become, the mind becomes, completely humble.”

“Now that state of not knowing is intelligence. Then it can operate in the field of the known and be free to work somewhere else if it wants to.”

- J. Krishnamurti