SCIENTIFIC EDUCATIONAL CENTER science idea

MIT engineers have developed a chip the size of a piece of confetti, which consists of tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses. The latter are also known as mac memristors, they simulate the process of transmitting information to the human brain, only it all happens on a small piece of metal. Information about the new development was published in the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The researchers made a new device from alloys of silver, copper and silicon. It can "remember" images and repeatedly reproduce them. Compared to previous versions of memristors, the images are clearer and cleaner. The developed chip is based on a new type of information processing: it simulates the neural architecture of the brain. Such a device can be integrated into small portable circuits in order to perform complex computational tasks. Only modern supercomputers can perform similar procedures.

"Now artificial synapse networks exist only in the form of software. Our team is trying to create neural network equipment in the form of portable artificial intelligence systems. Imagine that you have connected this device to the camera of your car: it can recognize light sources, objects and instantly make a decision about further action. And all this without an internet connection. We hope to use energy-saving memristors to perform similar tasks in real time."- Evan Kim, associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

A transistor from a conventional circuit transmits information in the form of two values: 0 and 1, in turn, a memristor has a whole gradient of values, like a synapse in the brain. Such a feature would allow a single memristor to perform a wider range of operations than binary transistors. Scientists assume that much fewer chips will be required than conventional transistors, this will allow creating powerful portable computing devices that will not depend on supercomputers or on an Internet connection.

The new chip, which was developed by scientists from MIT, consists of tens of thousands of artificial synapses, or memristors. Each memristor that corresponds to a specific pixel in the image is stimulated by a voltage, after which the new chip reproduces the specified image. In our case, this is the shield of Captain America.

Image provided by researchers

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