New USB Aims To Bring Neuro-Biological Architecture Forward

Intel is working on a USB form factor, codenamed "Kapoho Bay," that interfaces with "Loihi," the company's neuromorphic research chip system. Together, they will provide the Loihi system with access to peripherals, an important step in achieving an architecture for mainstream computing.

Government, corporate and academic research groups are currently part of Intel's neuromorphic project, the goal of which is to "tackle the challenges facing the adoption of neuromorphic architectures for mainstream computing applications," while using the Loihi chip as a "focal point," the company said.

Neuromorphic computing is a branch of computing that aims to model the human brain as much as possible via electronic circuitry, typically within what are known as "very large scale integration" or VLSI systems. (As the human brain is so complex, hundreds of thousands of transistors/devices are needed on a single chip just to begin to model the human brain.)

A video showing Intel's Loihi chip being used in a lab environment can be found here. Intel's product page for Kapoho Bay is here.

Posted by Becky Nagel on 12/10/2018