On the way to an artificial brain

Korean scientists have created artificial synapses

Alex Kudrin, Hi-News (based on materials from Pohang University of Science & Technology: Artificial synapse rivals biological ones in energy consumption – VM)

Artificial analogues of the human brain can become a reality thanks to the creation of microscopic devices that simulate connections between neurons.

The invention can bring closer the creation of humanoid robots, self–driving cars, intelligent analytical systems, revolutionary medical diagnostic tools, etc., - promises one of the authors of the development Tae-Woo Lee from Pohang University of Science and Technology (South Korea).

The human brain has enormous computing power, which is provided by numerous connections of neurons – synapses. It is believed that there are about 100 billion neurons in the brain and about one quadrillion connections. Each synapse fires approximately 10 times per second.

Theoretically, the brain can perform about 10 quadrillion operations per second. For comparison: the fastest Chinese supercomputer "Tianhe-2" is capable of doing up to 55 quadrillion calculations per second. However, the power consumed by the human brain is disproportionately less than that required by a computer – only 20 watts against the 17.8 MW required by Tianhe-2.

Scientists led by Te Wu Li intend to create a computer that simulates the human brain and at the same time comparable to a biological analogue not only in efficiency, but also in economy.

Until now, artificial synapses required much more energy for their work than human ones. The synapses created by Lee's team consume only 1.23 femtojoules per unit activity, which makes them record holders among all previously created devices of this kind. By the way, an apple that fell to the ground from a height of one meter accumulates about one quadrillion femtojoules of kinetic energy by the time of impact.

Artificial synapses are a kind of transistors capable of simulating the activity of connections between human brain cells. These devices are based on wires with a diameter of 200-300 nanometers. Scientists placed 144 synaptic transistors on a ten-centimeter plate.

Artificial synapses have a two-layer structure made of organic materials. Thanks to this design, the devices can lock or release ions, simulating the work of real synapses.

Figure from an article in Science Advances – VM

Currently, the Li group is working on the creation of organic nanowires with a diameter of tens of nanometers. By experimenting with various materials, scientists hope to further reduce the energy consumption of artificial synapses.

The scientists reported on their achievements in the journal Science Advances (Xu et al., Organic core-sheet nanowire artificial synapses with femtojoule energy consumption – VM).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  27.06.2016