Neural Engineering
Our brain has a trillion neurons connected by 10 quadrillion synapses. One of the challenges in sensory interface design is to build an artificial neural networks that are comparable in size weight and power consumption to our biological ones.
Neuromorphic Microchips (also called low powered digital chips) are compact, efficient electronics whose design is based on the brain's neural system.
Scientists have been working on microchips to create an artificial retina made in silicone to help blind people see. One of the pioneers in this technology was Kareem Zaghloul .When he was a doctoral student in 2001 he created a chip for this purpose that worked at 60 miliwatts, which is one thousandth of the electricity that a PC needs to operate. “Chip fabricators today can cram a million transistors and 10 meters of wire onto a square millimeter of silicon. By the end of this decade, chip density will be just a factor of 10 show of cortex tissue density’ the cortex has 100 million synapse and three kilometers of axon per cubic millimeter.”
Another doctoral student/scientist by the name of Paul A. Merolla has been using using voltage sensitive dye, while simultaneously recording spikes from a neuron within the patch of imaged cortex to help them build computer chips that can do the same thing.
Wyatt, an engineer from MIT, and his colleague Joseph Rizzo are working on creating a Visual prosthetic or an implant that electrically stimulate the retina. This technology is not yet available to the public yet, but the way scientists envision it working is the patient will wear glasses with a miniature camera on it. The “glasses will sport a small laser that receives the camera’s pictures and converts the visual information into electrical signals that travel to the implant, surgically inserted just below the retina.” Scientific American Special Edition: Secrets of the Senses pg. 66. Click here to see a drawing of the camera and implant .One of the biggest challenges the scientists are facing is how to make this implant waterproof. To see a silicon retina’s response to a face click here .
Neuromorphic Microchips (also called low powered digital chips) are compact, efficient electronics whose design is based on the brain's neural system.
Scientists have been working on microchips to create an artificial retina made in silicone to help blind people see. One of the pioneers in this technology was Kareem Zaghloul .When he was a doctoral student in 2001 he created a chip for this purpose that worked at 60 miliwatts, which is one thousandth of the electricity that a PC needs to operate. “Chip fabricators today can cram a million transistors and 10 meters of wire onto a square millimeter of silicon. By the end of this decade, chip density will be just a factor of 10 show of cortex tissue density’ the cortex has 100 million synapse and three kilometers of axon per cubic millimeter.”
Another doctoral student/scientist by the name of Paul A. Merolla has been using using voltage sensitive dye, while simultaneously recording spikes from a neuron within the patch of imaged cortex to help them build computer chips that can do the same thing.
Wyatt, an engineer from MIT, and his colleague Joseph Rizzo are working on creating a Visual prosthetic or an implant that electrically stimulate the retina. This technology is not yet available to the public yet, but the way scientists envision it working is the patient will wear glasses with a miniature camera on it. The “glasses will sport a small laser that receives the camera’s pictures and converts the visual information into electrical signals that travel to the implant, surgically inserted just below the retina.” Scientific American Special Edition: Secrets of the Senses pg. 66. Click here to see a drawing of the camera and implant .One of the biggest challenges the scientists are facing is how to make this implant waterproof. To see a silicon retina’s response to a face click here .
posted by Tammy @ 2:20 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:49 AM,
uscotka said…
How cool is this stuff? When you come to Boston, I'd love to find out how you can use this in your job now and in the program. It seems "wicked" interesting.
KScott
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