NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...

m now, if the technology proves successful? They w
ould be the sorts of tasks that humans find effort
less and that computers struggle with — the patter
n recognition of seeing and identifying someone, w
alking down a crowded sidewalk without running int
o people, learning from experience. Specifically,
the scientists say, the applications might include
robots that can navigate a battlefield environmen
t and be trained; low-power prosthetic devices tha
t would allow blind people to see; and computerize
d health-care monitors that watch over people in n
ursing homes and send alerts to human workers if a
resident’s behavior suggests illness.
It is an appealing vision, but there are formidabl
e obstacles. The prototype chip has 256 neuron-lik
e nodes, surrounded by more than 262,000 synaptic
memory modules. That is impressive, until one cons
iders that the human brain is estimated to house u
p to 100 billion neurons. In the Almaden research
lab, a computer running the chip has learned to pl
ay the primitive video game Pong, correctly moving
an on-screen paddle to hit a bouncing cursor. It
can also recognize numbers 1 through 10 written by
a person on a digital pad — most of the time. But
the project still has a long way to go.
It is still questionable whether the scientists ca
n successfully assemble large clusters of neuromor
phic chips. And though the intention is for the ma
chines to evolve more from learning than from bein
g programmed, the software that performs that magi
c for any kind of complex task has yet to be writt
en.
The project’s Pentagon sponsor is encouraged. “I’m
surprised that we’re so far along, and I don’t se
e any fundamental reason why it can’t be done,” sa
id Todd Hylton, a program manager.
If it succeeds, the project would seem to make pea
ce with the “airplanes don’t flap their wings” cri