Brains and Machines

Dr. Claudia Lenk’s group creates brain-inspired hearing systems with micromechanical hair cells. In this episode of Brains and Machines, she talks to Dr. Sunny Bains of University College London about the advantages of the approach and how it could be applied to speech processing in AI. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.

Sunny talks to Dr Brad Aimone from Sandia National Laboratories who works with the world’s biggest neuromorphic platforms. He explains how this allows him to think deeply about what such platforms are good for and how we might be able to get to a theory of neuromorphic computational power. After the interview, discussion follows with Giulia and Ralph.

Sunny talks to Prof Barbara Webb from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland​, who uses physical robots to validate neural mechanisms in crickets, ants, and bees. She talks about her work inspired by the philosophy that biological cognition can only be truly understood by building complete sensory-motor loops that work in the real world. After the interview, discussion follows with Giulia and Ralph.

Professor Gert Cauwenberghs has been working toward building brain-scale systems for decades. At the University of California San Diego, he’s now one of the leaders of the Neuromorphic Commons hub, also known as Thor, which will give the wider community access to neuromorphic hardware and simulators. In this episode of Brains and Machines, he talks to Dr. Sunny Bains of University College London about his approach to making systems that use minimal energy, are highly interconnected at all levels, and are surprisingly flexible. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Gordon Cheng builds humanoid robots that can feel their environment using artificial skin. In this episode of Brains and Machines, he talks to Dr. Sunny Bains of University College London about how the skin was designed, how it improves safety, and why neuromorphic engineering will be important for machine autonomy. Discussion follows with Dr. Giulia D’Angelo from the Czech Technical University in Prague and Professor Ralph Etienne-Cummings of Johns Hopkins University.