Reploid Watch: The Blue Brain project, ROBAUCO project from Spain
The current issue of SEED Magazine features a lead article called "Out of the Blue" which is a detailed article about a current bleeding edge computer program, Blue Brain, that attempts to reproduce, in digital form, the physical workings of a slice of an organic brain.
Some startling and interesting points I wanted to share from the article by Jonah Lehrer, with my emphases in bold:
After assembling a three-dimensional model of 10,000 virtual neurons, the scientists began feeding the simulation electrical impulses, which were designed to replicate the currents constantly rippling through a real rat brain. . . . It didn't take long before the model reacted. After only a few electrical jolts, the artificial neural circuit began to act just like a real neural circuit. . . . "This all happened on its own," Markram says. "It was entirely spontaneous." . . .
In fact, the model is so successful that its biggest restrictions are now technological. "We have already shown that the model can scale up. What's holding us back now are the computers." The numbers speak for themselves. Markram estimates that in order to accurately simulate the trillion synapses in the human brain, you'd need to be able to process about 500 petabytes of data - about 200 times more information than is stored on all of Google's servers. (Given current technology, a machine capable of such power would be the size of several football fields.)
Energy consumption is another huge problem. The human brain requires about 25 watts of electricity to operate. Markram estimates that simulating the brain on a supercomputer with existing microchips would generate an annual electrical bill of about $3 billion. But if computing speeds continue to develop at their current exponential pace, and energy efficiency improves, Markram believes that he'll be able to model a complete human brain on a single machine in ten years or less. . . .
And yet Markram can be persuasive when he talks about his future plans. His ambitions are grounded in concrete steps. Once the team is able to model a complete rat brain- that should happen in the next two years- Markram will download the simulation into a robotic rat, so that the brain has a body. He's already talking to a Japanese company about constructing the mechanical animal. "The only way to really know what the model is capable of is to give it legs," he says. "If the robotic rat just bumps into walls, then we've got a problem." . . .
He seems to relish the idea of "debunking consciousness", showing that it's no more metaphysical than any other property of the mind. Consciousness is a binary code; the self is a loop of electricity. A ghost will emerge from the machine once the machine is built right. And yet Markram is candid about the possibility of failure. . . . "I think it will be just as interesting, perhaps more interesting, if we can't create a conscious computer," Markram says. "Then the question will be: 'What are we missing? Why is this not enough?'"
And as far as that goes, something I also wonder is how much of this wetware we have is actually in use at any particular time while we're processing the world around us? Is it possible that areas can sort of 'check in and check out' (I'm showing my total lack of knowledge of neuroscience here) and thus reduce the total drag on coding an artificial brain- essentially doing a huge swap-and-shift game inside the computer of bringing forward sectors of programming at a time as needed- or does it make more sense to just have all the code-equivalent of wetware in place and ready to go? Hmm. Now I want to go look up the latest studies on how humans actually process information...
Edit: Another press release for a Spanish robotics drive I just found : http://www.machineslikeus.com/cms/tekniker-ik4-leads-robotics-project.html The "ROBAUCO: mobile, autonomous and collaborative robots" project was recently initiated, being led by Tekniker-IK4 and also involving the participation of another Basque technology centre, Fatronik, the Valencian Instituto Tecnológico de Informática (ITI) and CARTIF, the technology centre in Castilla-León. Moreover, university teams outstanding in robotics research have also collaborated -- from the Carlos III University in Madrid, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of Seville and the University of the Basque Country. The project is to last 30 months and has a budget of nearly 2 M€, of which somewhat more than 650,000 € has been allocated to Tekniker-IK4, coordinator and proponent of the idea.
The technological areas in which solutions are to be developed are:
1. The perception of the robots. Using sensors and sensorial systems which, with a holistic approach, are capable of recognising the complex environment (given that the idea is for exterior applications, over unknown terrain and changing situations). 2. Communications. Between the robots themselves and with humans, in such a way that mutual collaboration leads to success in the targets set. 3. Person-robot interaction. Here the idea is that the robot is not limited to just obeying control orders that are formulated electronically, but they are also enabled to interact with their human collaborators and in the most natural manner, including with voice and, above all, with gestures which, for tasks in the exterior and in extreme conditions, may be the most reliable channel of communication. 4. Autonomous behaviour. In this case the idea is to resolve complex problems of navigation on surfaces and in spaces that are difficult and equip the robots with self-perception in such a way that they are aware of their state, can undertake self-diagnosis and adopt measures in case of breakdown or limitations to their capacities. 5. Mecatronic components. The problem to be tackled in principle is the movement through and overcoming of obstacles in all media, terrestrial, aquatic and aerial.
Remorseful computers that dwell on their mistakes could be better at dealing with people than the conventional kind of machine, scientists have found. Computers are already able to learn from their mistakes, just like we do. But now scientists have discovered they behave even more like people if they possess a sense of "regret." And this could help the worlds of humankind and computerkind to rub along.