Heterogeneous computing platform for real-time robotics

After Industry 4.0 has embraced tight integration between machinery (OT), software (IT), and the Internet, creating a web of sensors, data, and algorithms in service of efficient and reliable production, a new concept of Society 5.0 is emerging, in which infrastructure of a city will be instrumented to increase reliability, efficiency, and safety. Robotics will play a pivotal role in enabling this vision that is pioneered by the NEOM initiative - a smart city, co-inhabited by humans and robots. In this paper we explore the computing platform that will be required to enable this vision. We show how we can combine neuromorphic computing hardware, exemplified by the Loihi2 processor used in conjunction with event-based cameras, for sensing and real-time perception and interaction with a local AI compute cluster (GPUs) for high-level language processing, cognition, and task planning. We demonstrate the use of this hybrid computing architecture in an interactive task, in which a humanoid robot plays a musical instrument with a human. Central to our design is the efficient and seamless integration of disparate components, ensuring that the synergy between software and hardware maximizes overall performance and responsiveness. Our proposed system architecture underscores the potential of heterogeneous computing architectures in advancing robotic autonomy and interactive intelligence, pointing toward a future where such integrated systems become the norm in complex, real-time applications.

Deep-Unrolling Multidimensional Harmonic Retrieval Algorithms on Neuromorphic Hardware

This paper explores the potential of conversion-based neuromorphic algorithms for highly accurate and energy-efficient single-snapshot multidimensional harmonic retrieval (MHR). By casting the MHR problem as a sparse recovery problem, we devise the currently proposed, deep-unrolling-based Structured Learned Iterative Shrinkage and Thresholding (S-LISTA) algorithm to solve it efficiently using complex-valued convolutional neural networks with complex-valued activations, which are trained using a supervised regression objective. Afterward, a novel method for converting the complex-valued convolutional layers and activations into spiking neural networks (SNNs) is developed. At the heart of this method lies the recently proposed Few Spikes (FS) conversion, which is extended by modifying the neuron model's parameters and internal dynamics to account for the inherent coupling between real and imaginary parts in complex-valued computations. Finally, the converted SNNs are mapped onto the SpiNNaker2 neuromorphic board, and a comparison in terms of estimation accuracy and power efficiency between the original CNNs deployed on an NVIDIA Jetson Xavier and the SNNs is being conducted. The measurement results show that the converted SNNs achieve almost five-fold power efficiency at moderate performance loss compared to the original CNNs.

SpiNNaker2: A Large-Scale Neuromorphic System for Event-Based and Asynchronous Machine Learning

The joint progress of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and domain specific hardware accelerators such as GPUs and TPUs took over many domains of machine learning research. This development is accompanied by a rapid growth of the required computational demands for larger models and more data. Concurrently, emerging properties of foundation models such as in-context learning drive new opportunities for machine learning applications. However, the computational cost of such applications is a limiting factor of the technology in data centers, and more importantly in mobile devices and edge systems. To mediate the energy footprint and non-trivial latency of contemporary systems, neuromorphic computing systems deeply integrate computational principles of neurobiological systems by leveraging low-power analog and digital technologies. SpiNNaker2 is a digital neuromorphic chip developed for scalable machine learning. The event-based and asynchronous design of SpiNNaker2 allows the composition of large-scale systems involving thousands of chips. This work features the operating principles of SpiNNaker2 systems, outlining the prototype of novel machine learning applications. These applications range from ANNs over bio-inspired spiking neural networks to generalized event-based neural networks. With the successful development and deployment of SpiNNaker2, we aim to facilitate the advancement of event-based and asynchronous algorithms for future generations of machine learning systems.