https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quick-thinking-ai-camera-mimics-the-human-brain/
Researchers in Europe are developing a camera that will literally have a mind of its own, with brainlike algorithms that process images and light sensors that mimic the human retina. Its makers hope it will prove that artificial intelligence—which today requires large, sophisticated computers—can soon be packed into small consumer electronics. But as much as an AI camera would make a nifty smartphone feature, the technology’s biggest impact may actually be speeding up the way self-driving cars and autonomous flying drones sense and react to their surroundings.
Getting all of the components of a memristor neural network onto a single microchip would be a big step, says Yoeri van de Burgt, an assistant professor of microsystems at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, whose research includes building artificial synapses. “Since it is performing the computation locally, it will be more secure and can be dedicated for specific tasks like cameras in drones and self-driving cars,” adds van de Burgt, who was not involved in the ULPEC project.
Assuming the researchers can pull it off, such a chip would be useful well beyond smart cameras because it would be able to perform a variety of complicated computations itself, rather than off-loading that work to a supercomputer via the cloud. In this way, Posch says, the camera is an important step toward determining whether the underlying memristors and other technology will work, and how they might be integrated into future consumer devices. The camera, with its innovative sensors and memristor neural network, could demonstrate that AI can be built into a device in order to make it both smart and more energy efficient.