Project description Embodied Intelligence Show the project objective Hide the project objective The goal of the eMorph project is to design asynchronous vision sensors with non-uniform morphology, using analog VLSI neuromorphic circuits, and to develop a supporting data-driven asynchronous computational paradigm for machine-vision that is radically different from conventional image processing. The mainstream computational paradigm in embodied intelligence is digital and it is clear that conventional digital systems have difficulties in performing robustly even in the most mundane tasks of perception. They require vast amounts of resources to extract relevant information, but still fail to produce appropriate responses for interacting with the real-world in real time. In addition, in sensory perception tasks, the data acquired from the sensors is typically noisy and ambiguous. "Frame-based" time sampling and quantization artifacts present in conventional sensors are particularly problematic for robust and reliable performance. The situation is clearly different in biological systems. In particular, biological neural systems vastly outperform conventional digital machines in almost all aspects of sensory perception tasks. Despite its dramatic progress, information technology has not yet been able to deliver artificial systems that can compare with biology. There are limitations both at the technological level, and at the theoretical/computational level. Analog computation - free from the limits of sampling - provides a solution. Analog devices are fast, as time constants are in the range of the rising time of the transistor currents. Event-driven computation intrinsically adapts the sensor response to the time constants of the real world. The sensor response is automatically regulated to match the incoming signal range, and so is robust. Moreover as only important events are coded, they are also efficient. The eMorph project thus aims to design novel, data-driven, biologically inspired, analog sensory devices while also developing new asynchronous event-driven computational paradigms for them. eMorph aims to adapt the computational engine of the cognitive system (its morphology with respect to computation) to the dynamics of the real world rather than furiously sample the physical sensory signals in an attempt to obtain adequate bandwidth. Structure and morphology will be matched to the requirements of the robot's body and its application domain with testing to be carried out on the advanced humanoid robotic platform, iCub (project RobotCub, http://www.robotcub.org). The project will assemble a small but focused team of researchers from European leading institutions with well balanced complementary skills around these common goals. Fields of science engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors Programme(s) FP7-ICT - Specific Programme "Cooperation": Information and communication technologies Topic(s) ICT-2007.8.5 - Embodied intelligence Call for proposal FP7-ICT-2007-3 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme CP - Collaborative project (generic) Coordinator FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA Address Via morego 30 16163 Genova Italy See on map Region Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Chiara Bartolozzi (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution No data Participants (3) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GMBH Austria EU contribution € 289 983,00 Address Giefinggasse 4 1210 Wien See on map Region Ostösterreich Wien Wien Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Alexander Svejkovsky (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Other funding No data University of Zurich Switzerland EU contribution € 290 840,00 Address Ramistrasse 71 8006 Zurich See on map Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact RODNEY DOUGLAS (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Other funding No data UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA Italy EU contribution € 256 388,00 Address Via balbi 5 16126 Genova See on map Region Nord-Ovest Liguria Genova Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact LISA RIZZARDI (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Other funding No data
