The computer powered by electronic BLOOD: IBM unveils brain-inspired computer that runs on electrolyte-rich liquid

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The computer powered by electronic BLOOD: IBM unveils brain-inspired computer that runs on electrolyte-rich liquid

• System uses electrolyte ‘blood’ which carries power in and takes heat out
• It could help develop process power that’s densely packed into a 3D space
• The technology could one day allow a one petaflop computer- currently the size of half a football field- to fit onto a desktop

 Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A machine that can accurately emulate the human brain is the Holy Grail of computer science.

Now IBM claims to be a step closer to this goal after unveiling a computer that uses ‘electronic blood’.

The technology is used to fuel and cool the computer at the same time, similar to how blood functions in the brain.

IBM has unveiled a computer that uses electronic blood. The technology is used to fuel and cool the computer at the same time, in the same way as blood function in our brains

The system, reported on the BBC, was demonstrated at IBM’s Zurich lab last week.

‘We need to make supercomputers 10,000 times more energy-efficient’, said IBM scientist Dr Bruno Michel.

‘By vertically integrating hundreds of chips with liquid cooling and power supply networks, we take the first steps at IBM Research towards tomorrow’s bionic computers.’

Overall the brain consumes the same amount of power as a 20 watt light bulb and occupies the volume of a two-litre bottle.

It is around 10,000 times more dense an efficient than any computer today.

This is because it uses only one – extremely efficient – network of capillaries and blood vessels to transport heat and energy at the same time.

Inspired by the human brain, IBM scientists in Zurich are exploring a novel way to power and cool computer chips. IBM scientist Patrick Ruch holds a redox flow test chip that claims to be able to do this

The brain consumes the same amount of power as a 20 watt light and occupies the volume of a two-litre bottle

Around 40 per cent of its volume is used for functional performance, and only 10 per cent for energy and cooling.

A computer, meanwhile, uses 99 per cent of its volume for cooling and powering, and only one per cent to process information.

By 2060, IBM envisions a one petaflop computer- which takes up half a football field today- to fit on a desktop.

IBM’s system, known as ‘redox flow’, moves an electrolyte ‘blood’ which carries power in and takes heat out.

‘Remarkably, the liquid-cooling system not only keeps the chips at operating temperatures, but also delivers power, similar to the human circulatory system that transports heat as well as
energy,’ said IBM in a report.

The liquid-cooling system not only keeps the computer’s chips at operating temperatures, but also delivers power, similar to the human circulatory system that transports heat as well as energy. It could be used to process power that’s densely packed into 3D space (pictured) rather than spread out across flat circuit boards

Current test chips have been built by IBM researchers using vanadium redox flow chemistry, which relies on the electrochemical discharge of vanadium in different oxidation states

The technology could be used to process power that’s densely packed into 3D space rather than spread out across flat circuit boards.

Stephen Shankland from Cnet reports that two liquids called electrolytes, each with oppositely charged electrical ions, will circulate through the system to distribute power.

The electrolytes will travel through ever-smaller tubes, going down to about the width of a human hair, where they will pass their power to conventional electrical wires.

‘Our inspiration came from the principles of how the brain is assembled and packaged,’ said Dr Michel.

‘If we combine our understanding of the brain with CMOS (complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor) devices, we can quickly create biomorphic computers, which benefit from the best of nature and technology.’

This work is part of an ongoing effort to develop a computer that can mimic the human brain.

In August, IBM announced a new programming architecture for chips inspired by mind.

The company said the chips could pave the way for smart sensor networks that mimic the brain’s capacity for perception, action, and thought.

In August, IBM announced a new programming architecture for chips inspired by mind. IBM said the model is tailored for a new class of distributed, highly interconnected, parallel, large-scale cognitive computing systems

Meanwhile, in 2011, IBM demonstrated a building block of a novel brain-inspired chip architecture based on a scalable, interconnected, configurable network of ‘neurosynaptic cores.’

The chip’s memory functions as synapses would in the brain, the processors as neurons and communication as nerve fibres.

These chips attempt to replicate and improve the brain’s ability to respond to biological sensors and analysing vast amounts of data from many sources at once.

The project was part of the same research that led to IBM’s announcement in 2009 that it had simulated a cat’s cerebral cortex, the thinking part of the brain, using a massive supercomputer.

Using progressively bigger supercomputers, IBM had previously simulated 40 per cent of a mouse’s brain in 2006, a rat’s full brain in 2007, and one per cent of a human’s cerebral cortex in 2009.

Eventually IBM wants to build a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses.