LEARNING TO LOVE HOW TO MAKE AN IBM BETS ON BRAIN- CAN A MACHINE THINKING MACHINES ARTIFICIAL BRAIN INSPIRED CHIPS BE CONSCIOUS? Why the brain will drive A plan to make it Soon we’ll know if all Yes, but not if it's built computing’s next era happen in 30 years the hype was justified like today’s computers P. 22 P. 46 P. 52 P. 64 FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER | 06.17 Can We Copy the Brain? Intensive efforts to understand and re-create human cognition will spark a new age of machine intelligence and transform the way we work, learn, and play A SPECIAL REPORT CLI CK HERE TO ACCESS THE JUNE ISSUE OF 06.Cover.NA [P].indd 1 5/16/17 1:49 PM Save time. Design More. Our virtual prototyping software will help you save both time and money. Building physical prototypes is costly and time consuming. Our software can accurately predict performance before testing and measuring, which reduces cost and speeds up the design process. 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By Fred Rothganger the essential ingredients of scale systems. By Jennifer Hasler intelligence. By Jeff Hawkins BRAIN? 26 An Engineer’s 52 The Neuromorphic Chip’s 08 Trying to create conscious- Guide to the Brain 40 From Animal Intelligence Make-or-Break Moment ness may be the path to Never taken a neuroscience to Artificial Intelligence Researchers hope deep learning will understanding this most deeply class? Here’s what you need to Reverse engineering 1 cubic produce a commercial bonanza for mysterious human attribute. know. By Eliza Strickland millimeter of rodent brain may lead brain-inspired chips. By Lee Gomes to smarter AIs. By Eliza Strickland B y Glenn Zorpette 28 The Brain as Computer 58 Navigate Like a Rat We can learn a lot from the Why robots with ratlike brains brain’s ultraefficient approach excel at navigating unfamiliar to information processing. terrain. By Jean Kumagai By Karlheinz Meier O n the cover Photograph for 64 Can We Quantify IEEE Spectrum Machine Consciousness? by Dan Saelinger Computers may soon act like people. But that wouldn’t mean they’re conscious. By Christof Koch & Giulio Tononi ILLUSTRATION BY Greg Dunn and Brian Edwards SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | NORTH AMERICAN | JUN 2017 | 01 06.Contents.NA [P].indd 1 5/16/17 8:16 AM From virtual to reality How do you go from a brilliant idea to a multi- million dollar business? You find the right partner to help you bring your vision to life. What can Avnet’s global expertise do for your products? Find out at avnet.com 06a.p2.NA [P].indd 2 5/11/17 1:16 PM DEPARTMENTS_06.17DEPARTMENTS_01.13 201509 Online News Resources Opinion Spectrum.ieee.org Quantum Supremacy The Great Wi-Fi Plot(ter) What Took the Bicycle So Long? Buildings on Demand Google plans to build a chip This kit lets you build a cloud- This month’s Numbers Don’t Lie A construction robot uses that can finally prove quantum controlled whiteboard that can column focuses on the strangely 3D printing to build large computing’s prowess. erase itself. slow rollout of the bicycle, an structures safely, quickly, and By Rachel Courtland By Stephen Cass invention that appears to have autonomously. It can embed come after its time. By Vaclav Smil rebar, fuse metal chains, and 11 B rain Stimulation for 17 Geek Life: Becoming a even create sculptures out of ice. Depression Certified FAA Drone Pilot 04 Back Story Watch it 3D-print a building out 12 The Most Complex 2D Chip Yet 18 Tools: Two Kid-Centric 3D 06 Contributors of spray foam! Printers Face Off 21 Technically Speaking: http://spectrum.ieee.org/ 76 Past Forward: Agile Software Uses 3dprintedbuilding0617 Strong, but Gentle Encouraging Words ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Tech Insider / Webinars The Institute Available at spectrum.ieee.org/webinars Available at theinstitute.ieee.org S Simulation-Driven Motor Design for Vehicle Electrification—15 June AN ACCESSIBLE WORLD In this issue, we feature several IEEE members who are developing technologies to help people with disabilities. A senior OBOTIC R member is working on robots to help paralyzed people live independently, while White Papers an IEEE Fellow is developing a robotic wheelchair that can tackle uneven terrain. Available at http://spectrum.ieee.org/whitepapers We also feature student members who are retrofitting toy cars for children who are visually impaired and a startup that makes 3D tactile artworks for the blind. EATING/SCIENCE EATING/SCIENCE DC Motor Selection for Dynamic Motion Control Applications K Control Design Guide for Next-Generation Machines MAKING STRIDES Member Conor Walsh has built a soft, lightweight Multi-Tone: Testing, Theory, and Practice Application Note exosuit that helps stroke patients and others with mobility issues walk with Learn the Basics of Power Amplifier and Front-End Module Measurements less difficulty. Accelerating Aircraft Systems Development With Model-Based NEIDER; STEVEN J. J. STEVEN NEIDER; Engineering MEET THE CANDIDATES The 2018 IEEE president-elect candidates, H Getting Started With a Part-Centric BOM Fellow Vincenzo Piuri and Life Fellow Jacek M. Zurada, discuss their priorities for the organization. UCERO; HENRY SC HENRY UCERO; IEEE SPECTRUM L (ISSN 0018-9235) is published monthly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2017 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY RIK RIK 10016-5997, U.S.A. Volume No. 54, issue No. 6, North American edition. The editorial content of IEEE Spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the IEEE or its organizational units. Canadian Post International E Publications Mail (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40013087. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, IEEE Spectrum, Box 1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7. Cable address: ITRIPLEE. Fax: +1 212 419 7570. INTERNET: [email protected]. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: IEEE Members: $21.40 included in dues. Libraries/institutions: $399. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to IEEE Spectrum, c/o Coding Department, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canadian GST #125634188. Printed at 120 Donnelley Dr., Glasgow, KY 42141-1060, U.S.A. IEEE Spectrum circulation is audited by BPA Worldwide. IEEE Spectrum is a member of the Association of Business Information & Media Companies, the Association of Magazine Media, and FROM LEFT: LEFT: FROM Association Media & Publishing. IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html. SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | NORTH AMERICAN | JUN 2017 | 03 06.Contents.NA [P].indd 3 5/16/17 8:16 AM BACK STORY_ MDK Version 5 Microcontroller Development Kit ARM® Keil® MDK is the most comprehensive software development suite for all ARM Cortex®-M based devices A Boat of Glass and Steel ow many types of nerve cells are in the human brain? Supporting over “We don’t know,” says Christof Koch. “Probably thousands.” 4,200 devices We’ll have an answer soon, thanks in part to Koch, who with Giulio Tononi wrote “Can We Quantify Machine Consciousness?,” in this issue. As president and chief scientific officer of the Allen Cortex-M33 • Cortex-M23 Institute for Brain Science, in Seattle, Koch oversees a staff of Cortex-M7 • Cortex-M4 more then 300 people, some of whom are now producing a Cortex-M3 • Cortex-M0/M0+ H complete catalog of the many kinds of neurons in the brain. Koch [above], well known for his work in the field of consciousness, took the helm of the Brain Science institute after spending nearly three decades as a professor of both biology and engineering at the California Institute of Technology. So he was very familiar with how basic research gets done at universities. The Allen Institute is different, though: “We’re somewhere between biotech and academia,” says Koch, who explains that his institute tackles problems that might require a hundred or more researchers working for several years—much beyond what a university lab could do. At the end of 2015, Koch and his colleagues moved into a newly built 25,000-square-meter facility, donated by Paul Allen. The modern glass building was specially designed to foster collaboration and enhance CMSIS esprit de corps within the institute’s large research teams. To highlight the importance of team building, Koch prefaced a recent scholarly article with a quotation from Daniel James Brown’s Network The Boys in the Boat: “The team effort—the perfectly synchronized flow of muscle, oars, boat and water; the single, whole, unified USB and beautiful symphony that a crew in motion becomes—is all that matters.” The same is true, according to Koch, when your boat is made of glass and steel and your goal is scientific understanding.