UI researching thinking computer

BOISE — One of the nation’s leading computer makers has provided financial support for research at the University of Idaho that includes technology that could give computers the ability to think like people.

“We’re looking for the neural network to possibly facilitate our product development process,” said Ken Lindblom, research and development section manager for Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Boise operation.

Lindblom said the work by a team of Idaho researchers, led by inventor Richard Wells, could speed up research processes.

Hewlett-Packard, which routinely works with the university and other institutions on technology development, has provided $200,000 to support the work.

Wells said the neural network project itself could enable computers or robots to make rapid computations of more complex information than scientists believed possible.

There is already software being used by some industries to achieve that kind of result, but Wells has provided the first hardware system.

Instead of a microprocessor, which performs computation after computation, the neural network can do several computations simultaneously, he said, using what is called “neuro-fuzzy logic.” That means it deals with uncertainty, the missing function of traditional programmed integrated circuitry.

A patent is pending on the technology, and Gene Merrell of the Idaho Research Foundation Inc., which oversees university patents and licenses technology, said forming a neural network on a microchip could revolutionize the way computers function.

“It’s a relatively important technology — probably a little ahead of its time,” Merrell said. “The long-term applications are for artificial limbs or other prosthetics.”

Wells calls his “biomimic artificial neuron” the basic building block for machines that learn on their own, without the need for programming.

“The low-power technology is miniaturized to a scale approximately the size of a few animal cells per neuron and performs sensing, information processing, routing and actuation, much like the brain or spinal cord,” he said.

The system, he believes, offers a “radically different turn in computing hardware technology that will enable companies to design and fabricate their own chip solutions for developing market needs.”