Imagine a more sustainable future, where cellphones, smartwatches, and other wearable devices don’t have to be shelved or discarded for a newer model. Instead, they could be upgraded with the latest sensors and processors that would snap onto a device’s internal chip like LEGO bricks incorporated into an existing build. Such reconfigurable chipware could keep devices up to date while reducing our electronic waste.

Now MIT engineers have taken a step toward that modular vision with a LEGO-like design for a stackable, reconfigurable artificial intelligence chip. [1]

Figure 1. The LEGO-like Artificial Intelligence Chip

Figure 1 shows the design comprises alternating layers of sensing and processing elements, along with light-emitting diodes (LED) that allow for the chip’s layers to communicate optically. Other modular chip designs employ conventional wiring to relay signals between layers. Such intricate connections are difficult if not impossible to sever and rewire, making such stackable designs not reconfigurable. [2]

The MIT design uses light, rather than physical wires, to transmit information through the chip. The chip can therefore be reconfigured, with layers that can be swapped out or stacked on, for instance to add new sensors or updated processors.

Lighting the way

The team’s design is currently configured to carry out basic image-recognition tasks. It does so via a layering of image sensors, LEDs, and processors made from artificial synapses — arrays of memory resistors, or “memristors,” that the team previously developed, which together function as a physical neural network, or “brain-on-a-chip.” [3]

“We can add layers to a cellphone’s camera so that it can recognize more complex images, or build these into health care monitors that can be embedded in wearable electronic skin,” offers Choi, who previously worked with Kim. “Smart” skin was developed for monitoring vital signs.

Another idea, he says, is for modular chips, built into electronics, that consumers can choose to build with the latest sensor and processor “bricks.”

References:

1. https://www.eletimes.com/lego-like-artificial-intelligence-chip
2. https://news.mit.edu/2022/stackable-artificial-intelligence-chip-0613
3. https://indiaai.gov.in/news/engineers-build-lego-like-artificial-intelligence-chip
4. https://biz.crast.net/engineers-build-lego-like-artificial-intelligence-chip/

Cite this article:

Thanusri swetha J (2022), LEGO-like Artificial Intelligence Chip, Anatechmaz, p.p 93