Robot Roaches

Are now under development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSL-PMn3x4

And here are hypothetical enemy countermeasures to a robotic intrusion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxW3GWZ5hI

Cats are not a trivial challenge. Computer scientists have been struggling to understand just how kitties manage complex tasks like jumping and walking on ledges. Just how seriously these are being taken can be gauged from DARPA’s $21 million contract with IBM to develop a cat brain. According to the International Business Times, scientists at IBM are using the kitty as a starting point to create synapse-architectured computing devices to solve problems that traditional computing has difficulty with. If they an achieve the capability of a cat the researchers will move on to matching the capability of other mammals.

Techies at IBM have already completed the Phase 0 and 1 of the project with the first phase involving the simulation of the cortex of a cat brain on an IBM supercomputer having 144TB of memory and establishing the basic synaptic circuits for the brain chip. The basic idea is to have the same kind of computing feats that the animal has, like jumping on a fence using only binocular vision. …

“This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century,” stated Modha. “Future applications of computing will increasingly demand functionality that is not efficiently delivered by the traditional architecture. These chips are another significant step in the evolution of computers from calculators to learning systems, signaling the beginning of a new generation of computers and their applications in business, science and government.”

“No Way In” print and Kindle edition at Amazon
Tip Jar or Subscribe for $5