Professor James K. Gimzewski is a member of a research team, under sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who have been working on a program called “physical intelligence.”
His research team, consisting of scientists at Malibu-based HRL (formerly Hughes Research Laborary) and the University of California at Berkeley’s Freeman Laboratory for Nonlinear Neurodynamics, has built a machine that mirrors the human brain and could potentially allow robots to act autonomously.
This discovery represents a major advance in artificial intelligence research, as the “physical intelligence” device would not require computer programming or the use of human controllers to provide directions, as with traditional robots. Instead, the device operates via nano-scale interconnected wires that send signals through synthetic synapses, just like the human brain, and is capable of remembering information, meaning that robots would be able to act like humans. Potential applications for this device might include military aircrafts and weapon systems.
The full National Defense magazine article can be read here.
