The CHINA – BRAIN Project Prof. Dr. Hugo de Garis, Director of the “China Brain Project”, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Department of Computer Science, School of Information Science & Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, CHINA.

Prof. Hugo de Garis has been given a 3M (RMB) grant by Xiamen University in Fujian Province, CHINA, to build China’s first artificial brain, over 4 years, This artificial brain will consist of 10,000 – 15,000 neural net circuit modules, that are evolved in an accelerator board (Celoxica.com) 50 times faster than in a PC. Each evolved NN module is downloaded from the board into a PC. Human “BAs” (“Brain Architects”) then specify the interconnections between the NN modules (using special software, called IMSI (inter module signaling interface) to build an artificial brain, whose neural signaling is performed by the PC in real time. The A-Brain can be used to control the 100s of behaviors of robots.

To evolve a NN module, high level “Handel-C” code is written, to specify the fitness function of the NN module, and to implement the “GA” (genetic algorithm) of the NN evolution. This code is “hardware compiled” into the FPGA and executed 50 times faster than on a PC. The Celoxica board containing the FPGA costs only $1500, so cheap ! So this method, is fast, cheap, and it works, so we hope that other brain building groups around the world will use this “evolutionary engineering” approach. The next slide shows a photo of the Celoxica board. The FPGA contains 3 million programmable logic gates. The next generation board contains 6 million, and is 4 times faster.

Each NN module performs some little task (similar in idea to Minsky’s dumb “agents” in his “Society of Mind” book. The main task of the BAs is to design the brain. At 2 NN modules conceived and evolved per week day, per person, it will take 5 people to build a 10,000 module A-Brain in 4 years, i.e. 4*50*5*2*N = 10,000 so N = 5 So, at the modest (realistic?) speed of 2 modules per day, a relatively small team can construct an A-Brain in a few years. This we hope to do, to prove to people that brain building is realistic and doable in the very near future.

The major challenge for any group taking this approach is the architecture of the A-Brain. With several 10,000s of (evolved) NN modules, what kind of A-Brain can be built? Each group will have its own architecture. The main contribution of this Brain Building method, is just that, it is a method that is – Fast (50 times faster NN evolution speed than on a PC) Cheap (the Celoxica board costs only $1500, and PC based) Effective (i.e. the NN modules do evolve (most of the time)

Why 10,000 – 50,000 NN modules in the A-Brain? The PC performs the neural signaling of the A-Brain in real time, i.e. 25 signals (Hz) per second for every artificial neuron in the A-Brain. How many NN modules (assuming about 16 neurons per module) can a PC perform the neural signaling for at 25 Hz? Depending on the PC, the answer is about 10,000 – 50,000 modules. What can one do with 50,000 modules? Probably one can give a robot 100s of behaviors, thousands of pattern recognizers, behavioral switching circuits, etc. Hopefully, a new specialty, called Artificial Brains, will be created.

An incremental, bootstrapping approach to brain building will be undertaken, e.g. Start with a 20 module A-Brain. Use that microbrain as a component in a slightly bigger brain, of e.g. 50 modules. Use that mini-brain as a component of a bigger brain of, e.g. 100 modules, etc, In steps, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000, 20,000, … The experience gained at one level can be carried over into the next level. Each brain becomes a sub-brain of the next level.

Neuroscience, AGI, cog-sci, ethological models, etc as source of inspiration, for the architectures of A-Brains. If enough groups can start building A-Brains, a research community can be formed, with its own workshops, conferences and journals. Moore’s Law, implies that in a few years, the idea of evolving NN modules one at a time, will become impractical, even with a large team, e.g. how would you evolve 100,000 or 1,000,000 modules? Hence multi-module evolution will become necessary. This is a virgin research field, just waiting to be investigated. You are challenged to look into it. Perhaps with more powerful accelerator boards (with many more gates and faster) simultaneous multi-module evolution algorithms can be discovered ?!

National Brain Building Organizations Historical analogy – Goddard, 1920s, “toy” liquid fuel rockets, a few meters high. By 1940s, V2 rocket (Germany) By 1960s, Saturn V rocket to the moon, national space administrations (NASA, ESA, JSA, etc) employing thousands of scientists, engineers. Similarly, National Brain Building Projects,, e.g. The CHINA – Brain Project, the A-Brain (American Brain), J-Brain (Japan), E-Brain (Europe), I-Brain (India) etc. These will probably be established within 10 years, at least before Moore’s Law, development of neuroscience, will make this inevitable.

Future Book Future book on artificial brains, contracted with WS (World Scientific), Singapore, to appear early 2010, called “Artificial Brains : An Evolved Neural Net Module Approach” This will be the first text book on artificial brains and how to build them.