Neurala Announces Deep Learning AI for Self-Driving Cars, Drones, Toys and Other Machines That Can Learn on the Device Without Using the Cloud

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GPU Technology Conference Coverage

Neurala announced a major advance in deep learning with software that can learn with or without the cloud and eliminates the risk of forgetting its previous knowledge. The new patent-pending approach means that for the first time a self-driving car can be personalized by each owner or dealer to a specific neighborhood; a parent can teach a toy to recognize a child, without infringing on privacy; and industrial machines can be updated in the field for specific tasks.

Until now, if an AI system had learned a certain number of objects and needed to learn one more, it would have to be retrained on all of the objects. This traditional method requires using powerful servers that are often located in the cloud. Neurala enables learning of the incremental object on the edge.

Neurala’s breakthrough solves the “catastrophic forgetting” problem for deep learning neural networks instantly at the computing device. New objects can be added to the deep learning AI system on the fly, on the edge and without a server. Systems do not need to be retrained from the beginning, and new information can be added without risk.  Neurala accomplishes this by combining different neural network architectures in a way that was previously considered impossible.

Neurala’s breakthrough approach is the enabler that automotive companies, consumer electronics companies and others have needed to make deep learning useful for their customers,” said Massimiliano “Max” Versace, CEO of Neurala. “The ability to learn on the fly and at the edge means that the Neurala approach enables learning directly on the device, without all the drawbacks of cloud learning. In addition, it eliminates network latency, increases real-time performance, and ensures privacy where needed. Most importantly, it will unlock the development of a sea of cloud-less applications.”

Neurala will incorporate the new capability at no additional charge into the Neurala Brains for Bots SDK (software development kit). It is expected to ship in Q3 2017.

Software that works like human brains

Neurala’s neural network software uses a bio-inspired approach to mimic the way the human brain learns and analyzes its environment. This software enables a variety of smart products—from industrial drones to consumer electronics and cameras—to learn, adapt and interact in real time. For example, toys can learn to identify their owners, security cameras can identify specific threats, drones can “learn” how to diagnose problems at the tops of cell towers, saving humans considerable danger and drudgery, and self-driving cars can be safer and learn to avoid obstacles.

The NVIDIA Jetson AI platform enables Neurala to develop innovative deep learning solutions for inferencing and learning at the edge,” said Murali Gopalakrishna, head of product management, intelligent machines, at NVIDIA. “This enables a new class of intelligent machines.”

Neurala pioneered the development of deep learning neural network software for NASA to use in planetary exploration, where processing power, battery life and communications are limited.  Instead of designing deep learning neural networks for super computers, as other companies do, The Neurala Brain was designed to work where the decisions need to be made.

 

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