computer – Tales from the bits

Blue Brain project

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:18:36 +0000

The Blue Brain Project is an attempt to reverse engineer the brain, to explore how it functions and to serve as a tool for neuroscientists and medical researchers. The project is hosted at the Ecole Polytechnique’s Brain Mind Institute in Lausanne.

Professor Henry Markam is the project director. He has announced that his team will develop the world’s first artificial conscious and intelligent mind within a decade. Project investors include the Swiss government, IBM, and the European Union.

Markam’s strategy is to take apart actual brains cell by cell, dissecting the brain at the cellular level, analyse the billions of connections between the cells (neurons), and then plot these connections into a supercomputer (IBM Blue Gene). The computer is able to simulate the workings of about 10,000 neurones. This is about to a single rat’s neocortical column. The difference between the brain of a mouse and the brain of a human is basically just volume – humans have many more neocortical columns and thus neurons than mice.

In a few years we will know if he succeded or not.

Brain Computer Interface

George Bagropoulos — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Brain computer interface (BCI) can provide a way to help many people suffering from serious illnesses or injuries. In my previous post I mentioned some of the potential dangers of using BCI to monitor brain activity and reveal thoughts. This post adds to the positive aspect of BCI. It is a video from Stanford’s Neural Prosthetic Systems Laboratory. Krishna Shenoy explains how to create a BCI that will enable paralyzed patients to control prosthetic arms and computer cursors. In the video, Shenoy describes how his team of Stanford researchers has built a system that achieves typing at 15 words-per-minute, just by “thinking about it”. In the experiments are using monkeys because their brains are similar to humans.
I am sure that in the near future we will see more BCI devices that will greatly enhance the life of those that have serious kinetic or communication problems.

Brain Scanners, Fingercams Take Computer Interfaces Beyond Multitouch

George Bagropoulos — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:28:00 +0000

From Wired News by Priya Ganapati.
The first step towards a revolution on how humans interact with computers has started with the multitouch displays. Multitouch displays are screens that are sensitive to the pressure of more than one finger. The future of human-computer interfaces may involve using neurotransmitters to help translate thoughts into computing actions, through face detection, eye tracking, speech recognition, and haptics technology that uses the sense of touch to communicate with the user. “Computing of today is primarily designed for seated individuals doing office work in the developed world,” says Scot Klemmer, a co-director of Stanford University’s Human Computer Interaction Group. “If you flip any one of those bits–look at mobile users, or users outside of the developed world, or social computing instead of individual computing–then the future is wide open.”

At Drexel University’s RePlay Lab, they are trying to measure the level of neurotransmitters in a subject’s brain to create games where mere thought controls gameplay. The lab created a 3-D game called Lazybrains that connects a neuro-monitoring device and a gaming engine.The system uses the Functional Near-Infrared Imaging Device, which shines infrared light into a user’s forehead and records the amount of light that is transmitted back to detect changes and deduce information about the amount of oxygen in the user’s blood. Concentration sends more oxygen to the frontal lobe, meaning a gamer’s concentration can be used to manipulate the height of platforms in the game.

Advancements in human computer interaction will also come from users looking to improve their personal experience by hacking, mashing and modifying devices, says Klemmer.

The keyboard and the mouse aren’t going to disappear completely. For word processing, the keyboard remains the most efficient method of input, say researchers.

What is Software Engineering?

George Bagropoulos — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:13:00 +0000

Many people outside the software industry do not know what software engineering is about. Even recently when I was asked at a party “Hey, George so tell me what you do for living?” I answered, “I am a Software Engineer”. I got a semi blank look. I quickly added, “I am a computer programmer» and from that point on everything was back to normal. The next question was “I have a problem with my computer can you give it a look? ” That gave me a clear picture that there was a direct assumption that if you were saying the words “computer programmer”, for most people that would also mean “computer technician”.

So what is Software Engineering?

The IEEE Computer Society defines software engineering as
“(1) The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiableapproach to the development, operation, and maintenance ofsoftware; that is, the application of engineering to software.
(2) The study of approaches as in (1).”

The SWEBOK knowledge areas are:
Software requirements
Software design
Software construction
Software testing
Software maintenance
Software configuration management
Software engineering management
Software engineering process
Software engineering tools and methods
Software quality
(IEEE Computer Society, 2008)

Creating software systems can be a very complex and demanding process involving many people. That requires substantial amount of time.

Other people from other disciplines do not easily comprehend what a Software Engineer does. Different people have different perception of our job depending on their viewpoint.

26 years ago I wrote my first computer program. It even now amazes me that people, with all that exposure in technology, cannot still make a difference between a Software Engineer and a computer technician or a power user. Medical doctors do not seem to have the same problems.

References
IEEE Computer Society(2008). Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge . Available at: http://www.swebok.org/