2010/Workgroups

Work-Groups, Discussion-Groups, Recreational Groups

  • Work-groups will focus on hands-on projects during the afternoons, evenings and nights, while discussion-groups are meant as small-group brainstorming sessions on the topics proposed, that can take place in the evenings or after dinner.
  • The workgroup mailing lists are handy for organizing meetings, working sessions, discussion sessions, while at the workshop.

To subscribe to an existing workgroup, log-in, and simply click on the relevant Subscribe link.

How to propose workgroups

In order to propose new workgroups and create your own mailing list, log-in and edit this page (the edit button is at the bottom of the page).

Use one of the existing workgroups as a template, add a proper description, and write your name as the workgroup leader.

THE LEADERS MUST ALSO SUBSCRIBE AS MEMBERS! Otherwise the leaders won't be on the mailing list for that group!

Work group / Discussion group Leaders

Should coordinate the work group / discussion group activities, define and set the meeting times, update the Workshop Schedule to reflect that, and most importantly, document the workroup activities on the corresponding workgroup web-page. If you're a workgroup/discussiongroup leader and your -group page does not exist yet create it (by simply click on the workgroup title) ASAP and describe in more detail the planned workroup activities (e.g. how long it will last, what is expected to happen, what material is required, etc.)

Room reservation sheet

Use this page if you need to reserve the lecture room or the smaller meeting room in the afternoons for your workgroup.

Work Groups and Discussion Groups

Asynchronous communication infrastructures

Members: Andreas Hartel, Adrian Whatley, Christoph Posch, Thomas Clayton, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, Giacomo Indiveri, Paco Gómez, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Christian Mayr, Michael Hofstätter, Paolo Motto Ros, Patrick Camilleri, Alexander Rast, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Johannes Schemmel, Simon Friedmann, Shauki Elassaad, Shufan Yang, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik

Leader: Daniel B. Fasnacht

We will use and hack AER interface boards from different labs to connect AER sensors and multi-neuron chips among each other and to PCs.

We'll try to define common standards for connectors, signal polarities, address space, protocols etc.

Exploring Network Architectures with the FACETS Hardware and PyNN

Members: Alexander Russell, Johannes Bill, Daniel Bruederle, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Thomas Clayton, Elmar Rückert, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Kevin Brohan, Björn Kindler, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Massimiliano Versace, Michael Unger, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Neeraj Kumar Mandloi, Olivier Bichler, Paolo Motto Ros, Johannes Partzsch, Piotr Dudek, Alexander Rast, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Sergio Davies, Simon Friedmann, Shih-Chii Liu, Sebastian Jeltsch, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik

Leader: Daniel Bruederle

We will introduce both a FACETS prototype system ("Stage1") and a virtual version of the target system, the wafer-scale hardware ("Stage2"). A PCB with multiple Stage1 chips will be available. We will give a tutorial on how to use them via the modeling language PyNN. We will offer literature about a set of network models that can be implemented with these devices, and we suggest that pairs of participants will implement these architectures on one of the provided systems.

Winner-take-all architectures and computation in cortex

Members: Anne van Rossum, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Chiara Bartolozzi, Elisabetta Chicca, Christoph Krautz, Matthew Cook, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dejan Pecevski, Dennis Göhlsdorf, Dylan Richard Muir, Eero Lehtonen, Elmar Rückert, Encarni Marcos, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, Florian Jug, Francesco Galluppi, Yves Fregnac, Giacomo Indiveri, Helmut Puhr, James Humble, Jenia Jitsev, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Lars Buesing, Michael Unger, Michael Kai Petersen, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Nuno Costa, Bernhard Nessler, Olivier Bichler, Patrick Camilleri, Piotr Dudek, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Verschure, Jason Rolfe, Roman Bauer, Sabina Pfister, Sadique Sheik, Salvador Dura, Johannes Schemmel, Stephane Lallee, Sylvia Schroeder, Stefan Habenschuss, Ueli Rutishauser, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Dylan Richard Muir (collaborative)

We will continue our discussion from last year about winner-take-all (WTA) computation in realistic cortical circuits, the relationship between WTA to the cortical architecture... please add further topics for discussion on the workgroup page (click on the workgroup title).

Computation with synchrony in cortical fields -- theory and simulation

Members: Andreas Hartel, Daniel Bruederle, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Chiara Bartolozzi, Elisabetta Chicca, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dennis Göhlsdorf, Dylan Richard Muir, Eero Lehtonen, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Florian Jug, Yves Fregnac, Helmut Puhr, James Humble, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Christian Mayr, Martin Coath, Michael Kai Petersen, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Nuno Costa, Olivier Bichler, Piotr Dudek, Paul Verschure, Jason Rolfe, Roman Bauer, Sabina Pfister, Shih-Chii Liu, Sebastian Jeltsch, Sylvia Schroeder, Stefan Habenschuss, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Dylan Richard Muir

I have recently been investigating what computations can be performed in neural fields, through the mechanism of transient synchronisation between points on the cortical sheet, mediated by the Daisy patch system. In this workgroup I will present my results to date, and then we will continue by discussing further modes of computation that we can obtain through this mechanism. I would like to examine modulation of synchronisation by global and spatially-constrained "attentional" signals. Interested participants could also begin to examine this mechanism in simple spiking neuron models, in simulation. We probably won't make it to an examination of learning...

Computation with synchrony in cortical fields -- hardware

Members: Andreas Hartel, Daniel Bruederle, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Chiara Bartolozzi, Elisabetta Chicca, Dylan Richard Muir, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Mihai A. Petrovici, Nuno Costa, Alexander Rast, Sergio Davies, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Dylan Richard Muir

Although I have experience using spiking neuron hardware, I don't have any myself. I would like to begin exploring the transient synchrony mechanism in spiking hardware. If an interested participant brings some hardware to the table, we can look at this together.

Computation with spiking VLSI Neurons - State-Dependent Processing

Members: Andreas Hartel, Alexander Russell, Daniel Bruederle, Borys Wrobel, Chiara Bartolozzi, Elisabetta Chicca, Daniel Sonnleithner, Thomas Clayton, Eero Lehtonen, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Yves Fregnac, Giacomo Indiveri, Paco Gómez, James Humble, Jun Haeng Lee, Kevin Brohan, Kopysova Irina, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Christian Mayr, Martin Coath, Paolo Motto Ros, Patrick Camilleri, Michael Pfeiffer, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Johannes Schemmel, Simon Friedmann, André van Schaik

Leader: Emre Neftci

Goal: Hands on workgroup on processing sensory output of an event--based vision sensor using populations of VLSI spiking neurons. Using persistant activity states to perform state-dependent computation. Explore possibilities of learning transitions between states.

Material: Neuromorphic setup consisting of recurrently connected multi--neuron chips (up to 2x2048 + 1x128 neurons with plastic synapses) implementing a soft WTA and an event--based vision sensor.

Major challenges: learning state-transitions, extracting features from DVS camera, which features to extract from DVS, how to compute using more than two features (not trivial!), improve performance (cope with mismatch)...

This workgroup will strongly overlap with the Gestures recognition workgroup. Depending on the number of participants, these two workgroups will be merged

Binding by Synchronization

Members: Alexander Russell, Johannes Bill, Daniel Bruederle, Borys Wrobel, Chiara Bartolozzi, Elisabetta Chicca, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dylan Richard Muir, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Florian Jug, Francesco Galluppi, Yves Fregnac, Giacomo Indiveri, Jenia Jitsev, Junmei Zhu, Alexandra Landsman, Nikola Markov, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Nuno Costa, Ernst Niebur, Jason Rolfe, Roman Bauer, Ryad Benosman, Sabina Pfister, Salvador Dura, Shih-Chii Liu, Siohoi Ieng, Sebastian Jeltsch, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Emre Neftci, Ueli Rutishauser, Jean-Jacques Slotine

Non-linear contraction theory is a very powerful tool for constructing large-scale systems and determining boundary conditions for a well-behaving system. One feature of this theory is that boundary conditions for the synchronization of the units composing a network may be analytically determined.

In this workgroup we will discuss and implement networks using non-linear contraction theory.

Stimulus Specific Adaptation(SSA) - Computational models and aVLSI implementation

Members: Chiara Bartolozzi, Elisabetta Chicca, Daniel Sonnleithner, Thomas Clayton, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Sadique Sheik, Salvador Dura, Sergio Davies, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Sadique Sheik, Robert Mill

We will discuss computational models for SSA , device experiments and implement them on aVLSI (perfect test for robustness!). We will compare the results with Physiological data. We can further discuss, how SSA could play a role in "novelty detection".

Abstract modeling of auditory streaming

Members: Tamas Bohm, Fabio Stefanini, Heather Ames, Mohammad Abdollahi, Jason Rolfe, Roman Bauer, Sadique Sheik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Tamas Bohm, Robert Mill

Our work would point towards creating an abstract computational model of auditory stream segregation. The model we envisage consists of multiple, hierarchical layers from cochlear processing, through feature extraction and the formation of alternative organizations, to competition between these alternatives. We would focus on exploring different approaches to modeling the formation of alternative organizations (sets of auditory streams) from sound events (either on a discrete or continuous scale).

Spike based learning of acoustic events: towards sound recognition

Members: Borys Wrobel, Daniel Sonnleithner, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Giacomo Indiveri, Heather Ames, James Humble, Alexandra Landsman, Martin Coath, Olivier Bichler, Patrick Camilleri, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Ryad Benosman, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Sergio Davies, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Fabio Stefanini

In this workshop our attempt is to understand if and how a spike-based learning algorithm implemented in our chips can be used in order to classify different sounds, e.g. a word in a speech, a particular noise in a set, a pure tone in a set. Spike trains can be provided by a cochlear model (software or hardware) with spiking output. In order to achieve this it is important to understand what is the role of timing of spikes in relation to the laerning algorithm implemented.

(Neuromorphic) Attention

Members: Anne van Rossum, Alexander Russell, Bernhard Vogginger, Chiara Bartolozzi, Christoph Krautz, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dylan Richard Muir, Eero Lehtonen, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Francesco Rea, Giacomo Indiveri, Paco Gómez, Heather Ames, Helmut Puhr, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Massimiliano Versace, Michael Unger, Michael Kai Petersen, Mika Laiho, Ernst Niebur, Piotr Dudek, Alexander Rast, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Salvador Dura, Stephen Hart, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Daniel Sonnleithner

We will investigate how attention might be implemented with the help of neuromorphic hardware.

Therefore a Selective Attention Chip (SAC) setup is provided. We are going to discuss different models of attention and see if we can use them together with the mentioned hardware.

Using SpiNNaker for Real-World Neural Applications

Members: Andreas Hartel, Adrian Whatley, Alexander Russell, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Daniel Sonnleithner, David Lester, Thomas Clayton, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Jorg Conradt, Kevin Brohan, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Mihai A. Petrovici, Paolo Motto Ros, Johannes Partzsch, Piotr Dudek, Alexander Rast, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Johannes Schemmel, Sergio Davies, Simon Friedmann, Sebastian Jeltsch, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik

Leader: Alexander Rast

We will introduce the SpiNNaker chip and prototype board in depth and attempt to create an I/O interface to AER sensors and chips from other groups. We will develop various neural models to run a dynamic neural system that receives input from real-world sensors and produces real or simulated behaviour. Emphasis will be on exploiting the universal capabilities of the SpiNNaker chip to explore different possible neural models with varying levels of biological realism.

Factor Maps - an Event Based Vision Project

Members: Charles Clercq, Chiara Bartolozzi, Christoph Krautz, Matthew Cook, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dennis Göhlsdorf, Dylan Richard Muir, Cesar Renno-Costa, Eero Lehtonen, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, Florian Jug, Giacomo Indiveri, Paco Gómez, James Humble, Jorg Conradt, Jun Haeng Lee, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Lars Buesing, Christian Mayr, Mika Laiho, Nuno Costa, Paolo Motto Ros, Patrick Camilleri, Piotr Dudek, Paul Rogister, Jason Rolfe, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Ryad Benosman, Saber Moradi, Johannes Schemmel, Shih-Chii Liu, Siohoi Ieng, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Matthew Cook, Florian Jug, Christoph Krautz

Biological neural circuits often consist of recurrently connected modules, with each module’s units encoding a different aspect of the modeled world. No engineering principles for constructing circuits in this biological pattern are available.

We will explore this biological approach to circuit synthesis by creating a network of interacting visual maps whose goal is to find a scene interpretation consistent with the input. This workgroup will benefit from preliminary work done by the leaders of this workgroup.

A gestures recognition system using neuromorphic chips

Members: Andreas Hartel, Alexander Russell, Johannes Bill, Bernhard Vogginger, Charles Clercq, Elisabetta Chicca, Daniel Sonnleithner, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Giacomo Indiveri, Jun Haeng Lee, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Mika Laiho, Mohammad Abdollahi, Neeraj Kumar Mandloi, Paolo Motto Ros, Michael Pfeiffer, Sadique Sheik, Simon Friedmann, Siohoi Ieng, Sebastian Jeltsch, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Fabio Stefanini, Emre Neftci

In this workshop we will study the problem of learning sequences of spike trains in the context gestures recognition. The aim is to build a system which recognizes gestures using a spiking silicon retina and neuromorphic chips with a spike-based learning algorithm implemented in VLSI. The idea takes inspiration from previous studies on memorization of pathways on a 2 dimensional space using coupled WTA networks.

Extracting a word from speech using cochlear spikes

Members: Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Giacomo Indiveri, Heather Ames, Helmut Puhr, James Humble, Mohammad Abdollahi, Patrick Camilleri, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Sadique Sheik, Shih-Chii Liu, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Shih-Chii Liu, Mohammad Abdollahi

In this workgroup we will look at how whether we can extract a particular word in speech independent of the speaker. In particular, we will see how we can do this based on spike outputs from a cochlear chip or software model.

Perception-Cognition-Action Loops in Spike-Based Robotic Systems

Members: Anne van Rossum, Alexander Russell, Bernhard Vogginger, Charles Clercq, Matthew Cook, Christoph Posch, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dennis Göhlsdorf, Cesar Renno-Costa, Eero Lehtonen, Encarni Marcos, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Florian Jug, Paco Gómez, Jorg Conradt, Jun Haeng Lee, Junmei Zhu, Alexandra Landsman, Christian Mayr, Mika Laiho, Mohammad Abdollahi, Neeraj Kumar Mandloi, Bernhard Nessler, Paolo Motto Ros, Piotr Dudek, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Verschure, Paul Rogister, Jason Rolfe, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Simon Friedmann, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Jorg Conradt, Tobi Delbruck, Matthew Cook

This workgroup will discuss possible architectures and algorithms which would allow spike-based sensory signals (e.g., from silicon retinae or cochleae) to be categorized into higher level interpretations (which may be learned/abstracted from prior experiences). These would enable mobile robots to understand and reason about their perceptions and purposefully act in their environment.

Vision : links between Geometry and Spikes

Members: Bernhard Vogginger, Charles Clercq, Christoph Krautz, Christoph Posch, Daniel Sonnleithner, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, Francesco Rea, Yves Fregnac, Paco Gómez, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Kopysova Irina, Alexandra Landsman, Mika Laiho, Paolo Motto Ros, Paul Rogister, Jason Rolfe, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Siohoi Ieng, Sylvia Schroeder, Tobi Delbruck, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Ryad Benosman, Chiara Bartolozzi, Siohoi Ieng

The aim of this work group is to discuss the possible links between geometry and retina's cells activities. The goal is to see how to set a general framework linking geometric computational vision to current biological studies and latest neuromorphic developments. Experimental work could be carried out in stereovision applications, sensors calibration.... People unfamiliar with geometry are welcome!

DVS Machine Vision

Members: Adrian Whatley, Alexander Russell, Matthew Cook, Christoph Posch, Daniel Sonnleithner, Cesar Renno-Costa, Eero Lehtonen, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, Paco Gómez, Helmut Puhr, Jorg Conradt, Jun Haeng Lee, Mika Laiho, Neeraj Kumar Mandloi, Paolo Motto Ros, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Rogister, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Sergio Davies, Simon Friedmann, Siohoi Ieng, Tobi Delbruck

Leader: Tobi Delbruck, Ryad Benosman, Siohoi Ieng

This workgroup intends projects around the development of  Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) silicon retina applications, using  jAER. Projects may include reconstruction, software gesture recognition, automagic calibration, fast robotic mimicry.

Event-driven selective attention on the humanoid robot iCub

Members: Anne van Rossum, Charles Clercq, Daniel Sonnleithner, Encarni Marcos, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Rea, Giacomo Indiveri, Heather Ames, Jorg Conradt, Michael Hofstätter, Mika Laiho, Ernst Niebur, Paolo Motto Ros, Piotr Dudek, Paul Rogister, Saber Moradi, Stephen Hart, Siohoi Ieng, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Francesco Rea

The head of the humanoid robot iCub equipped with two DVS sensors and two traditional digital cameras will be used to merge event-driven visual information on the existing attentive system of the robot. We will study diverse possible approaches for using event-driven vision for driving the iCub attentive system and control eye movements. The task will have to take into account the constrains typically present in robotic applications.

Haptic Vision

Members: Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, Giacomo Indiveri, Kevin Brohan, Ernst Niebur, Paolo Motto Ros, Piotr Dudek, Tobi Delbruck

Leader: Paolo Motto Ros, Eros Pasero

Goal: To integrate a silicon retina into en existing prototype of a reader device for blind people, replacing the existing input peripheral but also part of the software. We would like to design and develop an innovative appliance able to make the visually impaired user detect and understand graphical object printed on a sheet in a natural way. The same approach could be beneficial also for the existing OCR application. It could be a valuable opportunity to compare classical computation approach to neuromorphic engineering.

Material: A prototype equipped with a tactile transducer and a webcam, the already developed software application (to be extended), also able to rely on speech sythesis. The software runs under WinXP, is developed in C++ using VS2005. It is almost all designed using open source software, except for the speech synthesis (we use Loquendo libraries). Currently the input peripheral is a common USB webcam. The software integrates the LUA (a simple dynamic interpreted language) virtual machine, so it is not strictly required to know C++.

Symbol recognition using Attractor Neural Networks

Members: Cesar Renno-Costa, Federico Corradi, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Patrick Camilleri

Leader: Federico Corradi

Goal: Recognize a symbol displayed to the retina using an attractor neural network implemented on the neuromorphic chip. By corrupting the symbol, one could also check out the error correcting properties of said attractor neural network.

Material: Neuromorphic chip (FLANN) with 128 LIF neurons and 16,386 plastic bi-stable synapses and an asynchronous silicon retina (16,384 pixels) (tmpdiff128).

Challenges: Finding a smart mapping/filter scheme to convert the retina spikes into usable information for the neuromorphic spiking network chip.

Biomimetic Robotics - A Synthetic Forager

Members: Cesar Renno-Costa, Encarni Marcos, Paul Verschure

Leader: Cesar Renno-Costa, Encarni Marcos

Goal: Use a mobile device to behave on an event-based task at an external environment.

Material: Mobile Bluetooth robot with proximity sensors and camera.

Challenges: Integrate sensor information into discrete representation that can be used by event-based learning systems.

Discussion Groups

Cortical Hierarchies

Members: Borys Wrobel, Jenia Jitsev, Junmei Zhu, Alexandra Landsman, Marie-Alice Gariel, Nikola Markov, Michael Unger, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Verschure, Roman Bauer, Sabina Pfister, Salvador Dura, Stephane Lallee, Sylvia Schroeder, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Marie-Alice Gariel

While it is well known that the cortical interareal network can be described as hierarchical, models so far were based on binary (presence or absence of projections) and disparate data. With extensive new measures of strength and hierarchical distance of projections, it is now possible to refine these models and propose a wider framework for hierarchy (or possibly hierarchies).

On the menu: possible methods of determination of the hierarchical structure, primarily statistical modelling (based on generalized linear models) and optimization of a cost function (heuristics and more bruteforce approaches), but also any other method the members of the group can think of! Related aspects of hierarchy will also be discussed: indeterminacy, unicity, irregularities...

What Computational Paradigms for Synthetic Spiking Neurons?

Members: Alexander Russell, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Matthew Cook, Daniel Sonnleithner, Thomas Clayton, Dylan Richard Muir, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Paco Gómez, Helmut Puhr, James Humble, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Lars Buesing, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Christian Mayr, Michael Unger, Michael Kai Petersen, Mihai A. Petrovici, Bernhard Nessler, Olivier Bichler, Paolo Motto Ros, Piotr Dudek, Paul Verschure, Paul Rogister, Jason Rolfe, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Johannes Schemmel, Sylvia Schroeder, Stefan Habenschuss, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Emre Neftci

In theory, there are several ways to implement a Turing complete system: Turing Machines, network of Winner-Take-Alls, Cellular Automata, and many more. But which ones can be implemented in synthetic spiking neurons ( i.e. Software or Hardware) more or less efficiently? What are the requirements for the neurons/synapses? What should the basic building block be? Which coding scheme is the most efficient?

This discussion group is intended to gather what models are out there, and discuss them!

Sensory Integration in Spiking Neurons

Members: Anne van Rossum, Alexander Russell, Johannes Bill, Borys Wrobel, Charles Clercq, Christoph Posch, Cesar Renno-Costa, Eero Lehtonen, Encarni Marcos, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Paco Gómez, James Humble, Jorg Conradt, Jun Haeng Lee, Kevin Brohan, Lars Buesing, Nikola Markov, Michael Kai Petersen, Paolo Motto Ros, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Rogister, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Ryad Benosman, Saber Moradi, Sadique Sheik, Salvador Dura, Sergio Davies, Shih-Chii Liu, Siohoi Ieng, Stefan Habenschuss, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Shih-Chii Liu, Sadique Sheik

We would like to discuss how different sensory inputs are represented, gathered and integrated to extract meaning and identify entities in the brain. The idea is to bring together and discuss the models that exist and discuss further possibilities. In particular, we would like to discuss about models with spike coding.

WTA, Population Codes, Gain Fields, and Factor Graphs

Members: Johannes Bill, Bernhard Vogginger, Borys Wrobel, Chiara Bartolozzi, Christoph Krautz, Matthew Cook, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dejan Pecevski, Dennis Göhlsdorf, Dylan Richard Muir, Eero Lehtonen, Elmar Rückert, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Florian Jug, Francesco Galluppi, Giacomo Indiveri, Helmut Puhr, Jenia Jitsev, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Lars Buesing, Michael Unger, Michael Kai Petersen, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Nuno Costa, Bernhard Nessler, Piotr Dudek, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Verschure, Rodney Douglas, Jason Rolfe, Roman Bauer, Ryad Benosman, Sadique Sheik, Salvador Dura, Johannes Schemmel, Shih-Chii Liu, Sylvia Schroeder, Stefan Habenschuss, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Matthew Cook, Florian Jug, Christoph Krautz

We would like to join forces in discussing how WTA, population codes, gain fields, and factor graphs relate to each other. People with strong opinions on some of these topics are very welcome.

Memristive synapses and computing schemes

Members: Andreas Hartel, Alexander Russell, Bernhard Vogginger, Charles Clercq, Matthew Cook, Daniel Sonnleithner, Thomas Clayton, Eero Lehtonen, Fabio Stefanini, Giacomo Indiveri, Heather Ames, Jorg Conradt, Jun Haeng Lee, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Mika Laiho, Mohammad Abdollahi, Olivier Bichler, Johannes Partzsch, Piotr Dudek, Saber Moradi, Johannes Schemmel, Tobi Delbruck, André van Schaik

Leader: Mika Laiho, Eero Lehtonen

Possibilities, limitations and modeling of two-terminal stateful devices (memristors) are discussed. The most natural forms of computing with memristors are investigated, with the emphasis on different STDP learning alternatives and stateful implication logic. We aim to provoke discussion on the possible ways to take advantage of memristor, the fourth passive circuit element, as a part of a neuromorphic system.

Cognition -- How would we know it if we saw it?

Members: Adrian Whatley, Alexander Russell, Borys Wrobel, Christoph Krautz, Matthew Cook, Daniel Sonnleithner, Dennis Göhlsdorf, David Lester, Dylan Richard Muir, Eero Lehtonen, Emre Neftci, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Paco Gómez, Helmut Puhr, Jorg Conradt, Jenia Jitsev, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Lars Buesing, Nikola Markov, Christian Mayr, Michael Unger, Michael Kai Petersen, Mika Laiho, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Ernst Niebur, Johannes Partzsch, Piotr Dudek, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Verschure, Alexander Rast, Rodney Douglas, Paul Rogister, Jason Rolfe, Roman Bauer, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Ryad Benosman, Sadique Sheik, Stephen Hart, Stefan Habenschuss, André van Schaik, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Matthew Cook, Eero Lehtonen

People are always talking about building cognitive this and that. What can it mean? Different fields have different answers to the question "what is cognition?" Let's see if we can come up with a definition that makes sense in the context of building simple neurally inspired systems (i.e. neuromorphic engineering).

Development & evolution of cognitive systems

Members: Adrian Whatley, Anne van Rossum, Borys Wrobel, Francesco Galluppi, Jorg Conradt, Junmei Zhu, Alexandra Landsman, Marie-Alice Gariel, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Nikola Markov, Michael Unger, Michael Pfeiffer, Alexander Rast, Paul Rogister, Roman Bauer, Sabina Pfister, Stephane Lallee, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Sabina Pfister, Borys Wrobel

We will discuss ways to build biologically-inspired systems ('brains', 'bodies'), combining various time scales: behaviour, development and evolution. We will think about combining various software approaches that have been proposed in artificial life (including artificial embryology), evolutionary biology and computational neuroscience. This discussion group has been set up on Tuesday after the 'Non-conventional/non-von Neumann' session, so we will take it slow. We will allow a few days before we pick up a time slot for a brainstorming meeting (probably beginning of the second week) and then we will see if indeed there is enough interest to meet again. We also plan to do a short tutorial on the cx3d platform.

Daisy closure and discussion workgroup

Members: Christoph Krautz, Matthew Cook, Dylan Richard Muir, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Florian Jug, Jenia Jitsev, Junmei Zhu, Nikola Markov, Nuno Costa, Rodney Douglas, Roman Bauer, Ueli Rutishauser, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Dylan Richard Muir (Daisy consortium)

Daisy is over -- but the patch system lives on! I would like to discuss the possibility of writing a book: collecting our advances in knowledge of the Daisy architecture, what it means for cortex and what it brings to cortex. All are welcome, not just Daisy people.

FET FlagShip Initiative

Members: Anne van Rossum, Borys Wrobel, Matthew Cook, David Lester, Thomas Clayton, Eros Pasero, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Yves Fregnac, Giacomo Indiveri, Jorg Conradt, Junmei Zhu, Karlheinz Meier, Björn Kindler, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Massimiliano Versace, Michael Kai Petersen, Nuno Costa, Olivier Bichler, Piotr Dudek, Michael Pfeiffer, Paul Verschure, Alexander Rast, Saber Moradi, Johannes Schemmel, Shih-Chii Liu, Tobi Delbruck, Thomas Wennekers, André van Schaik

Leader: Karlheinz Meier, Giacomo Indiveri

A Neuromorphic Flagship?

Recreational Groups

Discover SCUBA Diving Group

Members: Alexander Russell, Daniel Bruederle, Dejan Pecevski, Cesar Renno-Costa, Eero Lehtonen, Elmar Rückert, Encarni Marcos, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Federico Corradi, James Humble, Jun Haeng Lee, Junmei Zhu, Kopysova Irina, Alexandra Landsman, Nikola Markov, Mika Laiho, Mohammad Abdollahi, Mihai A. Petrovici, Nuno Costa, Ernst Niebur, Paolo Motto Ros, Michael Pfeiffer, Rafael Paz-Vicente, Sadique Sheik, Salvador Dura, Xavier Hinaut

Leader: Daniel B. Fasnacht

We plan to do some "Discover SCUBA Diving" events for people who have never been diving. Even though the Mediterranean Sea is not especially warm in spring, Capo Caccia is definitely an extremely good diving site. So if you are interested in discovering / learning something new, sign up here for further information!

There will be multiple SCUBA Instructors in Capo Caccia which will make sure you have a great first underwater experience, including me (Daniel B. Fasnacht... ;-)

SCUBA Diving Group

Members: Christoph Posch, Emre Neftci, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Mihai A. Petrovici, Sabina Pfister, Sergio Davies, André van Schaik

Leader: Daniel B. Fasnacht, Sabina Pfister

As already mentioned above, Capo Caccia a great dive site! It has some of the coolest caves you can find in the Mediterranean Sea, and due to the area being a natural reserve, also quite nice underwater flora and fauna. The fascinating caves in the cliff lines across the bay are also suitable for people with no cave-diving experience, as they are shallow and very close to surface, with almost no possibility to loose orientation.

If you are a licensed diver and interested in getting further information about diving at our workshop site, sign up to this group!

For further information about the dive site and even cave-maps, check out:  http://karibu.it/eng/capocaccia/

Wine Tasting Group

Members: Andreas Hartel, Adrian Whatley, Anne van Rossum, Alexander Russell, Christoph Posch, David Lester, Encarni Marcos, Fabio Stefanini, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Francesco Galluppi, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Alexandra Landsman, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Christian Mayr, Michael Kai Petersen, Nuno Costa, Johannes Partzsch, Sabina Pfister, Salvador Dura, Johannes Schemmel, Simon Friedmann, Stephane Lallee, Xavier Hinaut

Leaders: Daniel B. Fasnacht, David Lester

Please refer to wine09 for our last year's wine tasting schedule and results...

Climbing Group

Members: Elmar Rückert, Encarni Marcos, Emre Neftci, Mihai A. Petrovici, Alexander Rast, Sebastian Jeltsch, Stefan Habenschuss

Leaders: Alexander Rast

Those of you who are climbers may be interested to know that we have an important Sardinian climbing area in our own "back yard" - Casarotto. The area offers bolted climbing on limestone with rock quality ranging from superb to extremely dubious (cemented rubble, anyone?) Grades range from 5a through to 7c+ - with at least one 8a. We'll see what we can do! I'm comfortable to about 7a, 7b can be anywhere from stiff to impossible, 7c's are projects. Please bring what gear you can; ropes and draws obviously the most useful.

UK General Election Group

Members: Adrian Whatley, David Lester, Thomas Clayton, Daniel B. Fasnacht, Kevin Brohan, Piotr Dudek, Alexander Rast

Leaders: Adrian Whatley

For all those interested in UK politics. The aim of this group is simply to follow coverage of the UK General Election via the web, or good old fashioned tele, or whatever we can set up, until the early hours of the morning of 7th May, or until we get fed up of hearing "I, Blah Blah, being the acting returning officer for Blah, hereby give notice that the total number of votes given for each candidate at the election was as follows" :-)

Poker group

Members: Anne van Rossum, Eero Lehtonen, Alexandra Landsman, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Michael Pfeiffer, Salvador Dura, Tobi Delbruck, Xavier Hinaut

Leaders: Florian Jug, Christoph Krautz, Tobi Delbruck

Poker players coordinate here.

Caves group (and even more caves!)

Members: Bernhard Vogginger, Fabio Stefanini, Jun Haeng Lee, Junmei Zhu, Kevin Brohan, Marc-Olivier Schwartz, Michael Unger, Michael Kai Petersen, Mohammad Abdollahi, Ernst Niebur, Paolo Motto Ros, Paul Rogister, Salvador Dura, Siohoi Ieng

Leaders: Kevin Brohan, Fabio Stefanini

Update: two cave groups have been collapsed here!

There are quite impressive caves around the hotel and on the other side of the bay. Let's visit them! Click for details.

Boat trip, just a boat trip

Members: Fabio Stefanini, Jun Haeng Lee, Salvador Dura, Siohoi Ieng

Leaders: Fabio Stefanini

If more than 5 people (and less than 20) is interested in doing a trip with the inflatable boat please subscribe immediately. We can organize a trip on open water on Sunday (and possibly get lost forever and never come back!)

Chess

Members: Anne van Rossum, Federico Corradi, James Humble, Mohammad Abdollahi, Xavier Hinaut

Leaders: Robert Mill

Please get in contact for a game. If a few people are interested, I'll see if I can pair them up, or organise a mini-tournament.

Boars Photo Hunting Contest

Members: Fabio Stefanini, Massimiliano Versace, Paul Rogister

Leaders: Fabio Stefanini

BPH Contest just started. What is it about? All around the hotel there are many wild boars living their wild life peacefully. They come close by the hotel very often and many people had already Experiences of the Third Kind. If you see them take a picture. At the end of the Workshop a comittee will judge the best boars picture of CNE2010. Any camera is valid (yes, DVS included); fake boars are not allowed; dead boars are not allowed.

Binaural Audio of Coastline

Members: Thomas Wennekers

Leaders: Thomas Wennekers

A binaural recording from the coastline. Use headphones or earplugs to listen. Enjoy Christoph von der Malsburg at about t=30min.

Chocolate Tasting

Members: Adrian Whatley, Eero Lehtonen, Alexandra Landsman, Michael Pfeiffer, Alexander Rast, Paul Rogister

Leaders: Alexander Rast

Sardinian wine may be interesting: how about Sardinian chocolate? Alex Rast (that's me) is a semi-professional chocolate taster and consultant (see  http://www.seventypercent.com if you want to find out more). I've managed to pick up some chocolate to try and will guide you through the process of tasting. Then we can pick our favourites among the selections. Look at the Wiki for the time.

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