“By emulating the way the brain interacts with the world, the goal of neuromorphic computing is to create intelligent machines that can reason, learn, and adapt as humans do.”
The central research focus of the NeuRonICS lab is to understand the principles of brain computation and to apply this understanding in electronic systems for building intelligent systems. Engineers have a lot to learn about computation from the brain, which has evolved over billions of years to solve difficult engineering problems. Efficient, parallel, low-power computation is a hallmark of the brain, and to be able to replicate this in electronic systems is one of the goals of the lab. Research interests of the lab span a broad range of subjects such as ASIC/FPGA VLSI design, analog IC design, brain-inspired algorithms, computational neuroscience, machine learning, and event-based sensors.
One of the most rewarding aspects of working in the NeuRonICS lab is the interdisciplinary nature of our research and collaborators. Researchers will get an opportunity to collaborate with world leaders in the field of neuromorphic engineering. At IISc, our lab works closely with various departments and centres such as the ECE, Centre for Neuroscience, and Centre for Brain research.
Media Coverage and Blogs
NeuRonICS at ISCAS’24
The NeuRonICS Lab led by Chetan Singh Thakur from IISc Bangalore showcased impressive projects at ISCAS2024, emphasizing expertise in neuromorphic computing and intelligent hardware systems:
🔹 Processing-in-Interconnect (Pi²) Inspired by Dendritic Computation – Presented by Madhuvanthi Srivatsav R at the PhD forum.
🔹 A Stride Towards Low Power Scalable Analog Computing – Presented by Ankita Nandi at the PhD Forum.
🔹 Real-time Audio and Visual Inference on the RAMAN tinyML Accelerator – Live demonstration by Adithya Krishna.
🔹 tinyRadar: LSTM-based Real-time Multi-target Human Activity Recognition for Edge Computing – Regular paper authored by Satyapreet Singh, Shreyansh Anand, Adithya MD, Dasari Sai Nikitha, and Chetan Singh Thakur, presented by Satyapreet at the conference.
Neuromorphic Sensing And Computing Architecture For Next-Gen AI Hardware Workshop
Organized by the NeuRonICS Lab, we delved into the world of innovation and intelligence with enlightening talks by speakers André van Schaik, Shantanu Chakrabartty, Chandra Sekhar Seelamantula, Chiranjib Bhattacharyya Piotr Dudek, Dhireesha Kudithipudi, Madhuvanthi Srivatsav R.
VLSID’24: PhD Forum Award
Madhuvanthi Srivatsav R, from the NeuRonICS lab was awarded the PhD Forum Award for her poster presentation on the project “Processing in interconnect (pi^2) inspired by dendritic computation” at the VLSID’24 conference.
VLSID’24: Design Contest Award
Project: “Audio keyword detection using neuromorphic cochlea” with a live demonstration by Ashwin Rajesh (Presenter), Venkata Likhith L (intern from IIITDM Kancheepuram), and Shanmuga Sai Badrinatha Reddy Bana (intern from IIITDM Kancheepuram).
VLSID’24: IC Chip Design Contest Award
Project: “ARYABHAT” (Analog Reconfigurable technologY and Bias-scalable Hardware for AI Tasks) by Chetan Singh Thakur, Shantanu Chakrabartty, Pratik Kumar, Ankita Nandi (Presenter), Ayan Saha, and Kurupati Sai Pruthvi Teja.
APCCAS’23
The team from the NeuRonICS Lab working on the RAMAN Project was awarded the Runner-Up award for showcasing the demo titled ‘TinyML Acoustic Classification using RAMAN Accelerator and Neuromorphic Cochlea’ as a part of the design contest organized during the IEEE APCCAS Conference 2023. The team was represented by Shankaranarayanan at the conference.
VLSID’23 Conference
Pratik Kumar from the NeuRonICS Lab was awarded Runner-Up in the Student Research Forum contest at the VLSID’23 Conference (36th International Conference on VLSI Design & 22nd International Conference on Embedded Systems ).
Young Scientist India
Pratik Kumar from the NeuRonICs Lab was selected as Young Scientist India for the inter-governmental 2nd SCO-YSC (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – Young Scientist Conclave)’23.
National Winner at the Falling Wall Lab India | IITH Event
Pratik Kumar from the NeuRonICs Lab is the National Winner and Global Finalist at the Falling Wall Lab India | IITH Hyderabad Event. He has been invited to present his pitch in the Berlin Science Summit on Nov 7th, 2022.
Presentation Title: Breaking the Wall of Analog AI Accelerator Technology
Talk at the tinyML Neuromorphic Engineering Forum
Dr. Chetan Singh Thakur has been invited to give a talk at the first tinyML Neuromorphic Engineering Forum on 27th September 2022. During this event, key experts from academia and industry will introduce the main trends in neuromorphic hardware, algorithms, sensors, systems, and applications.
National Level Startup Grant
Dr. Daniel has led JK Nanosolutions (JKN Nanosolutions Pvt Ltd) to be selected as one of the winning startups at National Level with a grant support of 20 Lakhs from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt of India to implement a pilot scale plant at Panaji, Goa.
IISC-IBM best research presentation Award 2022
Pratik Kumar from NeuRonICS lab has been awarded the best presentation award at IBM Day held on 22nd September 2022 at IISc.
Poster title: “Analog AI Accelerator and System On Chip For Edge Computing”
Neuromorphic tinyML workshop hosted jointly by IISc and the Washington University in St. Louis.
A two day hands-on Neuromorphic tinyML workshop was conducted on June 10th and 11th 2022, hosted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) jointly with the Washington University in St. Louis.
Workshop details: Click here
The following talks were held during the workshop:
1. Prof. Barani Raman: Olfactory Pattern Recognition in a Tiny Insect Brain
2. Prof. Shantanu Chakrabartty: Neuromorphic tinyML design using
Sparsity and Energy Balance Principles
3. Prof. Arun SP: How does the brain crack CAPTCHAs?
4. Prof. Chetan Singh Thakur: Neuromorphic tinyML Systems for Energy-Efficient Edge Devices
Supported by: SPARC DST IISc WashU
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