Brain to brain communication, memristors... the rise of intelligent machines?

Robert Sobot, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Abstract: At the beginning of the 21st century, we are heading into a new technological revolution. This time, convergence of nanotechnologies and neuroscience is set to lead the next wave of technology, which is expected to influence our lives more than any of the previous ones. As it already has happened several times throughout the history, the new technology is enabling a quantum leap in our scientific advance.

A full century was needed for all important bits and pieces required for the information technology to come together. In this talk some of the most important technological milestones in the microchip development are summarized. Looking ahead, the current research opportunities in the field of neuroscience, more specifically biochip and brain to machine interface, are reviewed in respect to nanotechnology. Direct brain to brain communication seems to be out of the science fiction domain, but with memristors entering the scene the only questions remaining are: are we there yet and where are we heading?
 
About the speaker: Robert Sobot (M’96,) received the B.Sc. degree in engineering physics from the University of Belgrade (former Yugoslavia) in 1989, and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, in 1996 and 2005 respectively.
 
From 1996 to 2001 he was with PMC-Sierra Inc, Burnaby, developing CMOS mixed-signal integrated circuits for digital communications as a Team Leader. While with PMC-Sierra Inc., he was responsible for development of mixed-signal circuits such as phase-locked loops (PLL) and analog adaptive equalizers. Since 2006, he is with the University of Western Ontario, London ON, Canada  as an Assistant Professor. His current research interests include implantable analog integrated circuits, high-speed analog circuits in BiCMOS, wireless communication circuits, behavioral modeling, and software-defined radio. He holds one patent and has published a number of papers.