Artificial+Intelligence
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Nobel Laureates Brighten the Conversation at Global Leaders Forum
Two Nobel laureates who participated in the President’s Advisory Council joined the Global Leaders Forum as plenary speakers at KAIST on March 22. The forum highlighted the 25 events which were held during the Vision Week in celebration of the Vision 2031 Declaration Ceremony on March 20.
(President of KAIST Sung-Chul Shin, making welcoming remarks)
The Global Leaders Forum, titled “Scientific Discovery and Creativity,’ brought two prominent Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry. Dr. Klaus von Klitzing from the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research and Dr. Kurt Wüthrich from ETH Zürich inspired more than 300 audience members, including many young scholars, at Fusion Hall.
(Dr. Klaus von Klitzing from the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research)
Dr. Klitzing received the prize in 1985 in recognition of his discovery of the ‘integer quantum Hall effect.’ Meanwhile Dr. Wüthrich was awarded in 2002 for ‘"the development of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance methods for the determination of protein structures in solution."
Not only did they share their journey that led to the Nobel Prize, but also disclosed their personal stories that can relate to KAIST students as they pursue their scientific careers.
Many of the questions raised pertained to ‘creativity’ and ‘failure’: what is creativity and how to improve it and what is failure and how to deal with it. Dr. Klitzing replied, “If you want to go to a new direction, ask yourself inner question: what you really want to do.”
(From left: Dr. Klaus von Klitzing and Dr. Kurt Wüthrich from ETH Zürich)
Meanwhile, Dr. Wüthrich advised to set your goal first, before you start your research. “We tend to romanticize the creativity and it can be simulated. But it hardly does. It is important to know your goal first and set it appropriately.”
“Define failure as a process to learn something new, then you can comfortably move on,” he suggested in dealing with failure. “In many cases, the great achievement sometimes happens accidentally not intentionally. Maybe, you can see one success after 100 failures in the experiments. Nobody can predict the Nobel Prize quantitatively. Set the goal, and go to international conferences frequently if possible and evaluate where you are, compared with your international peers. Then, you can modify your goal and pursue what you want to do. Foremost, just enjoy your scientific work you are working with. That’s all. There’s no secret in the Nobel Prize.”
Since artificial intelligence is taking over people’s job, there’s also the question whether the concept of creativity should be modified due to technology development.
Regarding this question, Dr. von Klitzing made a strong point that the concept of creativity stays the same. He said that creativity is something new; in that sense, computers can never be creative because they use present, existing knowledge.
There was also a surprising moment. Dr. Wűthrich, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, physics, and mathematics, revealed to the audiences that his dream used to be a football player, not a scientist. He injured his foot, which prevented him from playing soccer, and that caused him to choose another career path.
Both laureates highlighted the importance of a positive attitude for their dreams and an open mindset for their colleagues and field of study.
Dr. von Klitzing pointed out that asking new questions can be the foundation of creativity. Hence, he urged students to be open minded and try to interact with one another.
Dr. Wűthrich commented that it is the job of professors to expand the view of students and guide younger generations. For young scientists, they should keep in mind that failure is something positive and that having an optimistic attitude is crucial.
(President of KAIST Sung-Chul Shin with the panelists and Dean of KAIST Academy Tae-Eog Lee)
(Interview of Dr. Kurt Wüthrich)
2018.03.27 View 4241 -
Ultra-Low Power Flexible Memory Using 2D Materials
(Professor Choi and Ph.D. candidate Jang)
KAIST research team led by Professor Sung-Yool Choi at School of Electrical Engineering and Professor Sung Gap Im at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering developed high-density, ultra-low power, non-volatile, flexible memory technology using 2D materials. The team used ultrathin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with atomic-scale thickness as the channel material and high-performance polymeric insulator film as the tunneling dielectric material. This research was published on the cover of Advanced Functional Materials on November 17. KAIST graduate Myung Hun Woo, a researcher at Samsung Electronics and Ph.D. candidate Byung Chul Jang are first authors.
The surge of new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cloud server led to the paradigm shift from processor-centric computing to memory-centric computing in the industry, as well as the increase in demand of wearable devices. This led to an increased need for high-density, ultra-low power, non-volatile flexible memory. In particular, ultrathin MoS2 as semiconductor material has been recently regarded as post-silicon material. This is due to its ultrathin thickness of atomic-scale which suppresses short channel effect observed in conventional silicon material, leading to advantages in high- density and low-power consumption. Further, this thickness allows the material to be flexible, and thus the material is applicable to wearable devices.
However, due to the dangling-bond free surface of MoS2 semiconductor material, it is difficult to deposit the thin insulator film to be uniform and stable over a large area via the conventional atomic layer deposition process. Further, the currently used solution process makes it difficult to deposit uniformly low dielectric constant (k) polymeric insulator film with sub-10 nm thickness on a large area, thus indicating that the memory device utilizing the conventional solution-processed polymer insulator film cannot be operated at low-operating voltage and is not compatible with photolithography.
The research team tried to overcome the hurdles and develop high-density, ultra-low power, non-volatile flexible memory by employing a low-temperature, solvent-free, and all-dry vapor phase technique named initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) process. Using iCVD process, tunneling polymeric insulator film with 10 nm thickness was deposited uniformly on MoS2 semiconductor material without being restricted by the dangling bond-free surface of MoS2. The team observed that the newly developed MoS2-based non-volatile memory can be operated at low-voltage (around 10V), in contrast to the conventional MoS2-based non-volatile memory that requires over 20V.
Professor Choi said, “As the basis for the Fourth Industrial revolution technologies including AI and IoT, semiconductor device technology needs to have characteristics of low-power and flexibility, in clear contrast to conventional memory devices.” He continued, “This new technology is significant in developing source technology in terms of materials, processes, and devices to contribute to achieve these characteristics.”
This research was supported by the Global Frontier Center for Advanced Soft Electronics and the Creative Materials Discovery Program by funded the National Research Foundation of Korea of Ministry of Science and ICT.
( Figure 1. Cover of Advanced Functional Materials)
(Figure 2. Concept map for the developed non-volatile memory material and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image for material cross-section )
2018.01.02 View 8552 -
MoU by KAIST-Seoul-Seocho-gu for the 4th Industrial Revolution
The opening ceremony of the Yangjae R&CD Innovation Hub was held in Seoul on December 5. More than 400 guests came to the ceremony from major institutes and companies that are based in the hub. KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin, the Mayor of Seoul, Won-soon Park, and the Mayor of Seocho-gu, Eun Hee Cho, signed an MoU for Seoul to be the leading city for successfully realizing the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The three organizations aim to cooperate with one another in various areas, including an economic boost for local job creation, technology development, and the promotion of projects through an industry-academia-institute network and fostering manpower.
Yangjae R&CD is the first facility specializing in and dedicated for Artificial Intelligence, which is the major topic of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The hub is comprised of enterprises specializing in AI, open co-work spaces, conference rooms, an open networking lounge, and spaces for fostering professional manpower. The hub will recruit additional enterprises and individuals who wish to move in. KAIST, an institute containing professors and researchers in the field of AI, and Modulabs, an organization becoming distinguished in AI research, will be in charge of operating the facility together.
The Yangjae R&CD Innovation Hub will operate a professional training program with participation from KAIST professors, which aims to produce 500 professionals in AI research and development by 2020. It will also provide inexpensive space as well as consultations and venture capital to startup and venture companies. It plans to find and foster 50 innovation companies by 2020.
In particular, the hub will operate a course for new AI business models 24 times over three years.
The hub also offers job consultations, academic conferences, public space for companies residing in the hub, a free GPU cluster server, technical training, seminars, forums, investment attraction, overseas expansion, and one-to-one technical consultations.
The Yangjae R&CD Zone is the place established for the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Seoul. R&CD is a concept combining Research and Development, Connection, Companies, Community, and Culture.
Seoul aims to create the Yangjae Zone as an urban innovation hub for facilitating industry-academia linkage as well as establishing a startup-settlement-growth technical ecosystem.
2017.12.11 View 8805 -
WEF-KAIST to Host a Forum Next April in Korea
(President Shin poses with Chairman Schwab at the meeting in Dubai)
President Sung-Chul Shin and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum agreed to co-host the Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum next April in Seoul during a meeting at the WEF Global Future Councils 2017 held in Dubai November 11-12.
Next April’s forum will be a follow-up event of the roundtable discussion KAIST and the WEF Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution co-hosted in October in Seoul. The two hosted the roundtable discussion titled “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Future of Jobs and Inclusive Growth in Korea.”
During the annual meeting in Dubai, Chairman Schwab expressed his deep appreciation to President Shin for hosting the roundtable discussion and proposed a full-fledged forum in partnership with KAIST once again, which Chairman Schwab will be scheduled to attend.
Chairman Schwab emphasized once again that Korea, who has the world’s top high-end technologies such as 5G telecommunications and semiconductor memory, will be the best fit to realize the Fourth Industrial Revolution most rapidly. He also expressed his great interest in the city of Daejeon in which is being considered to become the Special City for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The Global Future Council of the WEF is the interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking on the future. The annual council convenes in Dubai the most relevant and knowledgeable thought leaders from academia, government, business, and civil society to challenge conventional thinking and develop new insights and perspectives on key global systems, as well as the impact and governance of key emerging technologies. This year, more than 850 world-leading experts from 74 countries participated.
Under the theme of ‘Vision 2030,’ participants explored systematic changes in key areas such as energy, mobility, and infrastructure while reflecting on the impact of technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and other areas related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
2017.11.13 View 8436 -
KAIST to Host the Wearable Computer Contest
KAIST is hosting the ‘Wearable Computer Contest (WCC) 2017’ as a part of the Daejeon Science Festival from October 21 to 24 at Expo Park. This is the 13th contest in which college students can manufacture wearable computers on their own by combining their innovative ideas with state-of-art technology.
The total of 60 teams will participate in the contest. The winning team will receive a prize from the Minister of ICT and Science with a 3,000,000 won cash prize. ‘Wearable computers’ are devices worn on clothing so that users can have easier access to a computer. Recently, devices linked to smart phones are drawing significant attention because they allow users to conveniently experience various internet-based services.
“More recently, industries have shown a great interest in Artificial Intelligence as well as wearable computers. The Wearable Computer Contest will play a leading role in discovering talented people for the preparation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo from the School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST as well as the committee president of the WCC. “Daejeon will become a hub that encourages youths’ creativity for developing future technology,” he added.
With the mission of using Virtual Reality, this contest will showcase creative entries that applied VR devices. For more information about the contest, please visit the event website at http://www.ufcom.org.
2017.10.20 View 4620 -
KAIST Partners with WEF to Prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution
KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin and the Head of the World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Murat Sonmez, made a commitment to build cooperation in an active manner for addressing the ramifications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The two signed an MOU to cooperate in research in related fields on October 13 after holding a roundtable discussion titled “The Future of Jobs and Inclusive Growth in Korea”. It is the first partnership that the WEF has sealed with an academic institution.The roundtable discussion brought together distinguished guests from politics, non-profit civic organizations, academia, and enterprises including Daejeon Mayor Seon-Taek Kwon, Doosan Group Vice Chairman Lee Hyun-Soon, and Korean Venture Business Association President Ahn Keon-Joon.
During the news conference, President Shin said, “This event means a lot because it explores ways in which inclusive growth and job creation can be realized in Korea. To move forward in the new age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, every country needs to adopt appropriate new policies suitable for their specific market environments. KAIST will contribute to this process for Korea as well as for the global community.”
President Shin also said, “Korea has been a fast follower in previous industrial revolutions. Now, we have the momentum to seize the opportunities in the wake of this revolution. KAIST is dedicated to leading Korea into becoming a first mover in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by cooperating with the WEF.”
“Two decades later, we will live with considerable number of robots around us. It is possible that our societies in the future will consist of Homo sapiens and Robo sapiens. We need to create new jobs for Homo sapiens to prepare for a society that we will have to coexist with a new industrial tribe. Industries need continuing education to retrain workers for the ever evolving industrial landscape of the future,” President Shin emphasized.
Meanwhile, Sonmez pointed out that all stakeholders should participate in understanding the new industrial environment’s ramifications, saying “Societies, governments, public and private sectors, startups, and academia should co-design inclusive models through global efforts. Ethics and influences on the job market should also be taken into consideration.”
Sonmez said nine factors such as blockchains, internet of things, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cross-border data blow, drones, 3D printing, autonomous driving, the environment, and precision medicine will take center stage in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, In particular, he said that blockchains, which are a cybersecurity technology for online financial transactions, will bring even bigger changes than the ‘World Wide Web’ has done over the past three decades.
“To this end, we will have to work closely with major academic institutes. Through this partnership with KAIST, we will make the fruits of the new industrial environment benefit Koreans and Korean society,” Sonmez added.
2017.10.14 View 8140 -
Postech-KAIST Rivalry Heats Up at the 16th Science War
The 16th Postech-KAIST Science War wrapped up its two-day rivals’ duel at the KAIST campus in Daejeon on September 23. The event was established in 2002 to build a close tie between the two renowned universities for science and technology, and to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their talents and abilities.
On September 21, a convoy of red Postech buses carrying more than 650 athletes, students, and supporters arrived at the KAIST campus in Daejeon. The two teams competed in eight events including both online and sports event.
The night before the actual games started, cheerleading teams from both Postech Cheero and KAIST ELKA kicked off the event.
1st Day (September 22)
The hacking tournament marked the beginning of the Science War. The event started at nine in the morning. Both teams had to solve four problems within 12 hours.
While the fierce hacking competition was underway, school music bands, including Twenties Dreams, opened up the event with beautiful voices.
The soccer game took place in the university stadium. The KAIST soccer team brought the first win to KAIST, and was their second straight victory in soccer.
At the outdoor theatre, the evening games, including Artificial Intelligence and E-sports (League of Legend) began. After the E-sports, both KAIST’s and Postech’s music and dance clubs showed amazing performances adding more excitement to the event.
Another fun aspect of the event was the ‘evening street food market’. Food trucks and food booths were lined up to satisfy students’ hunger. Talso here were various game booths such as can bowling, balloon darts, and lamp DIY.
2nd Day (September 23)
The baseball team marked the second day of the Science War in the Undergraduate Field. The KAIST team won the game by six runs.
Science quizzes sealed the Postech-KAIST Science War. Although the KAIST team led at the beginning, the Postech team overtook them by getting bonus point answers correct. This game decided Postech winning this year’s Science War.
As a spin-off, a badminton game was held in the Sports Complex and the KAIST team beat the Postech team with ease.
Last but not least, a basketball game was held in the Sports Complex. In the last game of the Science War, the KAIST team wiped away the stain of last year’s defeat.
At the closing ceremony, famous rappers and school music clubs celebrated the last moments of the Science War.
(Jiwon Hwang, Public Relations of the 16th Science War Committee)
(The 16th Science War Committee)
Cheers to the students committees, participants, and supporters who put every ounce of their effort into successfully running the 16th Postech-KAIST Science War.
Day
Category
Winner
Day 1
Hacking
Postech
Soccer
KAIST
Artificial Intelligence
Postech
E-Sports (LoL)
Postech
Day 2
Baseball
KAIST
Science Quizzes
Postech
Badminton (spin-off)
KAIST
Basketball
KAIST
(The final tally for KAIST in the Science Wars was eight wins and six losses)
2017.09.27 View 5895 -
Semiconductor Patterning of Seven Nanometers Technology Using a Camera Flash
A research team led by Professor Sang Ouk Kim in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST has developed semiconductor manufacturing technology using a camera flash.
This technology can manufacture ultra-fine patterns over a large area by irradiating a single flash with a seven-nanometer patterning technique for semiconductors. It can facilitate the manufacturing of highly efficient, integrated semiconductor devices in the future.
Technology for the Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoTs), and big data, which are the major keys for the fourth Industrial Revolution, require high-capacity, high-performance semiconductor devices. It is necessary to develop lithography technology to produce such next-generation, highly integrated semiconductor devices.
Although related industries have been using conventional photolithography for small patterns, this technique has limitations for forming a pattern of sub-10 nm patterns.
Molecular assembly patterning technology using polymers has been in the spotlight as the next generation technology to replace photolithography because it is inexpensive to produce and can easily form sub-10 nm patterns. However, since it generally takes a long time for heat treatment at high-temperature or toxic solvent vapor treatment, mass production is difficult and thus its commercialization has been limited.
The research team introduced a camera flash that instantly emits strong light to solve the issues of polymer molecular assembly patterning. Using a flash can possibly achieve a semiconductor patterning of seven nanometers within 15 milliseconds (1 millisecond = 1/1,000 second), which can generate a temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius in several tens of milliseconds.
The team has demonstrated that applying this technology to polymer molecular assembly allows a single flash of light to form molecular assembly patterns.
The team also identified its compatibility with polymer flexible substrates, which are impossible to process at high temperatures. Through these findings, the technology can be applied to the fabrication of next-generation, flexible semiconductors.
The researchers said the camera flash photo-thermal process will be introduced into molecular assembly technology and this highly-efficiency technology can accelerate the realization of molecular assembly semiconductor technology.
Professor Kim, who led the research, said, “Despite its potential, molecular assembly semiconductor technology has remained a big challenge in improving process efficiency.” “This technology will be a breakthrough for the practical use of molecular assembly-based semiconductors.”
The paper was published in the international journal, Advanced Materials on August 21 with first authors, researcher Hyeong Min Jin and PhD candidate Dae Yong Park.
The research, sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT, was co-led Professor by Keon Jae Lee in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST, and Professor Kwang Ho Kim in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Pusan National University.
(1. Formation of semiconductor patterns using a camera flash)
(Schematic diagram of molecular assembly pattern using a camera flash)
(Self-assembled patterns)
2017.09.18 View 10674 -
KAIST AI Academy for LG CNS Employees
The Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering (Graduate School of Knowledge Service Engineering) at KAIST has collaborated with LG CNS to start a full-fledged KAIST AI Academy course after the two-week pilot course for employees of LG CNS, a Korean company specializing in IT services.
Approximately 100 employees participated in the first KAIST AI Academy course held over two weeks from August 24 to September 1. LG CNS is planning to enroll a total of 500 employees in this course by the end of the year.
Artificial intelligence is widely recognized as essential technology in various industries. In that sense, the KAIST AI Academy course was established to reinforce both the AI technology and the business ability of the company. In addition, it aims at leading employees to develop new business using novel technologies. The main contents of this course are as follows: i) discussing AI technology development and its influence on industries; ii) understanding AI technologies and acquiring the major technologies applicable to business; and iii) introducing cases of AI applications and deep learning.
During the course, seven professors with expertise in AI deep learning from the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering (Graduate School of Knowledge Service Engineering), including Jae-Gil Lee and Jinkyoo Park will be leading the class, including practical on-site educational programs.
Based on the accumulated business experience integrated with the latest AI technology, LG CNS has been making an effort to find new business opportunities to support companies that are hoping to make digital innovations.
The company aims to reinforce the AI capabilities of its employees and is planning to upgrade the course in a sustainable manner. It will also foster outside manpower by expanding the AI education to its clients who pursue manufacturing reinforcement and innovation in digital marketing.
Seong Wook Lee, the Director of the AI and Big Data Business Unit said, “As AI plays an important role in business services, LG CNS decided to open the KAIST AI Academy course to deliver better value to our clients by incorporating our AI-based business cases and KAIST’s up-to-date knowledge.”
2017.09.06 View 6931 -
Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2017
The World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and Global Future Councils in collaboration with Scientific American and its Board of Advisors announced the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017 on June 26 in Dalian, China where the 2017 Summer Davos Forum is being held. Each technology was chosen for its potential to improve lives, transform industries, and safeguard the planet.
The KAIST delegation, headed by President Sung-Chul Shin, is participating in the forum’s diverse activities including IdeasLab and GULF (Global University Leaders Forum). KAIST is the only Korean representative participating in the IdeasLab. KAIST Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, director of KAIST Institute, has served as a committee member of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies since 2012 and Global Future Council on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He also chairs the Global Future Council on Biotechnologies.
Professor Lee said, “Very diverse technological breakthroughs were proposed for the final list of candidates. We made the final selections through very in-depth discussion with experts in each field.
We focused on the technologies which have a level of maturity that will enable them to be adopted widely within three to five years."
The top 10 emerging technologies are
(courtesy from https://
www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/these-are-the-top-10-emerging-technologies-of-2017):
2017 10대 기술.
1. Liquid biopsies
Liquid biopsies mark a step forward in the fight against cancer. First, they are an alternative where traditional tissue-based biopsies are not possible. Second, they provide a full spectrum of information compared to tissue samples, which only reflect the information available in the sample. Lastly, by homing in on circulating-tumor DNA (ctDNA), genetic material that routinely finds its way from cancer cells into the bloodstream, disease progression or resistance to treatment can be spotted much faster than otherwise relying on symptoms or imaging.
2. Harvesting clean water from air
The ability to extract clean water from air is not new, however existing techniques require high moisture levels and a lot of electricity. This is changing. A team from MIT and University of California, Berkeley has successfully tested a process using porous crystals that convert the water using no energy at all.
3. Deep learning for visual tasks
Computers are beginning to recognize images better than humans. Thanks to deep learning, an emerging field of artificial intelligence, computer-vision technologies are increasingly being used in applications as diverse as driving autonomous vehicles, medical diagnostics, damage assessment for insurance claims, and monitoring water levels and crop yield.
4. Liquid fuels from sunshine
Can we mimic the humble leaf to create artificial photosynthesis to generate and store energy? The prospects are looking increasingly positive. The answer lies in using sunlight-activated catalysts to split water molecules into water and hydrogen, and then using the same hydrogen to convert CO2 into hydrocarbons.
5. The Human Cell Atlas
An international collaboration aimed at deciphering the human body, called the Human Cell Atlas, was launched in October 2016. The project aims to identify every cell type in every tissue; learn exactly which genes, proteins, and other molecules are active in each type, and the processes which control that activity.
6. Precision farming
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is providing farmers with a new set of tools to boost crop yield and quality while reducing water and chemical use. Sensors, robots, GPS, mapping tools, and data-analytics software are all being used to customize the care that plants need.
7. Affordable catalysts for green vehicles
Progress is being made on a promising zero-emission technology, the hydrogen-fed fuel cell. Progress to date has been stymied by the high price of catalysts which contain platinum. However, much progress has been made in reducing reliance on this rare and expensive metal, and the latest developments involve catalysts that include no platinum, or in some cases no metal at all.
8. Genomic vaccines
Vaccines based on genes are superior to more conventional ones in a number of ways. They are faster to manufacture, which is crucial during violent outbreaks. Compared to manufacturing proteins in cell cultures or eggs, producing genetic material should also be simpler and less expensive.
9. Sustainable design of communities
Applying green construction to multiple buildings at once has the potential to revolutionize the amount of energy and water we consume. Sending locally-generated solar power to a smart microgrid could reduce electricity consumption by half and reduce carbon emissions to zero if a project currently under development at the University of California at Berkeley goes according to plan.
10. Quantum computing
Quantum computers’ almost limitless potential has only ever been matched by the difficulty and cost of their construction. This explains why today the small ones that have been built have not yet managed to exceed the power of supercomputers. But progress is being made and in 2016 the technology firm IBM provided public access to the first quantum computer in the cloud.
2017.06.28 View 12245 -
Face Recognition System 'K-Eye' Presented by KAIST
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the key emerging technologies. Global IT companies are competitively launching the newest technologies and competition is heating up more than ever. However, most AI technologies focus on software and their operating speeds are low, making them a poor fit for mobile devices. Therefore, many big companies are investing to develop semiconductor chips for running AI programs with low power requirements but at high speeds.
A research team led by Professor Hoi-Jun Yoo of the Department of Electrical Engineering has developed a semiconductor chip, CNNP (CNN Processor), that runs AI algorithms with ultra-low power, and K-Eye, a face recognition system using CNNP. The system was made in collaboration with a start-up company, UX Factory Co.
The K-Eye series consists of two types: a wearable type and a dongle type. The wearable type device can be used with a smartphone via Bluetooth, and it can operate for more than 24 hours with its internal battery. Users hanging K-Eye around their necks can conveniently check information about people by using their smartphone or smart watch, which connects K-Eye and allows users to access a database via their smart devices. A smartphone with K-EyeQ, the dongle type device, can recognize and share information about users at any time.
When recognizing that an authorized user is looking at its screen, the smartphone automatically turns on without a passcode, fingerprint, or iris authentication. Since it can distinguish whether an input face is coming from a saved photograph versus a real person, the smartphone cannot be tricked by the user’s photograph.
The K-Eye series carries other distinct features. It can detect a face at first and then recognize it, and it is possible to maintain “Always-on” status with low power consumption of less than 1mW. To accomplish this, the research team proposed two key technologies: an image sensor with “Always-on” face detection and the CNNP face recognition chip.
The first key technology, the “Always-on” image sensor, can determine if there is a face in its camera range. Then, it can capture frames and set the device to operate only when a face exists, reducing the standby power significantly. The face detection sensor combines analog and digital processing to reduce power consumption. With this approach, the analog processor, combined with the CMOS Image Sensor array, distinguishes the background area from the area likely to include a face, and the digital processor then detects the face only in the selected area. Hence, it becomes effective in terms of frame capture, face detection processing, and memory usage.
The second key technology, CNNP, achieved incredibly low power consumption by optimizing a convolutional neural network (CNN) in the areas of circuitry, architecture, and algorithms. First, the on-chip memory integrated in CNNP is specially designed to enable data to be read in a vertical direction as well as in a horizontal direction. Second, it has immense computational power with 1024 multipliers and accumulators operating in parallel and is capable of directly transferring the temporal results to each other without accessing to the external memory or on-chip communication network. Third, convolution calculations with a two-dimensional filter in the CNN algorithm are approximated into two sequential calculations of one-dimensional filters to achieve higher speeds and lower power consumption.
With these new technologies, CNNP achieved 97% high accuracy but consumed only 1/5000 power of the GPU. Face recognition can be performed with only 0.62mW of power consumption, and the chip can show higher performance than the GPU by using more power.
These chips were developed by Kyeongryeol Bong, a Ph. D. student under Professor Yoo and presented at the International Solid-State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) held in San Francisco in February. CNNP, which has the lowest reported power consumption in the world, has achieved a great deal of attention and has led to the development of the present K-Eye series for face recognition.
Professor Yoo said “AI - processors will lead the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With the development of this AI chip, we expect Korea to take the lead in global AI technology.”
The research team and UX Factory Co. are preparing to commercialize the K-Eye series by the end of this year. According to a market researcher IDC, the market scale of the AI industry will grow from $127 billion last year to $165 billion in this year.
(Photo caption: Schematic diagram of K-Eye system)
2017.06.14 View 16433 -
Policy Debate Series for Industry 4.0
(Photo caption: President Shin takes the podium as the first speaker of a year-long monthly policy dabate series on Industry 4.0 on May 11.)
KAIST will kick off a monthly policy debate series on Industry 4.0 every Thursday from May 11 at the Startup KAIST building. The year-long series, featuring professors from key technology fields associated with Industry 4.0, is designed to help policy makers from government, industry, and research institutes respond better to the ramifications that Industry 4.0 brings about in each sector.
The series will help them establish the vision and strategy that will work for the new industrial environment to take the lead in the new industrial era.
Twelve professors, including President Sung-Chul Shin, from departments that are researching emerging technologies will speak on the megatrend of new technology, while facilitating debates and Q& A sessions with participants.
The participants will include officials from the government complexes in Sejong and Daejeon cities, government-funded research institutes in Daejeon, and businessmen, among others. For registration, please go to https://startup.kaist.ac.kr/register.
Schedule
Speaker
Theme
May 11
President Sung-Chul Shin
Challenges and Innovations of KAIST in the Era of Industry 4.0
June 8
Professor Jonghwan Kim
Machine Intelligence and Deep Learning
July 6
Professor Jun Ho Oh
Robot Technology and the Future
Aug. 3
Professor Hyunchul Shim
Unmanned Vehicle Technology and Industry 4.0
Sept. 7
Professor Hawoong Jeong
Complex Systems and Data Science
Oct. 12
Professor Yongdae Kim
Technology, Policy, and the Fostering of Talents: Industry 4.0 and Information Protection
Nov. 9
Professor Sang Yup Lee
The Role of Biotechnology in Industry 4.0
Dec. 7
Professor Meeyoung Cha
AI-Based Research for Fake News Detection
2018 Jan. 4
Professor Joungho Kim
Innovation for the Korean Semiconductor Industry: Kim’s Law
Feb. 8
Professor Jaekyun Moon
Education for Industry 4.0
March 8
Professor Sang Kil Cha
Artificial Intelligence Cyber Warfare: Its Present and Future
April 5
Professor Jaeseung Jeong
The Future of Brain Engineering and Artificial Intelligence
2017.05.08 View 9471