For more than five years, fortiss competence field leader Axel von Arnim successfully led the Neurorobotics sub-project, in which software developers from across all of Europe created the Neurorobotics Platform (NRP) robotics simulation software, which is used to connect and control and various brain models with real and virtual 3D robots. The sensor-equipped robots react independently with their surroundings and learn from this interaction.
Version 3.0 of the NRP has been available to neuroscientists and robotics specialists around the world since April 2020. Neuroscientists can use the platform to study the activity of simulated neurons and control virtual robots via neural networks with the help of a graphical robot simulator. The integrated software tool can also be employed by AI researchers in the area of neuromorphic computing.
After handing over management of the project to Technical University of Munich (TUM) in April 2020, fortiss scientist Axel von Arnim and his field of competence team are now concentrating on research in the field of neuromorphic computing. In parallel he is working to bring the further development of the NRP simulation software within the Human Brain Project to maturity so that it can be utilized for neuromorphic AI research. fortiss is already testing the new software itself in current research projects such as in the fields of machine learning and AI-based robotic controls.
fortiss scientists are currently working on the so-called SGA3 phase of the Human Brain Project, where the Bavarian state institute is acting primarily as a co-developer of the software platform. Beyond that, the researchers will further incorporate the expertise they have acquired to date into the user support area.
