Hey
@TopCat, I reckon Iâve got exciting news to share! Keep your paws crossed that our sleuthing skills will soon be validated by an official announcement - I can already hear you happily purring away!
I only just found the time to watch the recorded CVPR 2023 Workshop presentations by Kynan Eng (CEO of iniVation) and Nandan Nayampally - they both have such wonderfully soothing voices, by the way.
The mosaic of conjecture weâve both been creating over the past couple of weeks is almost complete; here are two more tiles to lay, one of them a shiny golden one.
While the videosâ tech content is way above my pay grade, both presentations were quite illuminating, nevertheless! Let me share with you what piqued my interest:
I first watched Kynan Engâs talk on iniVationâs new Aeveon sensor:
The wallaby featured on the iniVation website must have hopped away and is now presumably roaming freely somewhere around Lake Zurich, as it didnât make an appearance during the presentation. Instead, it had been substituted by a beautiful, iridescent hummingbird, legendary for its rapid wing beat, which is notoriously difficult to capture on regular camera without blurring.
Watch from 8 min onwards, where Kynan Eng starts to talk about
the new, soon-to-be released Aeveon sensor:
âWhatâs important to note here is,
this is mainly digital. Weâve moved quite a distance away from the analog circuit in current DVS pixelsâŚâ
And from 10:45 min onwards: â
So the chip doesnât exist, yet. We are getting very close to the first tape-out of it now, but because it is in digital, we are able to create an emulator for this, for the chip.â
Well, I immediately took a liking to the sound of âdigitalâ, especially since Synsense, iniVationâs sister start-up and partner for their Speck SoC, is into analog SNNs, but it got even better, when I then listened to Nandan Nayampallyâs virtual presentation (which explains why he was nowhere to be seen in the CVPR 2023 Workshop group photo - I had actually hoped to spot him next to the likes of Kynan Eng, Tobi DelbrĂźck or AndrĂŠ van Schaik, which could have hinted at the fact that he was in conversation with one of them just before the group photo was taken. Clever idea of mine, eh?!)
Just over a minute into the presentation, I couldnât believe my ears: â
Let me start with the key technology changes that we are making to support our partners like Prophesee, iniVation and other folks that are building not only event-based solutionsâŚâ
WHAT???!!! My real-time auditory sensor processing DID get that right, didnât it?! Listen for yourself and correct me if Iâm wrongâŚ
Did he really just let slip that iniVation is indeed a Brainchip partner?!
They obviously didnât get listed under âpartnersâ on the âBrainchip at a glanceâ presentation slide, as there hasnât been any official announcement so far, but IMO this (unintentionally) revealing statement strongly supports our hypothesis.
Admittedly, it could have been a lapsus linguae, a disclosure of our Brainchip CMOâs secretly harboured wish of teaming up with iniVation, but honestly, how probable is that?! Much more likely it was an inadvertent divulgence in front of a small audience of computer vision researchers, plus the Aeveon sensor screams Akida, doesnât it?
I suppose weâll find out soon, as âwe are getting very close to the first tape-outâ of the new wonder chip.
My opinion only, DYOR.