Serious question: what is an AI coprocessor technically? Some machine learnt models burned on a chip? Or some kind of a neural net with updatable weights?
There are many potential designs for these things, but the first gen TPU is one that works, is in production, and has been described in a paper. But you have to differentiate if you mean an inference engine, or something that can also do training. For HoloLens, it's probably going to be an inference unit, which means it'll possibly look something like a TPU, perhaps with more specific hardware support optimized for convolutions (which are very important for visual processing DNNs these days), as the NVidia tensor units are.
It is not well documented by anyone. However, the expectation is that it is a matrix or convolution coprocessor, as this is a common operation in deep neural networks (for both inference and training). For instance, NVIDIA says they are supporting 4x4 convolutions with the tensor unit.
I was in the audience at CVPR when it was presented. They were doing semantic segmentation using resnet-18, so I'm guessing it speeds up convolutions and some linear algebra during inference. I'm guessing it won't be used for training.
According to the linked article, this coprocessor seems particularly focused on Deep Neural Networks (DNN), so it does sound like a updatable weight neural network evaluator.
I used a Hololens and it was awesome (it fit over my glasses). Inference on Hololens could make you do so much more. Maybe you could use it to take scans of parts from a CNC or the CNC tool and create a system that could tell you if a similar piece will fail in the future. From what I have seen compared to Google Glass I think it could be possible for richer interactions and also it uses both eyes. But, I haven't heard any Enterprise users use Hololens.
We got a couple at my company and I've built some protoypes for it, and threw up a little blog for it. The cool thing is the HoloToolkit which seems to be maintained by some xbox developers, and scripts all the functionality you need to get off the ground.
The hard part has been coming up with prototypes that go beyond a cool experience, and solve some customer's problem. It doesn't recognize what it's looking at, as much as it's just recognizing the shape of what it's looking at. You have to write the functionality to then determine what it is. Though the HoloToolkit does have scripts that will recognize walls, floors, tables. But it falls really short of the wild ideas my co-workers come up with. There are some example projects out there that will show you how to determine faces, which is cool. But the best ideas most people have, the beta Skype app already knocks it out of the park.
One of the best Enterprise uses I've heard for hololens is measuring spaces. The voices of VR podcast described a company that installs stair lift. Before theyd have to have multiple people come and take lots of measurements before the install. Now it's just one person who can get all measurements in less than 15 minutes.
The use cases are pretty varied. We're using some for a medical study looking to see if the HL can help lessen pain through distraction (tested against normal distractions like iPads). The HL is nice, as it lessens incidents of simulator sickness. We're also trying to get the thing to be used to scan the homes and backyards of long-term stay patients so that they can 'go back home' for a little bit while hooked into the hospital. Honestly, in our experiences, it seems like the best use of VR is 'live' events like concerts, sports games, minecraft, etc.
As an aside, you know you are a real adult when you are given the HL for the first time ever, full of 3-d potential and amazing sound and all the coolest things your 10 year-old-self could think of, and you immediately dive into the wireless and firewall settings.
Side note in case anyone at MS happens to read this, but the only actual content on this page that appears above the fold for me (viewing on a Surface Pro 4) is the headline, which is pushed nearly to the bottom of my display by all the headers/nav/whitespace. This strikes me as remarkably bad design.
I don't know if it's designed to do that or not, but that's been a huge trend for a few years now. I still have people request that I design a site like that, where the only thing visible by default on the homepage is a 68pt logo and on specific pages is a 68pt title. A navbar at the top and a navbar under the logo are also requested, both navbars displaying the same options.
I went to a Microsoft store in the mall and they are showing off Oculus Rift. They've been showing off HoloLens for a couple years now haven't they?... still can't buy it?
I hope it also contains a decent CPU. The first version has a ridiculously underpowered Atom with no vector capability of any kind. Not the kind of thing you would expect in a $3000 device.
I agree that you would expect more from a $3000 computer, but that is not what hololens is. Considering all of novel sensors and capabilities with the hololens, it is pretty amazing to me that the hololens is only $3000.
For people who understand neural networks, this is HUGE! I have been dreaming for a custom chip for neural networks for 5 years! If they pull it off and deliver a product launch in a year or two, then they would smoke the competition again.
The "cheaper consumer version" focus for now seems to be on the Windows 10 Mixed Reality goggles coming out in the Fall. Yes, it's not HoloLens displays (it's classic LCD screens strapped to your face) or standalone computer (it's tethered to a PC), but it is cheaper and it will be consumer focused in the Fall (and it will use most of the same Windows platform support and niceties like inside-out tracking).
How is AI meaningless? I mean, I guess the term can be seen as silly, but I mentally map it to "statistical computing."
[edit] Since I'm getting down votes, can someone clarify? I wasn't being contrarian with the above comment. Is my mental map of what AI means as an industry term incorrect?
[+] [-] ratbr|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dgacmu|8 years ago|reply
There are many potential designs for these things, but the first gen TPU is one that works, is in production, and has been described in a paper. But you have to differentiate if you mean an inference engine, or something that can also do training. For HoloLens, it's probably going to be an inference unit, which means it'll possibly look something like a TPU, perhaps with more specific hardware support optimized for convolutions (which are very important for visual processing DNNs these days), as the NVidia tensor units are.
[+] [-] arcanus|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danmaz74|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chriskanan|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hatsunearu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WorldMaker|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Eridrus|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zitterbewegung|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Pigo|8 years ago|reply
The hard part has been coming up with prototypes that go beyond a cool experience, and solve some customer's problem. It doesn't recognize what it's looking at, as much as it's just recognizing the shape of what it's looking at. You have to write the functionality to then determine what it is. Though the HoloToolkit does have scripts that will recognize walls, floors, tables. But it falls really short of the wild ideas my co-workers come up with. There are some example projects out there that will show you how to determine faces, which is cool. But the best ideas most people have, the beta Skype app already knocks it out of the park.
[+] [-] cmac2992|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Balgair|8 years ago|reply
As an aside, you know you are a real adult when you are given the HL for the first time ever, full of 3-d potential and amazing sound and all the coolest things your 10 year-old-self could think of, and you immediately dive into the wireless and firewall settings.
[+] [-] tux1968|8 years ago|reply
https://mspoweruser.com/microsofts-next-version-hololens-wil...
[+] [-] akvadrako|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] restricted_ptr|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guimarin|8 years ago|reply
1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-24/quest-for...
[+] [-] MrBuddyCasino|8 years ago|reply
https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-democratizes-deep-lear...
[+] [-] cr0sh|8 years ago|reply
http://www.general-vision.com/ ???
No idea, actually - but they are one of a handful of companies selling such a part.
[+] [-] zebrafish|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deepnotderp|8 years ago|reply
Other possible candidates include INT8 DSPs
[+] [-] arcanus|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0xffff2|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freehunter|8 years ago|reply
I don't get it either.
[+] [-] ericfrederich|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lstamour|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0xbear|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clmckinley|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] Symmetry|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] make3|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtgx|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tanilama|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ori_b|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ramshanker|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] esterly|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wlesieutre|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] connorcpu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WorldMaker|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dingo_bat|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eightysixfour|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dsr_|8 years ago|reply
"Nothing is cooler because it is cyber." -- J.D. Falk, RIP.
[+] [-] deelowe|8 years ago|reply
[edit] Since I'm getting down votes, can someone clarify? I wasn't being contrarian with the above comment. Is my mental map of what AI means as an industry term incorrect?
[+] [-] nsxwolf|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yread|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seanmcdirmid|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EddieSpeaks|8 years ago|reply
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