Spatio-temporal pattern recognition is a fundamental ability of the brain which is required for numerous real-world activities. Recent deep learning approaches have reached outstanding accuracies in such tasks, but their implementation on conventional embedded solutions is still very computationally and energy expensive. Tactile sensing in robotic applications is a representative example where real-time processing and energy efficiency are required. Following a brain-inspired computing approach, we propose a new benchmark for spatio-temporal tactile pattern recognition at the edge through Braille letter reading. We recorded a new Braille letters dataset based on the capacitive tactile sensors of the iCub robot's fingertip. We then investigated the importance of spatial and temporal information as well as the impact of event-based encoding on spike-based computation. Afterward, we trained and compared feedforward and recurrent Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) offline using Backpropagation Through Time (BPTT) with surrogate gradients, then we deployed them on the Intel Loihi neuromorphic chip for fast and efficient inference. We compared our approach to standard classifiers, in particular to the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deployed on the embedded NVIDIA Jetson GPU, in terms of classification accuracy, power, and energy consumption together with computational delay. Our results show that the LSTM reaches ~97% of accuracy, outperforming the recurrent SNN by ~17% when using continuous frame-based data instead of event-based inputs. However, the recurrent SNN on Loihi with event-based inputs is ~500 times more energy-efficient than the LSTM on Jetson, requiring a total power of only ~30 mW. This work proposes a new benchmark for tactile sensing and highlights the challenges and opportunities of event-based encoding, neuromorphic hardware, and spike-based computing for spatio-temporal pattern recognition at the edge.

Human activity recognition (HAR) is a classification problem involving time-dependent signals produced by body monitoring, and its application domain covers all the aspects of human life, from healthcare to sport, from safety to smart environments. As such, it is naturally well suited for on-edge deployment of personalized point-of-care (POC) analyses or other tailored services for the user. However, typical smart and wearable devices suffer from relevant limitations regarding energy consumption, and this significantly hinders the possibility for successful employment of edge computing for tasks like HAR. In this paper, we investigate how this problem can be mitigated by adopting a neuromorphic approach. By comparing optimized classifiers based on traditional deep neural network (DNN) architectures as well as on recent alternatives like the Legendre Memory Unit (LMU), we show how spiking neural networks (SNNs) can effectively deal with the temporal signals typical of HAR providing high performances at a low energy cost. By carrying out an application-oriented hyperparameter optimization, we also propose a methodology flexible to be extended to different domains, to enlarge the field of neuro-inspired classifier suitable for on-edge artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) applications.

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), known for their potential to enable low energy consumption and computational cost, can bring significant advantages to the realm of embedded machine learning for edge applications. However, input coming from standard digital sensors must be encoded into spike trains before it can be elaborated with neuromorphic computing technologies. We present here a detailed comparison of available spike encoding techniques for the translation of time-varying signals into the event-based signal domain, tested on two different datasets both acquired through commercially available digital devices: the Free Spoken Digit dataset (FSD), consisting of 8-kHz audio files, and the WISDM dataset, composed of 20-Hz recordings of human activity through mobile and wearable inertial sensors. We propose a complete pipeline to benchmark these encoding techniques by performing time-dependent signal classification through a Spiking Convolutional Neural Network (sCNN), including a signal preprocessing step consisting of a bank of filters inspired by the human cochlea, feature extraction by production of a sonogram, transfer learning via an equivalent ANN, and model compression schemes aimed at resource optimization. The resulting performance comparison and analysis provides a powerful practical tool, empowering developers to select the most suitable coding method based on the type of data and the desired processing algorithms, and further expands the applicability of neuromorphic computational paradigms to embedded sensor systems widely employed in the IoT and industrial domains.

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Spatio-temporal pattern recognition is a fundamental ability of the brain which is required for numerous real-world applications. Recent deep learning approaches have reached outstanding accuracy in such tasks, but their implementation on conventional embedded solutions is still very computationally and energy expensive. Tactile sensing in robotic applications is a representative example where real-time processing and energy-efficiency are required. Following a brain-inspired computing approach, we propose a new benchmark for spatio-temporal tactile pattern recognition at the edge through braille letters reading. We recorded a new braille letters dataset based on the capacitive tactile sensors/fingertip of the iCub robot, then we investigated the importance of temporal information and the impact of event-based encoding for spike-based/event-based computation. Afterwards, we trained and compared feed-forward and recurrent spiking neural networks (SNNs) offline using back-propagation through time with surrogate gradients, then we deployed them on the Intel Loihi neuromorphic chip for fast and efficient inference. We confronted our approach to standard classifiers, in particular to a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deployed on the embedded Nvidia Jetson GPU in terms of classification accuracy, power/energy consumption and computational delay. Our results show that the LSTM outperforms the recurrent SNN in terms of accuracy by 14%. However, the recurrent SNN on Loihi is 237 times more energy-efficient than the LSTM on Jetson, requiring an average power of only 31mW. This work proposes a new benchmark for tactile sensing and highlights the challenges and opportunities of event-based encoding, neuromorphic hardware and spike-based computing for spatio-temporal pattern recognition at the edge.