TrueNorth Chip Mechanism

Here’s how the chip works:

Signals detected by sensing devices, such as video cameras, are routed to the on-chip network of neurons and synapses.  The signals are converted to spikes of electricity, which travel along wires corresponding to the axons in the brain, make contact with digital switches, which correspond to the brain’s neurons, and, depending on their composition and strength, fan out to other neurons via virtual axons and synapses—the connecting points. In this way, the neural network makes sense of patterns of signals and learns from identifying repeating patterns.