School of Computer Science, Manchester, UK, 9th-13th September, 2019

The workshop will focus using SpiNNaker in robotics; including but not limited to presentations on:

• Introduction to SpiNNaker hardware & software
• Specifying networks in PyNN 0.9
• Using the HBP portal
• Simple data I/O and visualisation
• Connecting external devices to SpiNNaker
• Adding new neuron & synapse models & learning rules

The workshop consists of presentations by the software team and other SpiNNaker users (mainly from the field of robotics) as well as hands-on labs with SpiNNaker hardware. There will be time to discuss your own project plans and issues with the design team during the week.

Attendees should have some prior experience with Python. For the topics on new neuron models and learning rules, some background in C is highly recommended.

See the timetable.

Slides

1. Workshop Welcome
2. SpiNNaker Hardware and Software Overview
3. Access to SpiNNaker
4. The Neurorobotics Platform and SpiNNaker (Axel von Armin, Daniel Zimmermann) associated video
5. SpiNNaker Hardware Interfaces
6. Real-Time Real-World Robotic Systems for Neurocomputing (Jörg Conradt)
7. Neural Cognitive Agents in SpiNNaker on the NRP (Chris Huyck)
8. External Devices
9. Neuromorphic principles accelerate electronic olfaction for gas-based robotic navigation (Damien Drix)
10. MammalBot & MiRo (David Buxton, Alejandro Jimenez-Rodriguez)
11. SNNs on SpiNNaker
12. Neuron Models and Learning
13. Vision and Whiskers for spatial navigation: role of heterogeneous cognitive architectures in real-time robotics (Martin Pearson)
14. SpiNNaker and the NRP

Lab Manuals

1. Intro Lab
2. Running PyNN 0.9 Simulations on SpiNNaker
3. Simple Data Input Output and Visualisation
4. External Devices
5. Adding New Neuron Models (5.0)
6. Adding New Neuron Models (current - 5.1)
7. Adding New Models of Synaptic Plasticity