Prof. Hirohumi Tanaka

　Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) has penetrated every corner of our society, and human beings are trying to run their civilization with computational systems and information networks. However, today’s computational systems for digital computation are inherently incompatible with nature: running AI at the same quality as the brain requires large amounts of computational resources and energy, millions of times more energy than the human brain actually consumes, and will eventually be subject to the problem of power depletion. Will humanity fully benefit from AI robots when the power consumption increases as automated robots frequently return to the charging booth to recharge and move around with huge batteries? 　What is really needed now is a computational system that allows society to adapt to the environment more flexibly and to achieve a new harmony with nature. Humans must make good use of the power of nature to reduce their impact on the environment while maintaining a high level of productivity and standard of living. We must establish a computational paradigm based on a new worldview that is in harmony with nature. The main theme of our research is “neuromorphic AI hardware” that utilizes material intelligence, which is a potential computational capability of materials. Our goal is to contribute to the next generation of the industry by embodying a brain-type AI system through integrated AI hardware research from materials development to robotics. At the same time, we dream of a future where robots loaded with the hardware we’ve developed are working everywhere in our society.