Honey in Computers

Computers have become an integral part of human life, they can be found everywhere from watches to TVs, from the motorbikes to aeroplanes, from a smartphone to the supercomputers, all the devices nowadays use the power of computing from the computers inside them to be more precise and accurate and better performance. 

Most of the present-day computers use the very old architecture popularly known as "Von Neumann Architecture" and primarily use non-eco-friendly components, which are not only harmful to the environment but also require a lot of power to run. 

To overcome the issues faced and the monopoly of von Neumann Architecture, engineers & scientists have been busy developing a system which is both eco-friendly and can use less power. Thus, they came up with a "Neuromorphic computer", that mimics the neurons and synapses found in the human brain. 

Now, to make the computers eco-friendly, the team was looking for various materials till they found "Honey". Yes...!!! Honey, the sweet and natural honey which we all love to eat. Soon it might be possible that we can have computers made of Honey. 

Von Neumann Architecture

This is the computer architecture based on the design presented by John von Neumann in the year 1945. It is also known as Princeton architecture, it describes the basic structure used for creating an electronic computer.

The basic design presented for this structure is shown below 

Basic Von Neumann architecture

The structure contains the following main parts:- 

• An Input Device is used for taking input from the users.
• An Output Device is used for showing the end result generated from the processing Unit.
• A Central Processing Unit, where all the magic happens. 
• A Control Unit within the Central Processing Unit for controlling the operations of the CPU.
• A Logic Unit within the CPU for performing all the logical operations.
• And, a Memory Unit for storing all the data and instructions.

This architecture is the most preferred architecture for designing digital computers over the other designs which were proposed at the same time for digital computers. Thus, it became too popular too soon and approximately each and every computing device is using this architecture. 

A few of the reasons for the grand success of this architecture were it simple and easy to use and program and was cheaper than other architectures. 

Neuromorphic Computer

Neuromorphic Computers are computers designed in a way to replicate the human brain and nervous system, i.e. computers with neurons and nerve cells.

Neuromorphic computing. image source.

Since the very beginning, there has been a constant human urge to study and replicate the human brain, a machine which is more powerful than the known supercomputers to date with the least space and energy required. Thus, scientists from the inception wanted to replicate the human brain and explore its endless capabilities. Hence, the scientist used the memristors to replicate the neurons in the human brain and create Neuromorphic Computers, a great combination of machines and humans.

Now, the point is What is so special about neuromorphic computers and Why do we need them. 

The answer is quite simple and easy, traditional computers come at expense of either low computation speed or high power consumption. Whereas, neuromorphic computers cater to both the issues, small size and less power consumption. Apart from that, Neuromorphic computers have the below advantages also:- 

1. Parallel Computing:- can handle multiple tasks at once.

2. Event Specific:- they respond to events based on environmental conditions and only that part of the computer requires power. 

3. Less Power Consumption:- being event based in nature, only the specific part requires power, thus saving energy. 

4. Flexible:- they are highly adaptable and flexible in nature.

5. Fault-tolerant:- even if some part fails, it will be able to produce results. 

6. Able to generalize.

Memristors

A Memristor is an electronic component that can limit or regulates the flow of electric charge in the circuit and can remember the previously flown charge through it. They are also non-volatile in nature, i.e. they can retain their memory even in case of no power. 

To understand the basic architecture of a memristor, we can think it of as two metal plates, popularly known as electrodes, used to sandwich some conducting material, something similar to a human synapse (site of transmission of electric nerve impulses between two nerve cells (neurons) or between a neuron and a gland or muscle cell).  

Understanding the working of a Memristor can be thought of as a water pipe connected to a tap(point A), when the tap is opened then only the water flows from point A to point B, and as soon as the tap is closed the water flow stops and the pipe holds the water in it, until and unless some external force is applied to empty it. Thus, a memristor also works similarly, i.e. till an electric charge is applied it allows the flow of charge and once it stops, it also holds the charge in it without using any external electric supply to hold it. 

Basic Memristor Diagram

To create a Honey based memristor in our case, scientists replaced the insulating layer with honey in solid form and sandwiched them in between the two metals. Then these memristors were put to test at various high switching speeds, and they also emulated the various synapse functions like spike-timing-dependent plasticity and spike-rate dependent plasticity, responsible for learning processes in the human brain & retaining information.

Why Honey...???

A big question always cross our minds, as to why only honey and nothing else?

Using honey has many advantages such as:-

• Honey has a very low moisture content, so bacteria cannot survive in it. 
• Honey does not spoil. 
• Honey can reduce electronic waste.
• Easy to dispose of, as it can easily dissolve in water.
• Stable and reliable for the long run. 
• Natural product.
• This will lead to Bee Farming, a green cover for more Honey production.
• Safe from bacteria.

Why do we need eco-friendly computers?

One of the reasons why we need such Neuromorphic Computers is, that the existing supercomputers take up huge spaces and a lot of power, apart from this huge cooling systems and other systems such as earthquake damping systems need to be installed for the protection of these computers. 

The world's fastest supercomputer as of the date(May 2022), the Fugaku supercomputer takes a whooping 29,899kW of power to run also, a separate floor has been dedicated to power and cools the system. On the other hand, the human brain requires only 20 watts of power and can easily accommodate in a much smaller space, like a human skull. 

Thus, if the scientists become successful in replicating the human brain in computers, it will not only save a lot and a lot of space but would also save kiloWatts of energy to perform much more complex tasks than the present-day supercomputers. 

Another and most visible reason is the increasing Global Warming and increasing non-biodegradable waste in the environment. Thus, there has been an urgent need to switch to some technology that is biodegradable and does not contribute to Global Warming. The increasing need and dependency on computers have made them a very viable option to be made eco-friendly.

Summary

Honey might have been developed as a sweet solution for developing eco-friendly components for neuromorphic computers, but the honey-based memristors are still very nascent and have a lot more to showcase and achieve before they can be widely accepted. Apart from this, the maximum number of neurons that have been tested till now is 100 million neurons whereas the human brain has 100 billion neurons & more than 1000 trillion synapses, thus making a long long way for the scientists to cover. 

What are your views about these new "Honey based Computers". ? 

Is it the new future of computers? 

What else material can be used in place of honey? 

Is it the right time to think about eco-friendly computers?

Do share your views in the comment sections below.