Brain-Inspired System ‘Reads’ Handwriting with Skyrmions

“Another advantage of using skyrmions is energy saving, because skyrmions can be controlled using very small current densities,” says Yokouchi. To put data into the device, the researchers encoded information into a magnetic field that, when applied to the skyrmions, generates a voltage. The researchers trained the device using more than 13,000 images of handwritten digits from 0 to 9. They converted the images into magnetic input signals, and tuned the device so that the output voltage signals accurately represented the correct digit. “Our work indicates that energy-saving neuromorphic computing can be realized using skyrmions,” says Yokouchi.