The Ni1000 is an

artificial neural network Artificial neural networks (ANNs), usually simply called neural networks (NNs) or neural nets, are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. An ANN is based on a collection of connected unit ...

chip developed by

Nestor Corporation Nestor may refer to: * Nestor (mythology), King of Pylos in Greek mythology Arts and entertainment * "Nestor" (''Ulysses'' episode) an episode in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' * Nestor Studios, first-ever motion picture studio in Hollywood, ...

and

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

. It is Intel's second-generation neural network chip but first all digital. The chip is aimed at image analysis applications, contains more than 3 million transistors and can analyze patterns at the rate of 40,000 per second. Prototypes running with Nestor's OCR software in 1994 were capable of recognizing around 100 handwritten characters per second. The development was funded with money from

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

and

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

References

Intel/Nestor Ni1000 Recognition Accelerator Technical Specification
* Artificial neural networks {{AI-stub