TECHiFAB Wants to Prove Memristors' Capabilities with the Data-Correlating COR-RiSTOR Basic
Low-power TiF-MEMRiSTORs, six to a chip, aim to deliver real-time correlations between two sensors.
German startup TECHiFAB is hoping to showcase the potential of its COR-RiSTOR memristor hardware with a crowdfunded board designed for real-time correlation of sensor data — and is soliciting feedback from makers and developers with interesting use cases for the devices.
"With COR-RiSTOR you can perform hardware-based (without software) and real-time correlation in and with large data sets and thus also detect non-linear correlations," TECHiFAB's Stephan Krüger explains.
"We expect particularly impressive analysis results for sensor data with pairwise significant correlations. This is interesting for predictive maintenance, for example, or for the further development of AI [Artificial Intelligence] in the home automation sector."
The TiF-MEMRiSTOR chips at the heart of the COR-RiSTOR were first produced in 2021, based on the "memristor" component first described by Leon Chua in 1971. A portmanteau of "memory resistor," a memristor has been positioned by researchers at HP Labs as a component for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing — but, thus far, "ideal" memristors have yet to be demonstrated.
The TiF-MEMRiSTOR may not be ideal per Chua's standards, but TECHiFAB says it can be useful nevertheless. "TiF-MEMRiSTORs [are] an innovative electronic component which can process and store data within the same cell, thus enabling completely new algorithms in electronic circuits," Krüger claims.
"[It's] a breakthrough, new electronic component in which data can be both stored and processed, taking computing power to new heights — with a 90% energy reduction."
To prove its capabilities, TECHiFAB is crowdfunding production of the COR-RiSTOR, which puts six TiF-MEMRiSTORs onto a motherboard controlled by a SparkFun MicroMod SAMD51 Processor Board. This, described as the COR-RiSTOR Basic, is able to verify correlations between any two of four connected sensors.
There's some prep work required, however: sensor data have to be uploaded to TECHiFAB's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform in order to configure the TiF-MEMRiSTORs, with up to six pairwise correlations — AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD — provided per board.
The COR-RiSTOR is now funding on Kickstarter, with hardware starting at €349 (around $382) for early bird backers; delivery is expected to take place in November this year.