NeuroPong: the event-based camera driven embedded neuromorphic system

Abstract Neuromorphic computing is a novel style of computing that features low-power spiking neural networks (SNNs) as the main compute components. It is an event-driven computational paradigm that naturally pairs with event-based cameras and their asynchronous event output. In this work, we present NeuroPong, a novel closed-loop neuromorphic hardware system composed of an event-based camera, a neuromorphic system, and an Atari 2600 console. The system facilitates the implementation of SNN Atari agents capable of playing Atari games in real time using event camera capture as input. We perform a small parameter optimization experiment to examine how software agents translate to hardware, discuss some of the challenges intrinsic to the hardware system, and propose some future improvements of the system and its components.