Tightly integrated deep learning and symbolic programming on a single neuromorphic chip

This work integrates deep learning and symbolic programming paradigms into a unified method for deploying applications to a neuromorphic system. The approach removes the need for coordination among disjoint co-processors by embedding both types entirely on a neuromorphic processor. This integration provides a flexible approach for using each technique where it performs best. A single neuromorphic solution can seamlessly deploy neural networks for classifying sensor-driven noisy data obtained from the environment alongside programmed symbolic logic to processes the input from the networks. We present a concrete implementation of the proposed framework using the TrueNorth neuromorphic processor to play blackjack using a pre-programmed optimal strategy algorithm combined with a neural network trained to classify card images as input. Future extensions of this approach will develop a symbolic neuromorphic compiler for automatically creating networks from a symbolic programming language.