Moving Toward Human-Like Perception and Sensation Systems—From Integrated Intelligent Systems to Decentralized Smart Devices

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown the power to enhance the functionality of sensors and enable intelligent human-machine interfaces through machine learning-based data analysis. However, the good performance of AI is always accompanied by a large amount of data and high computational complexity. Though cloud computing appears to be the right solution to this issue with the advent of the 5G era, a certain intelligence of the edge terminal is also important to make the entire integrated intelligent system more efficient. The current development of microelectronic, wearable, AI, and neuromorphic technologies pave the way to realize advanced edge computing by integrating silicon-based high-computing-power neuromorphic chips with anthropomorphic wearable sensory devices and show the potential to achieve human-like self-sustainable decentralized intelligence to enable the next-generation of AI. Hence, in this review, we systematically introduce the related progress in terms of wearable electronics that can mimic the biological features of humans' sensory systems and the development of neuromorphic/in-sensor computing technologies. Discussion on implementing the integrated human-like perception and sensation system with silicone-based computing chips and non-silicone-based wearable functional units and our perspectives are also provided.