SystemX Alliance Newsletter - June 2024

SystemX Alliance 2024 Spring Workshop

Summary of event by Craig Barrett and Amin Arbabian

We are pleased to announce that the Spring Headlight workshop focusing on the Intersection of AI, Edge, and Sensing Systems and exploring various aspects of Physical AI systems was not only fully subscribed but also remarkably successful, thanks to your active participation and our distinguished speakers from both academia and industry. Despite securing one of the larger venues at Stanford University, we reached full capacity well before the event, underscoring the relevance and urgency of this topic among our member companies and the broader community. We have received numerous inquiries and positive feedback, which we will address both individually and collectively in the forthcoming weeks.The workshop highlighted several research ‘grand challenges’ in this area, and the framework of fundamentally “shifting the curve” presented by Chris Rowen’s keynote talk. Addressing these challenges necessitates a collaborative endeavor, engaging a consortium of academic faculty and industry practitioners over a timeframe that aligns with a new SystemX Focus Area (FA). We are currently developing this new FA and eagerly anticipate your collaboration in resolving these pivotal issues.The workshop had three sessions, each addressing important aspects at the Intersection of AI, Edge, and Sensing Systems.

Session 1: Computing & Sensing at the Edge

This session, led by Prof. Priyanka Raina, focused on edge computing and sensing technologies. Prof. Raina presented on 8-bit posit-based transformer inference and fine-tuning accelerator for edge applications. Varada Gopalakrishnan from Amazon Lab126 discussed domain-specific hardware acceleration for Amazon devices. Prof. Thierry Tambe presented on harnessing pervasive data transience for next-generation AI efficiency.

Session 2: Edge Applications

The second session, led by Prof. Gordon Wetzstein, explored various applications of edge computing. Prof. Wetzstein presented GazeGPT, an AI system that augments human capabilities using gaze-contingent contextual AI for smart eyewear. Haley So, a PhD student, discussed in-pixel processing for efficient imaging and perception. Dr. Richard Newcombe from Meta's Reality Labs presented on always-on contextual AI. Abe Bachrach, CTO and Founder of Skydio, showcased the Skydio Autonomy Engine, which enables the next generation of autonomous flight.

Session 3: Edge Architectures

Led by Prof. Amin Arbabian, the final session delved into edge architectures. Prof. Arbabian and Soheil Hor, a PhD student, presented on adaptive inference systems. Dr. Joseph Soriaga from Qualcomm AI Research discussed generative AI on devices. Sam Sheng, Director of Sensing Technologies at Google, explored the concept of sensor tokenization and its implications.Please access the workshop recordings and materials at the following link: systemx.stanford.edu/springworkshop-2024.Should your organization have an interest in the workshop's topics, we invite you to contact Amin and Craig at arbabian@stanford.edu & cbarratt@stanford.edu. We will ensure to keep you informed about the latest developments and the establishment of the core founding members of the new focus area.

Congratulations to Seed Grant Recipients!

SystemX Alliance allocates a portion of member company contributions for Seed Grants. This year, two projects were selected: 

1. Professor Thierry Tambe (EE) - "Towards a Full-Stack System for eDRAM-based Computing on Ephemeral Data"
2. Professors Zerina Kapetanovic (EE) and Sara Achour (CS) - "HDCam: On-Board Computer Vision for Low-power Wireless Cameras" 

To view current and past awards, visit the SystemX website: systemx.stanford.edu/research/seed-grants.

Profs. Kapetanovic and Achour presented their project at the 2024 Spring Workshop

In case you missed it, we've highlighted 5 labs in the School of Engineering in our newsletter section Lab Spotlight. You can check out the videos and articles here: 

1. Srabanti Chowdhury and the Wide-Bandgap (WBG) Lab, Article | Video
2. Renee Zhao and the Soft Intelligent Materials Lab (SIMLab), Article | Video
3. Dan Congreve and the Congreve Lab, Article | Video
4. Grace Gao and the Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles (NAV) Lab, Article | Video
5. Shuran Song and the Robotics and Embodied Artificial Intelligence Lab (REALab), Article | Video