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Chinese military scientists develop secret, octopus-mimicking computer
Sunday, 29 September, 2013, 1:53am
By Stephen Chen
Mainland researchers has developed a computer that is able to change its physical structure like an octopus. Photo: AFP
Designed to mimic an octopus, a computer developed by mainland researchers is said to be able to change its physical structure.
Such flexibility reportedly enables the machine to deal with tasks varying from scientific computation to cybersecurity, with efficiency nearly 100 times that of traditional computers.
Though it has not been revealed precisely how it works, it is described as the first of its kind.
According to Xinhua, the secretive project is part of the State Hi-Tech Development Plan, or 863 programme. An expert panel under the programme concluded it represented "a breakthrough" in high-performance computing, Xinhua reported.
With this computer, China had "changed from a follower to leader", the panel was quoted as saying. It would enable China to develop its own computer chips, electronic devices and software programmes that are immune to sabotage from overseas, the experts were quoted as saying.
The project was led by Professor Wu Jiangxing, president of the Information Engineering University of the People's Liberation Army.
The secrecy about it left civilian scientists struggling to figure out exactly what it does.
Professor Wu Yongwei , deputy director of Tsinghua University's high performance computing institute, said last week's media reports about the project were the first he had heard of it. He was "quite surprised", he said.
"I read the news several times but couldn't figure out what it is.
"From the description it seems to be doing what cloud computing is doing today, such as task distribution, but to claim it as a world first they must have done something remarkable. I want to find out more about it, but so far I am unable to get anything."
Professor Chen Gang , supercomputer scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of High Energy Physics, was also surprised, and doubted the machine would find an application in research or industry any time soon, if at all.
Chinese military scientists develop secret, octopus-mimicking computer | South China Morning Post
Sunday, 29 September, 2013, 1:53am
By Stephen Chen
Mainland researchers has developed a computer that is able to change its physical structure like an octopus. Photo: AFP
Designed to mimic an octopus, a computer developed by mainland researchers is said to be able to change its physical structure.
Such flexibility reportedly enables the machine to deal with tasks varying from scientific computation to cybersecurity, with efficiency nearly 100 times that of traditional computers.
Though it has not been revealed precisely how it works, it is described as the first of its kind.
According to Xinhua, the secretive project is part of the State Hi-Tech Development Plan, or 863 programme. An expert panel under the programme concluded it represented "a breakthrough" in high-performance computing, Xinhua reported.
With this computer, China had "changed from a follower to leader", the panel was quoted as saying. It would enable China to develop its own computer chips, electronic devices and software programmes that are immune to sabotage from overseas, the experts were quoted as saying.
The project was led by Professor Wu Jiangxing, president of the Information Engineering University of the People's Liberation Army.
The secrecy about it left civilian scientists struggling to figure out exactly what it does.
Professor Wu Yongwei , deputy director of Tsinghua University's high performance computing institute, said last week's media reports about the project were the first he had heard of it. He was "quite surprised", he said.
"I read the news several times but couldn't figure out what it is.
"From the description it seems to be doing what cloud computing is doing today, such as task distribution, but to claim it as a world first they must have done something remarkable. I want to find out more about it, but so far I am unable to get anything."
Professor Chen Gang , supercomputer scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of High Energy Physics, was also surprised, and doubted the machine would find an application in research or industry any time soon, if at all.
Chinese military scientists develop secret, octopus-mimicking computer | South China Morning Post
