摘要：Summary. - We review a series of implementations of electronic devices aiming at imitating to some extent
structure and function of simple neural systems, with particular emphasis on communication issues. We first
provide a short overview of general features of such “neuromorphic” devices and the implications of setting up
“tests” for them. We then review the developments directly related to our work at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità
(ISS): a pilot electronic neural network implementing a simple classifier, autonomously developing internal
representations of incoming stimuli; an output network, collecting information from the previous classifier and
extracting the relevant part to be forwarded to the observer; an analog, VLSI (very large scale integration) neural
chip implementing a recurrent network of spiking neurons and plastic synapses, and the test setup for it; a board
designed to interface the standard PCI (peripheral component interconnect) bus of a PC with a special purpose,
asynchronous bus for communication among neuromorphic chips; a short and preliminary account of an
application-oriented device, taking advantage of the above communication infrastructure
