Building a brain

Adam Walton chats to Steve Furber, ICL Professor of Computer Engineering at Manchester University, who was a principal designer for the iconic BBC Micro computer, and the ARM processor which is inside many of today's smartphones and tablets.

Professor Furber is coming to Aberystwyth University this week to deliver a lecture called "Building Brains" which outlines his contribution to the Human Brain Project. Currently being built, the "SpiNNaker machine" has half a million processors and has been designed to mimic the neural pathways of the brain. Eventually the plan is to incorporate a million processors.

Adam hears how Steve and his colleagues at Acorn Computers in 1981 developed the BBC Micro, which went on to become a key tool in computer education for a generation of schoolchildren. It's robust design and easy expandability meant it was an enduring and reliable workhorse and effective teaching aid.

There's also discussion about the Turing Test, developed in 1950 by computer pioneer Alan Turing, which is still used as a measure of artificial intelligence today - a test which no computer has yet convincingly passed.