Space the place for Irish AI chip as PhiSat-1 satellite blasts off

An artificial intelligence (AI) processing chip developed in Ireland has been included on board a satellite that blasted off into space from French Guiana early this morning. The PhiSat-1 is the first European satellite carrying out an experiment to demonstrate how on-board deep-learning technology can speed up the rate at which observation data is processed and transmitted to Earth. The AI chip, developed by Dublin-headquartered robotics start-up Ubotica Technologies, has been installed on the satellite so decisions can be made on board more quickly than on the ground. It also helps reduce the data load sent back to Earth. Ubotica's Myriad 2 AI chip uses architecture originally developed by another Irish technology company, Movidius, acquired by Intel in a multimillion euro deal in 2016.