Researchers said that development of a new microchip offers great possibilities for advancement in robotics and computing. Also, it will enable to understand the brain in a new way. The new microchip gives you PC a speed that is 9,000 faster than an average one.

Researchers could develop prosthetic limbs capable of moving at the same speed as original ones do after using the chip as fast and efficient as the human brain.

Computers are very slow when compared to the brain. For instance, the modest cortex of the mouse operates at a speed 9,000 times faster than a personal computer simulation of its functions, said Kwabena Boahen, associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University.

Moreover, not only the PC is slower, but it also requires 40,000 times more power to run. A circuit board consisting of 16 custom-designed 'Neurocore' chips has been developed by Boahen and his team. The chips used in the circuit board are capable of simulating one million neurons and billions of synaptic connections.

The researchers kept power efficiency in mind while designing these chips. They had the clear intention of allowing certain synapses to share hardware circuits. The resulting device was similar to the size of an iPad and was a device well capable of simulating neurons and synapses more than the brain has the potential to mimic on the power required for running a tablet computer.

Neurogrid becomes an ideal device for more than just modeling the human brain because of its speed and low power characteristics. The researchers said Neurogrid is a giant leap in development of brain simulations techniques, however it is still only a fraction of the roughly 80 billion neurons in a human brain.

The Stanford team is endeavoring to model the human brain using computers. The European Union's Human Brain Project is looking forward to simulate a human brain on a supercomputer.