IBM Research Unit, MIT Team Up To Develop Machine Vision

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) recently announced that its Research unit has entered into a collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. The partnership will jointly develop machine vision, a core aspect of artificial intelligence (AI).

Objective of the Collaboration

As part of the collaboration, the two organizations have agreed to jointly build the IBM-MIT Laboratory for Brain-inspired Multimedia Machine Comprehension (BM3C). Its main objective will be the development of cognitive computing systems that can closely imitate the human qualities of comprehension and integration of inputs from various sources.

These cognitive computing systems could be used in a number of industries such as entertainment, education and most importantly healthcare.

Additionally, MIT researchers will now be able to utilize the advancements in Watson, IBM’s machine learning technology capable of providing insights from huge volume of unstructured data.

Also, BM3C will look into prediction methods as well as pattern recognition techniques related to machine vision that cannot be solely interpreted by machines currently.

What the Future Holds for Machine Vision?

As per researchers, enhanced machine vision finds application in the fields of treatment for the disabled and elderly to repairing and maintaining of industrial machineries.

Guru Banaver, the chief scientist, cognitive computing and vice president of IBM Research believes that in a world where humans and machines are increasingly interacting with one another, machine vision could play a pivotal role in enhancing the health of people, enabling them to live a more productive life.

Given the huge scope for machine vision, we expect the collaboration to prove beneficial for IBM in the coming years.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

At present, IBM carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology space are Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVID) and Infoblox Inc. (NYSE:BLOX) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) , carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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