Low-power analogue neural networks with trainable nonlinear connections for continuous control

Researchers developed low-power analogue neural networks with trainable nonlinear connections, inspired by Kolmogorov-Arnold networks, achieving efficient continuous control tasks like robotic kinematics and photovoltaic tracking with fewer nodes than traditional MLPs. The approach, demonstrated on field-programmable analogue arrays and memristive simulations, projects a dedicated CMOS implementation operating at ~30 microwatts.

arXiv:2606.23742v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Physical neural networks promise low-power machine learning by computing directly with analogue device physics, but most architectures force nonlinear device responses to act as scalar weights. Inspired by Kolmogorov-Arnold networks, we place trainable nonlinear functions on the connections, making each physical connection a learnable computational element. Realising these functions as analogue band-pass filters on field-programmable analogue arrays, we find that the benefit is task-dependent and follows from the smoothness of the physical basis: the networks represent smooth, continuously valued targets, including robotic kinematics, continuous control, and photovoltaic maximum-power-point tracking, with far fewer nodes and connections than multilayer perceptrons, but offer no parameter-efficiency advantage on classification-like decision boundaries. Trained networks transfer to hardware across approximately 35,000 connections with quantified fidelity, and a dedicated CMOS implementation is projected to operate at approximately 30 microwatts. A memristive realisation reproduces the same behaviour in simulation, indicating that the advantage comes from placing trainable nonlinearity on connections, rather than from a particular device.