---
title: "ZMOB: A New Conputing Engine for AI"
authors:
  - "Chuck Rieger"
  - "Randall H. Trigg"
  - "Bob Bane"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/182"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/0182.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1981
pages: "955-959"
track: "Hardware"
keywords:
---

# ZMOB: A New Conputing Engine for AI

Chuck Rieger, Randall H. Trigg, Bob Bane

*Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 955-959.

## Abstract

A new research multiprocessor named ZMOB is described, and its si~nificance to AI research is surveyed and character1zed. ZMOB, under current construction and scheduled for completion late Fall 1981 is a 256 processor machine with a high speed interprocessor communications system called the "cqnveyor belt", a non-blocking, 20 megabyte/second message switcher. Because of its large number of processors, high computational throughput (100 million ins~ructions/ s ecl, lar Ge cumulative high speed memor.y {16 megabytes , high interprocessor communications bandwidt , and external communications and sensing channels, ZMOB opens some new areas of exploration in objectoriented modeling, knowledge-based and domain expert systems, intelligent sensin6 and robotics, ana distributed perceptual and cogn1tive modeling. The paper attempts to blend a description of ZMOB'e hardware with ideas about where and how it fits into various types of AI research.