Unicorn

March 2, 2016 @ 12:28 AM

Something that NuPIC has needed for a while is an easy-to-user GUI. Unicorn is a great first step in that direction. I just got back from Numenta's offices where I did some early user testing on a Unicorn prototype. It was super easy to use. After just a few clicks, I was looking at anomalies found on data in a local CSV file. I didn't have to mess with setting up model parameters, encoders, or swarming - all things that newbies can get hung up on. The challenge going forward will be to find the correct balance between keeping it super simple to use, and providing the flexibility that power users need. Of course, the power users can always use the tools that they are already using. I think that this app is perfect for the new user of NuPIC, or the user that simply doesn't need a lot of fine tuning of their models.

It is still very early in development, so there are some rough edges, and missing features, but if you are curious, you can check out the app on Numenta's Github account. I would post a screen shot of the GUI, but when I tried to build it locally, I got a bunch of errors that I still need to debug. These are, no doubt, due to a difference between my environment and the Numenta developer's environments.