====== Brain Reference Architecture (BRA)-driven Development ======
BRA-driven development is a methodology for developing software to build AGI from a whole-brain architecture approach, and is a method for building software that reproduces human cognitive functions by referring to the neural circuits of the entire brain [1].  It has the excellent feature of being able to construct hypotheses about brain functions that are not necessarily obvious over a relatively wide area with the [[SCID method]]. Therefore, WBAI has been promoting research and development of brain-morphic AGI through BRA-driven development since FY 2018.

BRA-driven development uses the [[brain_information_flow|Brain Information Flow (BIF)]] diagram, which is based on the mesoscopic anatomical structure of the brain associated with human cognitive behavior, and the Hypothetical Component Diagram (HCD), which is a description of computational functions consistent with the BIF (see the figure below) as design information for brain-morphic software The BIF is based on the anatomical structure of the brain at the topic level.

The [[brain_reference_architecture|brain reference architecture (BRA)]], which plays a central role in BRA-driven development, includes the following
  * Brain Information Flow (BIF) diagrams: extracted mesoscopic anatomical knowledge associated with human cognitive behavior.
  * Hypothetical Component Diagrams (HCD): functional components organized to be structurally consistent with the BIF.

In BRA-driven development, BRA design and software implementation based on the BRA are separated. This has a major advantage in that it allows multiple brain scientists and software developers to collaborate on large-scale development.

The resulting BRA data will be submitted, reviewed, and published using  [[brain_reference_architecture_editorial_system|BRAES]].

{{ :bra-driven-development.png?400 |}}

[1] Yamakawa, H. (2021). The whole brain architecture approach: Accelerating the development of artificial general intelligence by referring to the brain. Neural Networks: The Official Journal of the International Neural Network Society. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2021.09.004