Statestream: A toolbox to explore layerwise-parallel deep neural networks
Building deep neural networks to control autonomous agents which have to interact in real-time with the physical world, such as robots or automotive vehicles, requires a seamless integration of time into a network’s architecture. The central question of this work is, how the temporal nature of reality should be reflected in the execution of a deep neural network and its components. Most artificial deep neural networks are partitioned into a directed graph of connected modules or layers and the layers themselves consist of elemental building blocks, such as single units. For most deep neural networks, all units of a layer are processed synchronously and in parallel, but layers themselves are processed in a sequential manner. In contrast, all elements of a biological neural network are processed in parallel. In this paper, we define a class of networks between these two extreme cases. These networks are executed in a streaming or synchronous layerwise-parallel manner, unlocking the layers of such networks for parallel processing. Compared to the standard layerwise-sequential deep networks, these new layerwise-parallel networks show a fundamentally different temporal behavior and flow of information, especially for networks with skip or recurrent connections. We argue that layerwise-parallel deep networks are better suited for future challenges of deep neural network design, such as large functional modularized and/or recurrent architectures as well as networks allocating different network capacities dependent on current stimulus and/or task complexity. We layout basic properties and discuss major challenges for layerwise-parallel networks. Additionally, we provide a toolbox to design, train, evaluate, and online-interact with layerwise-parallel networks.
 In this paper, the authors present an open-source toolbox to explore layerwise-parallel deep neural networks. They offer an interesting and detailed comparison of the temporal progression of layerwise-parallel and layerwise-sequential networks, and differences that can emerge in the results of these two computation strategies. While the open-source toolbox introduced in this paper can be an excellent resource for the community interested in exploring these networks, the present submission offers relatively few results actually using these networks in practice. In order to make a more compelling case for these networks, the present submission could include more detailed investigations, perhaps demonstrating that they learn differently or better than other implementations on standard training sets.
You are a member of the scientific community tasked with peer review. Review the following paper title and abstract.
### Title + Abstract
Statestream: A toolbox to explore layerwise-parallel deep neural networks
Building deep neural networks to control autonomous agents which have to interact in real-time with the physical world, such as robots or automotive vehicles, requires a seamless integration of time into a network’s architecture. The central question of this work is, how the temporal nature of reality should be reflected in the execution of a deep neural network and its components. Most artificial deep neural networks are partitioned into a directed graph of connected modules or layers and the layers themselves consist of elemental building blocks, such as single units. For most deep neural networks, all units of a layer are processed synchronously and in parallel, but layers themselves are processed in a sequential manner. In contrast, all elements of a biological neural network are processed in parallel. In this paper, we define a class of networks between these two extreme cases. These networks are executed in a streaming or synchronous layerwise-parallel manner, unlocking the layers of such networks for parallel processing. Compared to the standard layerwise-sequential deep networks, these new layerwise-parallel networks show a fundamentally different temporal behavior and flow of information, especially for networks with skip or recurrent connections. We argue that layerwise-parallel deep networks are better suited for future challenges of deep neural network design, such as large functional modularized and/or recurrent architectures as well as networks allocating different network capacities dependent on current stimulus and/or task complexity. We layout basic properties and discuss major challenges for layerwise-parallel networks. Additionally, we provide a toolbox to design, train, evaluate, and online-interact with layerwise-parallel networks.
user
<think>Okay, to do a decent peer review, I should start with summarizing what the work is about. This includes novelty, contributions, clarity, and impact. I might include suggestions to issues that I find critical to the usefulness of the work. Starting with novelty, there are different types of novelty. The first aspect of novelty is scope and scale. Is the work covering a broader perspective than previous works? The second aspect is methodology. Is the proposed methodology novel compared to previous methods? Do they provide any significant advantage over previous methodologies? The third aspect is results. Are the results different compared previous work? Does this lead to any novel theories or an extension of current theories? Next is clarity, I will be reading the work in depth and analyze if any sentences can be potentially ambiguous or misleading. If any sentences are ambiguous, I will state them and give a suggestion on how to rephrase such sentence or how to make more clear to the audience. Lastly, impact is important. I will attempt to predict how such work will impact the scientific community. This might include the applications of such work and how the work might transform the way we study a certain topic. Finally, I will might only mention issues that are critical. This is to keep the review as concise and helpful as possible.</think>



 In this paper, the authors present an open-source toolbox to explore layerwise-parallel deep neural networks. They offer an interesting and detailed comparison of the temporal progression of layerwise-parallel and layerwise-sequential networks, and differences that can emerge in the results of these two computation strategies. While the open-source toolbox introduced in this paper can be an excellent resource for the community interested in exploring these networks, the present submission offers relatively few results actually using these networks in practice. In order to make a more compelling case for these networks, the present submission could include more detailed investigations, perhaps demonstrating that they learn differently or better than other implementations on standard training sets.
assistant
 In this paper, the authors present an open-source toolbox to explore layerwise-parallel deep neural networks. They offer an interesting and detailed comparison of the temporal progression of layerwise-parallel and layerwise-sequential networks, and differences that can emerge in the results of these two computation strategies. While the open-source toolbox introduced in this paper can be an excellent resource for the community interested in exploring these networks, the present submission offers relatively few results actually using these networks in practice. In order to make a more compelling case for these networks, the present submission could include more detailed investigations, perhaps demonstrating that they learn differently or better than other implementations on standard training sets.