Telluride Neuromorphic AI Workshop 2026
Written on July 27th, 2026 by Lorin Achey
This summer I spent three weeks in the mountains of Telluride, Colorado for the 2026 Telluride Neuromorphic AI Workshop — an intense, collaborative, and genuinely fun experience that I will remember for a long time.
A workshop with deep roots
The Telluride Neuromorphic AI workshop is one of the longest-running gatherings in neuromorphic engineering and neuro-inspired AI. The workshop has been in Telluride for many years and has been continuously supported by the NSF. It has brought together thousands of researchers for hands-on, project-based collaboration. The format is closer to a summer research lab than a conventional conference: morning lectures and tutorials, afternoon and evening project work, and plenty of opportunity to cross topic boundaries. In 2026, projects spanned areas including the neural basis of intention, neuromorphic robotics and integrated circuits, and spatiotemporal dynamics in neural computation - all organized around the idea of bringing the organizing principles of neural cognition into AI, and using AI to better understand how brains work.
Three weeks in Telluride
The 2026 workshop ran from June 28 to July 17. Days were packed with lectures, demos, robotics experiments, and late-night project sessions. Working alongside researchers from neuroscience, robotics, hardware, and machine learning was a reminder of how much there is to learn when you leave your usual research bubble and how much energy comes from building something together in a short stretch of time!
Best Robot Trainer Award
At the closing ceremony, I was honored to receive the Best Robot Trainer Award. It was a fun and unexpected highlight of the workshop, and a great way to cap off weeks of working with the Telluride community. The photo at the top of this post is from the award ceremony!
On the air with KOTO-FM
Another memorable part of the workshop was getting to participate in a show on KOTO-FM, Telluride’s community radio station. Sharing the workshop with a local audience was a special way to connect the research happening in town with the people who call Telluride home.
Looking ahead
I left Telluride with new collaborators, new ideas, and a deeper appreciation for the neuromorphic community. If you get the chance to apply in a future year, I highly recommend it!