Bonsai

Downloads: [PDF] [Poster] [Summary of Results] [Code]

Bonsai is a new tree model for supervised learning tasks such as binary and multi-class classification, regression, ranking, etc. Bonsai learns a single, shallow, sparse tree with powerful predictors at internal and leaf nodes. This allows Bonsai to achieve state-of-the-art prediction accuracies while making predictions efficiently in microseconds to milliseconds (depending on processor speed) using models that fit in a few KB of memory. Bonsai can be trained in the cloud or on your laptop, but can then make predictions locally on tiny resource-constrained devices without needing cloud connectivity.

Bonsai has been deployed successfully on microcontrollers tinier than a grain of rice such as the ARM Cortex M0 with just 2 KB RAM. Bonsai can also make predictions accurately and efficiently on the tiniest of IoT boards such as the Arduino Pro Mini based on an 8 bit Atmel ATmega328P microcontroller operating at 8 MHz without any floating point support in hardware, with 2 KB RAM and 32 KB read-only flash memory. Bonsai can also fit in the L1 cache of processors found in mobiles, tablets, laptops and servers for low-latency applications.

Bonsai is most useful for IoT scenarios where it is not advantageous to transmit sensor readings (or features) to the cloud and predictions need to be made locally on-device due to:

• Poor bandwidth or lack of connectivity
• Low-latency requirements where predictions need to be made very quickly and there isn’t enough time to transmit data to the cloud and get back a prediction
• Concerns about privacy and security where the data should not leave the device
• Low-energy requirements where data cannot be transmitted to the cloud so as to enhance battery life

Bonsai can also be useful for switching to a smaller, cheaper and more energy-efficient form factor such as from a Raspberry Pi 3 to an Arduino Pro Mini. Finally, Bonsai also generalizes to other resource-constrained scenarios beyond the Internet of Things and can be used on laptops, servers and the cloud for low-latency applications and to bring down energy consumption and operating costs.

Please see our ICML 2017 paper for more details about the model and algorithm and our Getting Started section for instructions on how to use Bonsai.