Five years ago, I used the previous closed-source version of NuPIC for my MSc thesis to build an evolutionary simulation of a predator/prey relationship to evolve camouflage patterns. The NuPIC network was the "predator", trying to categorise "prey" patterns against background images. I only scratched the surface of what it could do, but it worked incredibly well.

It looks like this new version is a completely different implementation [1] but, in my experience, the idea is sound and the approach is very promising.

I'd love to revisit the project at some point. The fact that this is now open source makes that much more appealing.

[1] http://numenta.org/faq.html#whats_the_difference_between_thi...