Robert Full: Engineering and evolution

翻译人员: Miao Li 校对人员: HUI YU

Welcome. If I could have the first slide, please?

欢迎大家！能调到第一张幻灯片吗？

Contrary to calculations made by some engineers, bees can fly,

与工程师们所计算的正好相反：蜜蜂能飞

dolphins can swim, and geckos can even climb

海豚能游泳，壁虎甚至可以

up the smoothest surfaces. Now, what I want to do, in the short time I have,

在最光滑的表面垂直爬行。我现在利用很短的一点时间

is to try to allow each of you to experience

想让你们都体验一下

the thrill of revealing nature's design.

揭开大自然设计的奥秘有多么刺激

I get to do this all the time, and it's just incredible.

我每次都有机会做这个，真是难以置信

I want to try to share just a little bit of that with you in this presentation.

现在要和你们一同分享

The challenge of looking at nature's designs --

窥探自然匠心的挑战

and I'll tell you the way that we perceive it, and the way we've used it.

我们怎么去理解它、应用它

The challenge, of course, is to answer this question:

其中的挑战自然是围绕着一个问题：

what permits this extraordinary performance of animals

是什么使得动物拥有某些能力，让它们的分布

that allows them basically to go anywhere?

广泛得如此出乎意料，几乎无处不在

And if we could figure that out, how can we implement those designs?

倘若我们能掌握这些设计的话会发生什么呢？

Well, many biologists will tell engineers, and others,

好吧，许多生物学家都会跟工程师们说

organisms have millions of years to get it right;

生物们花了上百万年才把这些东西弄对

they're spectacular; they can do everything wonderfully well.

让人叹为观止，这些家伙没什么做不了的

So, the answer is bio-mimicry: just copy nature directly.

所以它们的答案是:直接复制自然

We know from working on animals that the truth is

通过研究动物我们知道

that's exactly what you don't want to do -- because evolution works

其实这样根本不行。因为进化

on the just-good-enough principle, not on a perfecting principle.

遵循的是“见好就收”的原则，而不是“精益求精”

And the constraints in building any organism, when you look at it,

造化在“设计”任何一种生物时面临的障碍

are really severe. Natural technologies have incredible constraints.

都十分严峻。“自然科技”遇到的困难复杂得无可想象

Think about it. If you were an engineer and I told you

试想你是一个工程师，我告诉你

that you had to build an automobile, but it had to start off to be this big,

你得造一辆汽车，一开始只能有这么点儿大

then it had to grow to be full size and had to work every step along the way.

然后要渐渐长成，而且在每个阶段都能工作

Or think about the fact that if you build an automobile, I'll tell you that you also -- inside it --

想象我要你造这么一辆汽车

have to put a factory that allows you to make another automobile.

符合要求的汽车里得藏着一个工厂来制造另一辆汽车

(Laughter)

（笑）

And you can absolutely never, absolutely never, because of history

并且你绝对绝对没法从零开始，因为有进化史

and the inherited plan, start with a clean slate.

和遗传编码的一大堆限制

So, organisms have this important history.

所以生物的历史很重要

Really evolution works more like a tinkerer than an engineer.

进化的工作方式更像修理工而不是工程师，太过琐碎了

And this is really important when you begin to look at animals.

你看看动物体就知道这一点有多重要了

Instead, we believe you need to be inspired by biology.

我觉得应该是从生物中得到灵感

You need to discover the general principles of nature,

你得寻找自然的一般原理

and then use these analogies when they're advantageous.

然后在类比的广泛层面上让它们为我所用

This is a real challenge to do this, because animals,

做到这点真不容易，因为

when you start to really look inside them -- how they work --

当你真的去研究动物，它们的机理

appear hopelessly complex. There's no detailed history

看起来复杂得令人绝望。“设计方案”

of the design plans, you can't go look it up anywhere.

没有详细的历史备案可以随时查阅

They have way too many motions for their joints, too many muscles.

它们的关节能做太多种的运动，有太多块不同的肌肉

Even the simplest animal we think of, something like an insect,

哪怕是最简单的动物，像昆虫

and they have more neurons and connections than you can imagine.

它们的神经元和其中的连接方式多到你想不到

How can you make sense of this? Well, we believed --

你如何去理解这个？嗯..我们相信

and we hypothesized -- that one way animals could work simply,

也假设情况是这样：能让动物的机理简单些的办法

is if the control of their movements

可能是将运动的控制

tended to be built into their bodies themselves.

内置在身体的构造里

What we discovered was that two-, four-, six- and eight-legged animals

我们发现两条腿、四条腿、六条、八条腿的动物

all produce the same forces on the ground when they move.

动起来时都对地面产生相似的力

They all work like this kangaroo, they bounce.

它们都跟这只袋鼠差不多，它们都在“弹跳”

And they can be modeled by a spring-mass system that we call the spring mass system

这些都可以用一个弹簧-质量系统来模拟，我们这么叫它

because we're biomechanists. It's actually a pogo stick.

因为我们是生物机械学家，其实也就是个弹簧跳跳棒

They all produce the pattern of a pogo stick. How is that true?

它们都产生这一类的运动。为什么这样呢？

Well, a human, one of your legs works like two legs of a trotting dog,

这个..一个人的一条腿腿走起来像一只疾跑的狗一侧的两条腿

or works like three legs, together as one, of a trotting insect,

或者像一只昆虫身上三只同时动作的腿

or four legs as one of a trotting crab.

或是螃蟹体侧同时行动的四条腿

And then they alternate in their propulsion,

它们提供助推的顺序是交替的

but the patterns are all the same. Almost every organism we've looked at this way

但是规律是一样的。几乎所有的动物这样看来

-- you'll see next week, I'll give you a hint,

--下周你就能看到--暂且先给个提示，

there'll be an article coming out that says that really big things

会有一篇文章登出来说

like T. rex probably couldn't do this, but you'll see that next week.

像霸王龙那样的大家伙可能不会这么动，你下周等着瞧吧

Now, what's interesting is the animals, then -- we said -- bounce along

有意思的是动物们就这么

the vertical plane this way, and in our collaborations with Pixar,

在纵平面上“跳跃”，在我们和Pixar公司合作的

in "A Bug's Life," we discussed the

《一只虫子的生活》时，我们谈到

bipedal nature of the characters of the ants.

那里面蚂蚁角色们用双脚行走这一点

And we told them, of course, they move in another plane as well.

我们告诉他们蚂蚁当然还在另外一个平面里动

And they asked us this question. They say, "Why model

他们反问了我们一个问题，他们说，“为什么

just in the sagittal plane or the vertical plane,

只在径向平面或者纵向平面建模

when you're telling us these animals are moving

你不是说这些动物

in the horizontal plane?" This is a good question.

在横向平面里也动吗？”这是个好问题

Nobody in biology ever modeled it this way.

生物学里还没有人这么建模过呢

We took their advice and we modeled the animals moving

我们就接受了建议，在横向平面里

in the horizontal plane as well. We took their three legs,

也给动物运动建模了。拿蚂蚁的三条腿

we collapsed them down as one.

当做是一条

We got some of the best mathematicians in the world

借来世界上最好的数学家们--

from Princeton to work on this problem.

普林斯顿的人，来弄这个问题

And we were able to create a model

我们最后造了一个模型

where animals are not only bouncing up and down,

不光模拟动物的上下“弹跳”

but they're also bouncing side to side at the same time.

同时还左右运动

And many organisms fit this kind of pattern.

许多动物都遵循这个规律

Now, why is this important to have this model?

为什么这个模型很重要呢？

Because it's very interesting. When you take this model

因为很有意思，你拿这个模型

and you perturb it, you give it a push,

干扰它一下，给它一个推力

as it bumps into something, it self-stabilizes, with no brain

比如说当它撞在什么上面，它自动会趋向稳定，不需要大脑思考

or no reflexes, just by the structure alone.

不用条件反射，依靠这个结构本身的性质就行

It's a beautiful model. Let's look at the mathematics.

很美妙的一个模型。我们来看看其中的数学原理

(Laughter)

（笑）

That's enough!

够了。

(Laughter)

（笑）

The animals, when you look at them running,

当你看动物们跑的时候

appear to be self-stabilizing like this,

他们看上去会这样进行稳定调整

using basically springy legs. That is, the legs can do

用它们的“弹簧腿”。就是说那些腿

computations on their own; the control algorithms, in a sense,

仿佛能自己做计算，控制这些东西的算法某种意义上

are embedded in the form of the animal itself.

被嵌入了动物的形态本身

Why haven't we been more inspired by nature and these kinds of discoveries?

为什么我们没有能从这样的发现中得到更大的启示呢？

Well, I would argue that human technologies are really different from

我认为这是因为人类科技

natural technologies, at least they have been so far.

和“自然科技”差别很大，至少迄今一直如此

Think about the typical kind of robot that you see.

想想你看到的典型的机器人

Human technologies have tended to be large, flat,

人类科技趋向于又大又笨

with right angles, stiff, made of metal. They have rolling devices

有棱有角，僵硬，金属构造。它们装备的是滚动装置

and axles. There are very few motors, very few sensors.

和轴。一部机械里马达和传感器数量都很少

Whereas nature tends to be small, and curved,

而自然造物趋向于小体积和曲线形

and it bends and twists, and has legs instead, and appendages,

弯弯曲曲，带着腿和附加物

and has many muscles and many, many sensors.

许多的肌肉和一大堆的感应器

So it's a very different design. However, what's changing,

所以设计思路很不同。然而，现在正在改变着的

what's really exciting -- and I'll show you some of that next --

真正刺激的东西--下面让你们看看这些--

is that as human technology takes on more of the characteristics

就是当人类科技越来越多地拥有

of nature, then nature really can become a much more useful teacher.

自然物的特征，自然就能更好地教导、启发我们

And here's one example that's really exciting.

这儿有个真正带劲儿的例子

This is a collaboration we have with Stanford.

是我们和斯坦福大学合作的

And they developed this new technique, called Shape Deposition Manufacturing.

他们发明了一种叫形状沉积制造的新技术

It's a technique where they can mix materials together and mold any shape

利用这种技术他们可以把材料混合起来，铸成任意形状

that they like, and put in the material properties.

并把材料的性质加进去

They can embed sensors and actuators right in the form itself.

可以把传感器和促动器直接植入形态本身

For example, here's a leg: the clear part is stiff,

比方说，这儿有一条腿--透明的这一块是固定的

the white part is compliant, and you don't need any axles there or anything.

白色的一块可以弯曲，你不需要装轴或是什么东西

It just bends by itself beautifully.

它自己会很漂亮地弯下来

So, you can put those properties in. It inspired them to show off

所以你可以把那些性质加进来。这项技术给了他们可以卖弄的灵感

this design by producing a little robot they named Sprawl.

就创造出了这个叫Sprawl(“匍匐”)的机器人

Our work has also inspired another robot, a biologically inspired bouncing robot,

我们的研究还启发了另一个机器人，一个从生物学得到启发的弹跳机器人

from the University of Michigan and McGill

出自密歇根大学和麦克吉尔大学

named RHex, for robot hexapod, and this one's autonomous.

名叫RHex,“六足机器人”（robot hexapod） 的缩写，它是自动的

Let's go to the video, and let me show you some of these animals moving

让我们看一段录像，看看一些动物运动

and then some of the simple robots

还有些简单的机器人

that have been inspired by our discoveries.

他们都是从对动物的研究发现中受启发的

Here's what some of you did this morning, although you did it outside,

你们有些人早上会去干这个，只不过是在户外

not on a treadmill.

不是在跑步机上

Here's what we do.

而这个是我们做的

(Laughter)

（笑）

This is a death's head cockroach. This is an American cockroach

这是一只骷髅蟑螂--美国品种

you think you don't have in your kitchen.

不过估计你厨房里没有

This is an eight-legged scorpion, six-legged ant, forty-four-legged centipede.

一只八条腿的蝎子，六条腿的蚂蚁，四十四条腿的蜈蚣

Now, I said all these animals are sort of working like pogo sticks --

我现在告诉你这些动物走起来都像弹簧跳跳棒

they're bouncing along as they move. And you can see that

你看他们朝一个方向移动时也上下跳动

in this ghost crab, from the beaches of Panama and North Carolina.

比如这只来自巴拿马或北卡罗来纳海岸的幽灵蟹

It goes up to four meters per second when it runs.

跑起来速度能高达四米每秒

It actually leaps into the air, and has aerial phases

其实它经常有脚不沾地的滞空时间

when it does it, like a horse, and you'll see it's bouncing here.

而当它这样做的时候--就像匹马似的--你能看见他这里的跳动

What we discovered is whether you look at the leg of a human

我们发现无论你观察人类的腿

like Richard, or a cockroach, or a crab, or a kangaroo,

比如说理查的，或者一只蟑螂、螃蟹或是袋鼠的

the relative leg stiffness of that spring is the same for everything we've seen so far.

它们腿中那个“弹簧”的相对劲度都是相同的

Now, what good are springy legs then? What can they do?

那么弹簧腿有什么好处呢？能做些什么呢？

Well, we wanted to see if they allowed the animals

我们想知道它们能否给动物的运动

to have greater stability and maneuverability.

更大的稳定性和可操控性

So, we built a terrain that had obstacles three times the hip height

于是我们构建了一个

of the animals that we're looking at.

拥有三倍我们所研究的动物髋高度障碍物的地形

And we were certain they couldn't do this. And here's what they did.

我们很确定它们翻不过去。可它们是如此反应的：

The animal ran over it and it didn't even slow down!

动物飞奔而过，甚至都没有减速

It didn't decrease its preferred speed at all.

它一点都不乐意牺牲自己习惯的速度

We couldn't believe that it could do this. It said to us

我们一开始根本不相信的。事实告诉我们

that if you could build a robot with very simple, springy legs,

如果我们能用简易的弹簧腿造一个机器人

you could make it as maneuverable as any that's ever been built.

就可以使它的可控性出类拔萃

Here's the first example of that. This is the Stanford

这儿是第一个例子，斯坦福大学的

Shape Deposition Manufactured robot, named Sprawl.

形状沉积技术制造的机器人“匍匐”

It has six legs -- there are the tuned, springy legs.

有着六条腿--协调好了的弹簧腿

It moves in a gait that an insect uses, and here it is

它采用昆虫的步调行走，这个就是它

going on the treadmill. Now, what's important about this robot,

在跑步机上飞奔呢。与其他机器人相比

compared to other robots, is that it can't see anything,

它的关键就是它什么也看不见

it can't feel anything, it doesn't have a brain, yet it can maneuver

也感觉不到，根本就没头脑，然而却能

over these obstacles without any difficulty whatsoever.

娴熟地跨越障碍，毫不费力

It's this technique of building the properties into the form.

正是这个把性质嵌入形态的技术造就了这一切。

This is a graduate student. This is what he's doing to his thesis project --

这是一名研究生的毕业设计内容

very robust, if a graduate student

一个研究生的

does that to his thesis project.

毕业设计里能干这个可真是了不起

(Laughter)

（笑）

This is from McGill and University of Michigan. This is the RHex,

这是来自麦克吉尔和密歇根大学的RHex

making its first outing in a demo.

演示它首次出去放风

(Laughter)

（笑）

Same principle: it only has six moving parts,

一样的原理。它只有六处能动的部分

six motors, but it has springy, tuned legs. It moves in the gait of the insect.

六个电机，可是它具有协调了的弹簧腿，昆虫的步法

It has the middle leg moving in synchrony with the front,

中间的腿和前腿同步运动

and the hind leg on the other side. Sort of an alternating tripod,

后退则在另一边，交替地形成三角架形

and they can negotiate obstacles just like the animal.

它们能够像动物一样避开障碍物

(Laughter)

（笑）

(Voice: Oh my God.)

我的天哪

(Applause)

（掌声）

Robert Full: It'll go on different surfaces -- here's sand --

它现在要在不同的表面上走，这是沙子

although we haven't perfected the feet yet, but I'll talk about that later.

尽管我们尚未把腿再完善一些，我等一会儿会谈到这个

Here's RHex entering the woods.

RHex正在进入丛林

(Laughter)

（笑）

Again, this robot can't see anything, it can't feel anything,

跟刚才一样，这个机器人也没有视力，没有知觉

it has no brain. It's just working with a tuned mechanical system,

没有头脑。只是凭借着一个协调的机械系统

with very simple parts, but inspired from the fundamental dynamics of the animal.

和简单的各个部分。然而灵感都来源于动物的基本运动原理

(Voice: Ah, I love him, Bob.) RF: Here's it going down a pathway.

啊，我喜欢它--鲍勃，他正在下坡

I presented this to the jet propulsion lab at NASA, and they said

我把这个展示给NASA的喷气动力实验室看，他们说

that they had no ability to go down craters to look for ice,

他们缺一个能走下撞击坑寻找冰

and life, ultimately, on Mars. And he said --

最终寻找生命的技术，是用于火星的。他说--

especially with legged-robots, because they're way too complicated.

他强调有腿的机器人不能胜任，因为造出来实在太复杂

Nothing can do that. And I talk next. I showed them this video

根本不现实。我接着发言。我给他们看了这个短片

with the simple design of RHex here. And just to convince them

和RHex的简单构造，为了使他们相信

we should go to Mars in 2011, I tinted the video orange

我们2011年得上一趟火星，我把短片背景设成橘黄色

just to give them the sense of being on Mars.

让他们感觉仿佛是在火星上

(Laughter)

（笑）

(Applause)

（掌声）

Another reason why animals have extraordinary performance,

动物们生存能力极强

and can go anywhere, is because they have an effective interaction

分布极广的另一个原因，就是他们能够与环境

with the environment. The animal I'm going to show you,

进行有效交流。我下面给你们看的

that we studied to look at this, is the gecko.

我们所研究的动物是壁虎

We have one here and notice its position. It's holding on.

这儿就有一只，注意看它的姿势，它紧抓着不放

Now I'm going to challenge you. I'm going show you a video.

我现在要给你们出个题目，给你们看一段短片

One of the animals is going to be running on the level,

其中一只动物将在平地上跑

and the other one's going to be running up a wall. Which one's which?

另一只在爬上一堵墙。哪一只对应哪一只呢？

They're going at a meter a second. How many think the one on the left

它们的速度都是一米每秒。有多少人认为左边的这只

is running up the wall?

正在爬墙？

(Applause)

（掌声）

Okay. The point is it's really hard to tell, isn't it? It's incredible,

好的。看来是真的很难说，不是吗？难以置信啊

we looked at students do this and they couldn't tell.

我们的学生们也很难分辨出来

They can run up a wall at a meter a second, 15 steps per second,

壁虎以每秒一米的速度爬墙，每秒迈出15步

and they look like they're running on the level. How do they do this?

看起来就像在平地上跑。怎么做到的呢？

It's just phenomenal. The one on the right was going up the hill.

实在是了不起。右边的那只正在上墙

How do they do this? They have bizarre toes. They have toes

是如何做的呢--它们的脚趾十分奇特--

that uncurl like party favors when you blow them out,

它们像被吹过的聚会小礼物一样翻开

and then peel off the surface, like tape.

如同带子一样从表面剥张开来

Like if we had a piece of tape now, we'd peel it this way.

比方说像我们这么剥开一条带子

They do this with their toes. It's bizarre! This peeling inspired

它们的脚趾能做这个。真是出了奇了。这个翻开的动作启发了

iRobot -- that we work with -- to build Mecho-Geckos.

与我们共事的iRobot，于是制造出了Mecho-Geckos （机械壁虎）

Here's a legged version and a tractor version, or a bulldozer version.

这里有带腿型的、拖拉机型的和推土机型的

Let's see some of the geckos move with some video,

我们先从短片里看看壁虎的运动

and then I'll show you a little bit of a clip of the robots.

然后我再给你们看机器人

Here's the gecko running up a vertical surface. There it goes,

壁虎正在冲上一个垂直表面，一蹴而就

in real time. There it goes again. Obviously, we have to slow this down a little bit.

这是实时播放，再来一遍。显然我们得慢放一点点

You can't use regular cameras.

不能用普通镜头

You have to take 1,000 pictures per second to see this.

你得每秒捕捉1000张图像才能看到这个

And here's some video at 1,000 frames per second.

这个短片是每秒1000帧的

Now, I want you to look at the animal's back.

现在我要你们注意看这只动物的背部

Do you see how much it's bending like that? We can't figure that out --

你能看出它弯曲了多少吗？我们搞不清楚--

that's an unsolved mystery. We don't know how it works.

这还是个未解之谜。不知道它的工作原理是什么

If you have a son or a daughter that wants to come to Berkeley,

如果你的儿子或者女儿想来伯克利念书

come to my lab and we'll figure this out. Okay, send them to Berkeley

就来我的实验室我们把它弄清楚。是啊，送他们到伯克利来

because that's the next thing I want to do. Here's the gecko mill.

因为我下面就想研究那个问题。这是壁虎跑步机

(Laughter)

（笑）

It's a see-through treadmill with a see-through treadmill belt,

是个透明的跑步机，透明的跑步带

so we can watch the animal's feet, and videotape them

我们能观察动物们的脚，给它们录像

through the treadmill belt, to see how they move.

透过这个跑步带，看它们如何运动

Here's the animal that we have here, running on a vertical surface.

这是我们的动物正在垂直面上跑

Pick a foot and try to watch a toe, and see if you can see what the animal's doing.

选一只脚，试着观察一根脚趾，看你能否察觉动物在干嘛

See it uncurl and then peel these toes.

看看它翻开又剥张这些脚趾

It can do this in 14 milliseconds. It's unbelievable.

14毫秒之内就完成了，实在是难以置信

Here are the robots that they inspire, the Mecho-Geckos from iRobot.

这就是受它们启发的机器人，iRobot的机械壁虎

First we'll see the animals toes peeling -- look at that.

首先我们看到动物的脚趾剥开--看看这个

And here's the peeling action of the Mecho-Gecko.

这就是机械壁虎的那个剥开的动作

It uses a pressure-sensitive adhesive to do it.

它用一个对压强敏感的粘合物来完成这个动作

Peeling in the animal. Peeling in the Mecho-Gecko --

这是动物的剥开动作，这是机械壁虎的

that allows them climb autonomously. Can go on the flat surface,

都使他们能够自己攀爬，先走在平面上

transition to a wall, and then go onto a ceiling.

移到墙上，再上天花板

There's the bulldozer version. Now, it doesn't use pressure-sensitive glue.

这是推土机版本的。这个用的可不是压强敏感性的粘胶

The animal does not use that.

动物可不用那个

But that's what we're limited to, at the moment.

但是我们现在只有这个可用

What does the animal do? The animal has weird toes.

动物怎么做呢？它有怪异的脚趾

And if you look at the toes, they have these little leaves there,

如果你看仔细点它们有这些细小的叶片

and if you blow them up and zoom in, you'll see

如果你把它们放大你会看见

that's there's little striations in these leaves.

这些叶片里面有小条纹

And if you zoom in 270 times, you'll see it looks like a rug.

你要是放大270倍，你会看见它其实长得像条毯子

And if you blow that up, and zoom in 900 times,

如果你再放大900倍

you see there are hairs there, tiny hairs. And if you look carefully,

你看到有毛，细小的毛，再看仔细些

those tiny hairs have striations. And if you zoom in on those 30,000 times,

这些毛上又有条纹。如果你再把它们都放大三万倍

you'll see each hair has split ends.

你看到每一根细毛头上都有分叉

And if you blow those up, they have these little structures on the end.

你要是再放大就会看到它们的头上都有一些小结构

The smallest branch of the hairs looks like spatulae,

毛最小的分枝看起来像小铲

and an animal like that has one billion of these nano-size split ends,

这样一个小动物能用10亿根纳米级的分叉毛

to get very close to the surface. In fact, there's the diameter of your hair --

贴近物体的表面。这是你头发的直径

a gecko has two million of these, and each hair has 100 to 1,000 split ends.

一只壁虎有200万个这样的，每根毛有100到1000个分叉

Think of the contact of that that's possible.

想象一下它们能形成的接触

We were fortunate to work with another group

我们有幸和另外一个斯坦福的小组合作

at Stanford that built us a special manned sensor,

造出了一个特殊控制的感应器

that we were able to measure the force of an individual hair.

能够帮我们测量一根单个毛发受到的力

Here's an individual hair with a little split end there.

这是一根带了点分叉的毛

When we measured the forces, they were enormous.

当我们测量受力时发现大得惊人

They were so large that a patch of hairs about this size --

大到像一片这样尺寸的毛

the gecko's foot could support the weight of a small child,

就壁虎脚这么大--能轻易撑起一个小孩的重量

about 40 pounds, easily. Now, how do they do it?

大约40磅。它们怎么做到的呢？

We've recently discovered this. Do they do it by friction?

我们最近发现了。是摩擦力吗?

No, force is too low. Do they do it by electrostatics?

不是，摩擦力太小了。是静电吗？

No, you can change the charge -- they still hold on.

不是，你改变一下电荷它们还是抓得牢牢地

Do they do it by interlocking? That's kind of a like a Velcro-like thing.

是通过形状的互相咬合吗？是像维可劳（尼龙剌粘搭链）那样的吗？

No, you can put them on molecular smooth surfaces -- they don't do it.

不是，你把它们放到分子级的光滑平面上--就不起作用了

How about suction? They stick on in a vacuum.

空气吸力吗？它们在真空里一样能贴着

How about wet adhesion? Or capillary adhesion?

湿粘合呢？或者毛细管作用呢？

They don't have any glue, and they even stick under water just fine.

它们可没有用胶，而且在水下抓得一样地紧

If you put their foot under water, they grab on.

把脚放在水里也能抓住

How do they do it then? Believe it or not, they grab on

怎么回事呢？信不信由你

by intermolecular forces, by Van der Waals forces.

它们用了分子间作用力，范德华力

You know, you probably had this a long time ago in chemistry,

你可能还是很久以前在化学里学的这个

where you had these two atoms, they're close together,

两个原子，靠得挺近

and the electrons are moving around. That tiny force is sufficient

电子绕着它们动。这个小小的力足够

to allow them to do that because it's added up so many times

完成这个因为它被加成了许多许多次

with these small structures.

通过这些小小的结构

What we're doing is, we're taking that inspiration of the hairs,

我们正在做的就是利用这些毛带来的灵感

and with another colleague at Berkeley, we're manufacturing them.

和我在伯克利的另一位同事一起制造它们

And just recently we've made a breakthrough, where we now believe

就是在最近我们有了一项突破，现在我们相信

we're going to be able to create the first synthetic, self-cleaning,

我们就要制出第一种合成的，自我清洁

dry adhesive. Many companies are interested in this.

干性的粘合物。许多公司都很感兴趣

(Laughter)

（笑）

We also presented to Nike even.

我们甚至给耐克做了展示

(Laughter)

（笑）

(Applause)

（掌声）

We'll see where this goes. We were so excited about this

我们得看看它的前景了。真是让人兴奋呢

that we realized that that small-size scale --

发现在极小的尺寸下

and where everything gets sticky, and gravity doesn't matter anymore --

所有的东西都粘在一块儿，重力再也不重要了

we needed to look at ants and their feet, because

我们需要看看蚂蚁和它们的脚，因为

one of my other colleagues at Berkeley has built a six-millimeter silicone

伯克利的另一位同事，造了一个六毫米的

robot with legs. But it gets stuck. It doesn't move very well.

带腿的硅制机器人。但是它老卡住，动得不灵活

But the ants do, and we'll figure out why, so that ultimately

可是蚂蚁相当灵活，我们就要知道为什么，就可以

we'll make this move. And imagine: you're going to be able

相应作出改变。想象一下，你很快就可以

to have swarms of these six-millimeter robots available to run around.

让一大群的六毫米大小的机器人到处乱跑

Where's this going? I think you can see it already.

这有什么前景呢？我觉得你现在已经想到了

Clearly, the Internet is already having eyes and ears,

显然互联网已经拥有了眼睛和耳朵

you have web cams and so forth. But it's going to also have legs and hands.

有网络摄像头等等东西，但是以后它还会有腿与手

You're going to be able to do programmable

你就可以用这些机器人

work through these kinds of robots, so that you can run,

完成可编程的工作，可以到处跑啊

fly and swim anywhere. We saw David Kelly is at the beginning of that with his fish.

飞啊游啊。我们开始的时候看到了David Kelly和他的鱼

So, in conclusion, I think the message is clear.

所以综上所述，我觉得这个信息很清楚

If you need a message, if nature's not enough, if you care about

如果你需要一个信息，如果光是自然造物还不够，如果你关注

search and rescue, or mine clearance, or medicine,

搜救工作、矿井清理、医药

or the various things we're working on, we must preserve

还有我们在做的各种各样的事情，我们必须好好保管

nature's designs, otherwise these secrets will be lost forever.

大自然的精妙设计，不然这些秘密会永远消失

Thank you.

谢谢你们

(Applause)

（掌声）