A robot that eats pollution | Jonathan Rossiter

翻译人员: Yan Gao 校对人员: Jiawei Ni

Hi, I'm an engineer

大家好，我是一名工程师，

and I make robots.

我是做机器人的。

Now, of course you all know what a robot is, right?

当然了，你们都知道什么是机器人，

If you don't, you'd probably go to Google,

如果你不知道， 可能会去谷歌搜索一下，

and you'd ask Google what a robot is.

问问谷歌，什么是机器人？

So let's do that.

咱们用谷歌搜一下。

We'll go to Google and this is what we get.

这就是我们在谷歌上得到的。

Now, you can see here there are lots of different types of robots,

你会发现这里有很多 不同样式的机器人，

but they're predominantly humanoid in structure.

但它们的结构 主要是模仿人类的，

And they look pretty conventional

而且看上去都是常规的样子，

because they've got plastic, they've got metal,

因为它们有塑料、有金属，

they've got motors and gears and so on.

还有发动机、齿轮等等。

Some of them look quite friendly,

有些机器人看起来很友善，

and you could go up and you could hug them.

你可以过去抱一下。

Some of them not so friendly,

也有些看起来不怎么友善，

they look like they're straight out of "Terminator,"

就像是从电影《终结者》里 直接走出来的一样。

in fact they may well be straight out of "Terminator."

其实，他们可能 真的就从《终结者》来的。

You can do lots of really cool things with these robots --

有了这些机器人， 你可以做很多很酷的事情——

you can do really exciting stuff.

还有很刺激的事情。

But I'd like to look at different kinds of robots --

但我想去关注另一种机器人——

I want to make different kinds of robots.

我想做不同种类的机器人。

And I take inspiration from the things that don't look like us,

给我灵感的东西 看起来并不像我们人类，

but look like these.

而是像这些。

So these are natural biological organisms

这些便是自然生物有机体，

and they do some really cool things that we can't,

它们能做很多很酷的事、

and current robots can't either.

我们和现有的机器人 都做不到的事。

They do all sorts of great things like moving around on the floor;

它们能做的很厉害的事 包括在地面上到处走；

they go into our gardens and they eat our crops;

去花园，吃农作物；

they climb trees;

爬树；

they go in water, they come out of water;

出入水面；

they trap insects and digest them.

捕捉并消化昆虫等等。

So they do really interesting things.

所以说，它们所能做的事很有趣。

They live, they breathe, they die,

它们出生、呼吸、死亡，

they eat things from the environment.

他们也从自然环境中摄取食物。

Our current robots don't really do that.

这都是我们现有的机器人所不能做的。

Now, wouldn't it be great

那么，如果我们可以 把这些特性的一部分

if you could use some of those characteristics in future robots

放到未来的机器人身上，

so that you could solve some really interesting problems?

来解决一些很有趣的问题，会不会很棒？

I'm going to look at a couple of problems now in the environment

下面讨论几个环境问题，

where we can use the skills and the technologies

我们可以在这些环境中

derived from these animals

应用这些动植物 拥有的能力和技巧

and from the plants,

and we can use them to solve those problems.

来解决这些问题。

Let's have a look at two environmental problems.

我们来看两个环境问题。

They're both of our making --

都是人类造成的——

this is man interacting with the environment

这是人类与环境相互作用，

and doing some rather unpleasant things.

造成的一些不怎么好的后果。

The first one is to do with the pressure of population.

第一个问题与人口压力有关。

Such is the pressure of population around the world

世界人口的压力

that agriculture and farming is required to produce more and more crops.

要求农业生产更多农作物。

Now, to do that,

要做到这一点，

farmers put more and more chemicals onto the land.

农民需要对土地 使用越来越多的化学品。

They put on fertilizers, nitrates, pesticides --

他们使用的包括 肥料、硝酸盐、农药——

all sorts of things that encourage the growth of the crops,

各种促进农作物生长的东西，

but there are some negative impacts.

但这也有负面影响。

One of the negative impacts is if you put lots of fertilizer on the land,

其中一个负面影响是， 如果在田里施很多肥料，

not all of it goes into the crops.

作物并不能吸收所有的肥料。

Lots of it stays in the soil,

很多肥料会留在土壤里，

and then when it rains,

然后下雨时，

these chemicals go into the water table.

这些化学品流进地下水。

And in the water table,

顺着地下水，

then they go into streams, into lakes, into rivers

进入小溪、湖泊、河流，

and into the sea.

最后进入海洋。

Now, if you put all of these chemicals, these nitrates,

当这些化学品、硝酸盐

into those kinds of environments,

进入环境中时，

there are organisms in those environments that will be affected by that --

生活在这些环境里的生物 就会受到影响——

algae, for example.

比如藻类。

Algae loves nitrates, it loves fertilizer,

藻类热爱硝酸盐，它喜欢肥料，

so it will take in all these chemicals,

所以它吸收这些化学品。

and if the conditions are right, it will mass produce.

条件适宜时，藻类大量繁殖，

It will produce masses and masses of new algae.

繁殖出一堆一堆的新藻。

That's called a bloom.

这叫做爆藻。

The trouble is that when algae reproduces like this,

麻烦的是，藻类这样繁殖时，

it starves the water of oxygen.

会耗尽水中的氧气。

As soon as you do that,

氧气一旦耗尽，

the other organisms in the water can't survive.

水中其它生物就无法生存。

So, what do we do?

那怎么办？

We try to produce a robot that will eat the algae,

我们尝试制造 会吃水藻的机器人，

consume it and make it safe.

能把水藻吃光，又很安全。

So that's the first problem.

这是第一个问题。

The second problem is also of our making,

而第二个问题也是人类的杰作，

and it's to do with oil pollution.

是油污染。

Now, oil comes out of the engines that we use,

我们的发动机、船只

都会释放出油类。

the boats that we use.

Sometimes tankers flush their oil tanks into the sea,

有时候油轮把油箱里的物质排进海里，

so oil is released into the sea that way.

油就这样进入海水。

Wouldn't it be nice if we could treat that in some way

如果我们可以使用 能吃掉油污染物的机器人，

using robots that could eat the pollution the oil fields have produced?

那是不是很美好？

So that's what we do.

这就是我们正在做的。

We make robots that will eat pollution.

我们做的是 能吃掉污染物的机器人。

To actually make the robot,

为了实际造出这种机器人，

we take inspiration from two organisms.

我们从两种生物中获取灵感。

右边那张是姥鲨。

On the right there you see the basking shark.

The basking shark is a massive shark.

姥鲨是大型鲨鱼，

It's noncarnivorous, so you can swim with it,

它是非肉食动物， 所以你可以跟它一起游泳，

as you can see.

就像这样。

And the basking shark opens its mouth,

姥鲨张着大嘴，

and it swims through the water, collecting plankton.

游过水面，收集浮游生物。

As it does that, it digests the food,

同时，它消化食物，

and then it uses that energy in its body to keep moving.

在体内产生能量，赖以继续活动。

So, could we make a robot like that --

那么，我们能不能 做个这样的机器人 --

like the basking shark that chugs through the water

像姥鲨一样在水里慢慢前进

and eats up pollution?

吃掉污染物？

Well, let's see if we can do that.

那我们来看看能不能做。

But also, we take the inspiration from other organisms.

另外我们从另一生物得到的灵感。

I've got a picture here of a water boatman,

这照片是水船虫。

and the water boatman is really cute.

水船虫真的很可爱。

When it's swimming in the water,

它游泳时，

it uses its paddle-like legs to push itself forward.

用船桨一样的腿向前推自己。

So we take those two organisms

那么我们取两者之长处，

and we combine them together to make a new kind of robot.

结合在一起， 做成一种新型机器人。

In fact, because we're using the water boatman as inspiration,

实际上，因为从水船虫得到的灵感，

and our robot sits on top of the water,

以及我们的机器人坐在水面上，

and it rows,

划行向前，

we call it the "Row-bot."

我们就称它为“划水机器人”。

So a Row-bot is a robot that rows.

所以划水机器人是个 会划水的机器人。

OK. So what does it look like?

好，那它长什么样子？

Here's some pictures of the Row-bot,

这是一些照片。

你们看，

and you'll see,

它一点都不像 我们开头看到的机器人。

it doesn't look anything like the robots we saw right at the beginning.

所以谷歌错了， 机器人不是它说的那样，

Google is wrong; robots don't look like that,

they look like this.

机器人长这样。

So I've got the Row-bot here.

我这里有一只划水机器人。

I'll just hold it up for you.

我拿起来给你们看，

It gives you a sense of the scale,

让你们了解一下它的大小，

and it doesn't look anything like the others.

而且它一点也不像其它机器人。

OK, so it's made out of plastic,

它是塑料的。

and we'll have a look now at the components

现在我们来看看

that make up the Row-bot --

划水机器人的组件——

what makes it really special.

使它特别的地方。

The Row-bot is made up of three parts,

划水机器人由三个部分组成，

and those three parts are really like the parts of any organism.

就像任何生物的组成部分。

It's got a brain,

它有大脑、

it's got a body

有身体、

and it's got a stomach.

有胃。

It needs the stomach to create the energy.

它需要胃来产生能量。

Any Row-bot will have those three components,

所有划水机器人都有这三部分，

and any organism will have those three components,

就像任何生物都有这三部分一样。

so let's go through them one at a time.

我们一个个来看。

It has a body,

它有身体，

and its body is made out of plastic,

塑料制成的身体，

and it sits on top of the water.

它可以坐在水面上。

And it's got flippers on the side here --

脚蹼在旁边这里——

paddles that help it move,

帮助机器人移动，

just like the water boatman.

就像水船虫一样。

It's got a plastic body,

它的身体是塑料的，

but it's got a soft rubber mouth here,

但这里有软橡胶做的嘴。

and a mouth here -- it's got two mouths.

这里还有另一张嘴， 它有两张嘴。

Why does it have two mouths?

为什么要两张嘴？

One is to let the food go in

一张让食物进来，

and the other is to let the food go out.

另一张让食物出去。

So you can see really it's got a mouth and a derriere,

所以你们可以看到， 它有嘴，有臀部，

or a --

或者是 --

(Laughter)

排泄的地方，

something where the stuff comes out,

which is just like a real organism.

就像真的生物一样。

So it's starting to look like that basking shark.

所以它开始有点像那个姥鲨了。

So that's the body.

那么刚才说的是身体。

The second component might be the stomach.

第二部分是胃。

We need to get the energy into the robot and we need to treat the pollution,

我们需要给机器人输入能量，

还需要处理污染。

so the pollution goes in,

所以污染物从这里进去，

and it will do something.

机器人会处理一下，

It's got a cell in the middle here called a microbial fuel cell.

中间这里有电池， 称为微生物燃料电池。

I'll put this down, and I'll lift up the fuel cell.

我把这个放下，

把燃料电池拿起来。

Here. So instead of having batteries,

这不是电池，

instead of having a conventional power system,

也不是传统的供电系统，

而是这个——

it's got one of these.

This is its stomach.

它的胃。

And it really is a stomach

它真的是个胃。

because you can put energy in this side in the form of pollution,

因为你可以在这边 放进污染物形式的能量，

and it creates electricity.

它就发电。

所以这是什么？

So what is it?

它叫做微生物燃料电池。

It's called a microbial fuel cell.

It's a little bit like a chemical fuel cell,

它有点像化学燃料电池。

你大概在学校看过，

which you might have come across in school,

或者新闻里看过。

or you might've seen in the news.

Chemical fuel cells take hydrogen and oxygen,

化学燃料电池利用氢气和氧气，

and they can combine them together and you get electricity.

把两者结合，获得电力。

That's well-established technology; it was in the Apollo space missions.

这是成熟的技术， 在阿波罗太空计划里用过，

That's from 40, 50 years ago.

就是说四、五十年以前就有了。

This is slightly newer.

但这个比较新，

This is a microbial fuel cell.

这是微生物燃料电池。

It's the same principle:

原理相同：

it's got oxygen on one side,

氧气在一边，

but instead of having hydrogen on the other,

但另一边不是氢气，

it's got some soup,

而是一种混合液。

and inside that soup there are living microbes.

混合液中有活的微生物。

如果你拿一些有机材料——

Now, if you take some organic material --

could be some waste products, some food,

可以是某种废品、食物，

maybe a bit of your sandwich --

或者用一点你的三明治 --

you put it in there, the microbes will eat that food,

把它放进这里面， 微生物会吃掉它，

and they will turn it into electricity.

然后把这食物转化成电力。

Not only that, but if you select the right kind of microbes,

不仅如此，如果微生物的种类正确，

you can use the microbial fuel cell to treat some of the pollution.

你可以用微生物燃料电池 处理某些污染物。

如果选对了微生物，

If you choose the right microbes,

the microbes will eat the algae.

那微生物可以吃掉藻类；

If you use other kinds of microbes,

如果用另一种微生物，

they will eat petroleum spirits and crude oil.

它可以吃掉石油醚和原油。

So you can see how this stomach could be used

所以你看到了 如何使用这个胃

to not only treat the pollution

来不仅处理污染物，

but also to generate electricity from the pollution.

而且能用污染物发电。

So the robot will move through the environment,

所以这个机器人 在环境中到处移动，

taking food into its stomach,

把食物吃进胃里，

digest the food, create electricity,

消化吃进去的食物，发电，

use that electricity to move through the environment

再利用电力在环境中继续移动，

and keep doing this.

如此周而复始。

OK, so let's see what happens when we run the Row-bot --

那么，我们看看 划水机器人工作的样子——

when it does some rowing.

它划水时的样子。

Here we've got a couple of videos,

这里有几段影片。

the first thing you'll see -- hopefully you can see here

你们看到的第一个动作—— 希望大家都能看到，

is the mouth open.

是张开嘴巴。

The front mouth and the bottom mouth open,

前嘴后嘴都张开，

它会一直把嘴张得足够大，

and it will stay opened enough,

then the robot will start to row forward.

然后机器人开始向前划行。

It moves through the water

它在水中移动，

so that food goes in as the waste products go out.

使食物进去，废弃物出来。

当它移动够了，

Once it's moved enough,

it stops and then it closes the mouth --

就停下，合上嘴巴——

slowly closes the mouths --

慢慢合上——

and then it will sit there,

然后就坐在那里，

and it will digest the food.

开始消化食物。

Of course these microbial fuel cells,

当然这些微生物燃料电池里

they contain microbes.

有微生物存在。

What you really want is lots of energy

你真正想要的是从这些微生物

coming out of those microbes as quickly as possible.

得到很多能量，并且越快越好。

But we can't force the microbes

但我们不能强迫微生物，

and they generate a small amount of electricity per second.

它们每秒只能产生一点点电，

They generate milliwatts, or microwatts.

发电量是毫瓦或微瓦级。

对这个发电量做个比较。

Let's put that into context.

Your mobile phone for example,

比如你的手机，

one of these modern ones,

像这种现代一点的。

if you use it, it takes about one watt.

使用手机时，耗电量大约一瓦。

So that's a thousand or a million times as much energy that that uses

所以手机的耗电量

是微生物燃料电池的 一千倍或一百万倍。

compared to the microbial fuel cell.

How can we cope with that?

那我们怎么办呢？

Well, when the Row-bot has done its digestion,

划水机器人消化完食物之后，

when it's taken the food in,

当它吃进食物后，

it will sit there and it will wait until it has consumed all that food.

就会坐在那里， 一直等到食物消化完。

That could take some hours, it could take some days.

那需要几个小时，甚至好几天。

A typical cycle for the Row-bot looks like this:

划水机器人典型的工作周期 是这样的：

you open your mouth,

张开嘴，

you move,

移动，

you close your mouth

合上嘴，

and you sit there for a while waiting.

坐在那里等。

Once you digest your food,

一旦把食物消化完，

then you can go about doing the same thing again.

就把相同的事情再做一遍。

But you know what, that looks like a real organism, doesn't it?

可是你看， 这是不是很像真的生物啊？

跟我们做的事情很像。

It looks like the kind of thing we do.

周六晚上，我们出门，张嘴，

Saturday night, we go out, open our mouths,

fill our stomachs,

把胃塞满，

sit in front of the telly and digest.

坐在电视机前，消化。

When we've had enough, we do the same thing again.

觉得消化完了，又重复同样的事。

OK, if we're lucky with this cycle,

好，如果这次循环很幸运，

at the end of the cycle we'll have enough energy left over

循环结束时还有足够的剩余能量

for us to be able to do something else.

去做点别的事，

We could send a message, for example.

比如可以发个短信。

We could send a message saying,

我们可以发个短信说，

"This is how much pollution I've eaten recently,"

“我最近吃了这么多污染物”，

or, "This is the kind of stuff that I've encountered,"

或者“我最近遇到了这东西”，

or, "This is where I am."

或者“这是我的当前位置”。

That ability to send a message saying, "This is where I am,"

能够发出“这是我的当前位置”的短信

is really, really important.

是非常非常重要的。

If you think about the oil slicks that we saw before,

设想一下之前看到的 水面的油污画面，

or those massive algal blooms,

或者大片藻类。

what you really want to do is put your Row-bot out there,

你真的想把划水机器人送过去，

and it eats up all of those pollutions,

把所有污染物吃光，

and then you have to go collect them.

然后你得把它们收回来。

Why?

为什么？

因为目前这些划水机器人

Because these Row-bots at the moment,

this Row-bot I've got here,

和我这里的这只划水机器人，

it contains motors, it contains wires,

里面有马达、电线，

it contains components which themselves are not biodegradable.

有自己不能生物降解的组件。

Current Row-bots contain things like toxic batteries.

目前的划水机器人里面 包括有毒电池等等，

You can't leave those in the environment,

你不能把它们留在环境里，

so you need to track them,

所以必须追踪它们的位置。

and then when they've finished their job of work,

在它们完成工作后，

you need to collect them.

必须回收。

That limits the number of Row-bots you can use.

这会限制可用机器人的数量。

If, on the other hand,

另一方面，

you have robot a little bit like a biological organism,

如果你的机器人有点像生物体，

那它在生命结束时，

when it comes to the end of its life,

it dies and it degrades to nothing.

会死亡且降解消失。

So wouldn't it be nice if these robots,

所以，

如果这些机器人不是 像现在这样用塑料制成，

instead of being like this, made out of plastic,

were made out of other materials,

而是用其它材料，

那种丢在外面就可以 降解消失的材料

which when you throw them out there,

they biodegrade to nothing?

该有多好？

That changes the way in which we use robots.

那就会改变我们使用机器人的方式。

Instead of putting 10 or 100 out into the environment,

与其放10个、100个 机器人到环境中，

having to track them,

不得不追踪它们，

and then when they die,

还要在死掉后

collect them,

收回来，

you could put a thousand,

不如放1000个、

a million, a billion robots into the environment.

一百万个、十亿个机器人，

就让它们随意散落在环境中。

Just spread them around.

You know that at the end of their lives, they're going to degrade to nothing.

你知道它们寿终时会降解消失，

You don't need to worry about them.

而不需要担心它们的回收。

So that changes the way in which you think about robots

那样会改变你对机器人的想法，

and the way you deploy them.

以及使用它们的方式。

Then the question is: Can you do this?

随之而来的问题： 你能做吗？

Well, yes, we have shown that you can do this.

是的，我们已经证明， 你也可以做。

You can make robots which are biodegradable.

你可以制造可生物降解的机器人。

What's really interesting is you can use household materials

真正有意思的是， 你可以使用日常原料，

to make these biodegradable robots.

来制造这种可生物降解的机器人。

I'll show you some; you might be surprised.

我给大家看几个， 你们可能会很惊讶。

You can make a robot out of jelly.

你能用果冻做出机器人。

Instead of having a motor, which we have at the moment,

那么取代现在这个马达的是，

you can make things called artificial muscles.

你可以造出叫做人造肌肉的东西。

Artificial muscles are smart materials,

人造肌肉是一种智能材料，

you apply electricity to them,

给它通电，

and they contract, or they bend or they twist.

它就会收缩、弯曲或扭转，

They look like real muscles.

它看起来就像真的肌肉。

So instead of having a motor, you have these artificial muscles.

所以，与其使用马达， 不如使用人造肌肉。

And you can make artificial muscles out of jelly.

你可以用果冻做人造肌肉。

If you take some jelly and some salts,

给果冻加点盐，

and do a bit of jiggery-pokery,

然后鼓捣鼓捣，

you can make an artificial muscle.

就做出人造肌肉了。

We've also shown you can make the microbial fuel cell's stomach

我们还证明了，可以用纸，

做微生物燃料电池的胃。

out of paper.

So you could make the whole robot out of biodegradable materials.

因此整个机器人都可以 用生物降解材料制造。

You throw them out there, and they degrade to nothing.

把它们丢出去， 它们会自己降解消失。

Well, this is really, really exciting.

这真的非常令人兴奋。

It's going to totally change the way in which we think about robots,

这会彻底改变我们对机器人的看法。

but also it allows you to be really creative

而且还让你变得有创意，

in the way in which you think about what you can do with these robots.

想出更多机器人的用途。

I'll give you an example.

我举个例子。

If you can use jelly to make a robot --

如果你能用果冻做机器人——

now, we eat jelly, right?

大家都吃果冻吧？

So, why not make something like this?

那，为什么不这样做？

A robot gummy bear.

橡皮熊机器人。

Here, I've got some I prepared earlier.

这里，我准备了几个。

There we go. I've got a packet --

好了，我有一袋——

and I've got a lemon-flavored one.

我拿了一个柠檬味儿的。

I'll take this gummy bear -- he's not robotic, OK?

我要吃掉这个橡皮熊软糖——

这个不是机器人， 我们得先假装一下。

We have to pretend.

And what you do with one of these is you put it in your mouth --

你要拿它做什么用呢？ 把它放进嘴里——

the lemon's quite nice.

柠檬味儿不错。

Try not to chew it too much, it's a robot, it may not like it.

不要太用力嚼， 机器人可能不喜欢。

And then you swallow it.

然后吞下去。

And then it goes into your stomach.

然后它进入你的胃。

And when it's inside your stomach, it moves, it thinks, it twists, it bends,

到胃里之后， 它移动、思考、扭转、弯曲，

it does something.

各种折腾。

It could go further down into your intestines,

然后再跑到你的肠道，

find out whether you've got some ulcer or cancer,

看看你有没有溃疡或癌症，

或许顺便打个针之类的。

maybe do an injection, something like that.

You know that once it's done its job of work,

你知道它完成任务后，

会被你的胃消化掉。

it could be consumed by your stomach,

or if you don't want that,

或者，如果你不愿意，

it could go straight through you,

它可以只在你的身体里走个过场，

into the toilet,

掉进马桶，

and be degraded safely in the environment.

在环境中安全分解。

So this changes the way, again, in which we think about robots.

所以再次说明， 这会改变我们对机器人的想法。

So, we started off looking at robots that would eat pollution,

我们从可以吃掉污染物的机器人开始，

and then we're looking at robots which we can eat.

直到可以被我们吃掉的机器人。

I hope this gives you some idea

希望能给大家一些灵感，

of the kinds of things we can do with future robots.

看看我们能如何使用 未来的机器人。

Thank you very much for your attention.

谢谢大家！

(Applause)

（掌声）