How I built a jet suit | Richard Browning

翻译人员: Junyi Sha 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

Michael Browning: engineer,

迈克尔 布朗宁：工程师，

innovator --

革新家——

inventor, really --

发明家，还有——

and inspiring father.

一位启人心灵的父亲 （演讲者的父亲）。

He had a passion for flight, as you can kind of sense

他对飞行充满了热情， 你能够从那

不可思议的70年代 离职礼物中看出来。

from that rather dubious 1970s office-leaving present.

And some 40 years after that was created,

而在那之后的四十年中，

a small group of us got together

我们一小批人聚集在一起，

要把它变为现实，

to have a go,

a run at the whole challenge of flight that inspired people for years,

大胆面对那个在数十年中 激励了人们的飞行挑战，

and do it in a very different kind of way.

而且是以一种非同一般的方式。

And that's the journey I'd like to share with you now.

这也是今天我希望 和大家分享的心路历程。

The starting hypothesis was one of the human mind and body,

我们最初的假想是 人类的智慧与身体，

which, as you've seen for the last few days here,

就像你们在过去的 这几天里所看到的那样，

是一个神奇的结构。

is an amazing construct.

What if you augmented that wonderful machine

如果我们能够运用正确的科技

with just the right technology?

来放大这个优势呢？

如果我们从那个角度 作为切入点看待飞行，

If you approach flight in that kind of real way,

能达到怎样的高度呢？

where could you get to?

So my training partner here back in London, Denton,

我在伦敦，丹顿的训练伙伴，

在这方面比我做的好得多。

is doing a much better job of that kind of stuff than me.

那可是在伦敦啊。

Guess what? It's London.

The idea was that you augment that.

我们的想法是放大这个特征。

And so, how do you augment that?

那么要怎么做到这一点呢？

我们戴了这么个东西。

Well, we bought one of these.

This is a micro gas turbine.

这是一个微型燃气涡轮。

This was ground zero,

这是第一步，

so that little piece of kit proved really quite impressive,

这个小东西的能量让人印象深刻，

so we got two in a field.

所以我们试着带了两个。

The real hero here, by the way, is, right in the background,

顺便提一句，这里真正的英雄 是正在我们背景的

there's a lady tending some vegetables,

后方照料蔬菜的那位女士，

who does a brilliant job of trying to ignore us for a while --

她在那段时间里，做到了 完美的忽视我们的存在——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I think the only thing less happy is the grass,

我认为对此感到不悦的 估计就是那片草地了，

that we did probably damage quite badly.

因为我们的活动确实 让它们伤得不轻。

You get an idea of the thrust here,

这就是所谓的“助推”，

当我尝试水平抬起 它们的时候，我都拿不住。

when I try to hold them horizontally and somewhat fail.

因为那相当于举起50公斤的推力。

That's around 50 kilos of thrust there.

We were quite impressed with that.

我们也感到很震撼。

我们以为就快取得一点成效了。

We thought we were getting somewhere.

So there's only one sensible way to go from there:

所以继续下去只有一种合理方案：

you get four.

那就是戴四个。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I have to say, I still like watching these back.

我不得不说， 我依旧很喜欢看这些视频。

我们当时的想法很简单， 试着分散一下推力吧。

So then we thought well, let's try and spread the load a bit.

我让腿上也分担一点儿推力，

The legs are designed to take the load,

为什么不呢？

so why don't we spread it out a bit?

That bit was good.

这个想法挺好的。

那个护具——

The harness --

a nice idea but it didn't really work,

是个不错的想法， 不过没起什么作用，

as you'll see now.

就像你们看到的这样。

这个过程就是关于不断的去尝试——

This whole journey was very much about trying things --

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Yeah, it really didn't work, did it?

真的没什么用，是吧？

Trying things and learning by failing at them most of the time.

尝试各种东西，在大部分时间里 从失败中学习。

And that included failing by falling over.

这也包括了不断的摔倒。

If you notice, we've got five engines here --

如果你注意到了，我们用了5个引擎——

虽然有一个当时正在维修状态，

not to be put off by the fact one was in maintenance,

still had a go.

我们还是尝试了一下。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And then I pinched a fuel line.

然后我压坏了一根燃料管。

所以又是一次好的教训。 知道不会那样做了。

So again, good learning. We learned not to do that again.

此路不通。

This was a blind alley.

（笑声）

(Laughter)

This was three on each arm --

这是一个膀子上捆三个的实验——

那简直太可笑了。

that was ridiculous.

每条胳膊上都是70公斤。

That was 70 kilos on each arm.

Again, struck that one off.

这一套方案也得淘汰。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But we were starting to make some really quite convincing progress,

但是从那开始，我们确实 取得了令人信服的进步，

足够让你去相信，也许——

just enough to make you believe that maybe --

maybe we could get there.

也许我们是可以做到的。

You can see, look -- tantalizing.

你能看到这很具有诱惑力。

The model of one on each leg and two on each arm,

那种在每条腿上各绑一个 每只胳膊各两个的模型，

在理论上是可以 提供足够的推力的。

on paper, that was enough thrust.

And then we did what I'm about to show you now,

然后我们就做到了我接下来 要给你们看的这段视频，

and I still love watching this one.

我很喜欢这一段。

This was our first six-second, reasonably coherent flight.

那是我们第一次连贯的六秒飞行。

(Applause)

（掌声）

That was the point where this endeavor went from:

从那开始，我们的不懈努力就从：

“我真的不知道这能不能行得通，”

"I'm really not sure this is going to work,"

变成了：“哦，天哪，真的做到了！”

to: "Oh my god, it does work!"

从那以后，我们不断的完善它，

From there on we then refined it,

但是我们还是会不断摔倒。

but we carried on falling over a lot.

摔倒，真的是学习的最佳方式。

Falling over, like I say, is definitely the best way to learn.

一段时间之后，我们就 开始完善整体设计。

After a while, we starting really refining the layout of all of this.

And you'll see, that's stability and control --

你会看到，稳定性，控制性——

没有任何牵引线之类的保护措施——

there's no wires there or anything --

这是我们不断完善的科技成果，

that's a combination of us refining the technology,

including with a Tupperware box on the back for the electronics

其中也包括了背后的 特百惠供电背包，

and actually learning the balance and control.

还有不断学习掌握的平衡与控制。

我现在，请各位仔细听我下面

I'm now going to save your ears for the next short piece

一小部分的演讲。

and talk over it.

听一段时间飞行器的噪音 会让人厌烦的。

After a while, the jet engine noise is a bit annoying.

这是几周之前。

This is only a few weeks ago.

You can see the stability and control is really quite nice,

你能看到稳定性 与控制性看起来还不错，

and I'd like to think this somewhat validates that starting hypothesis,

我认为这也算是 证实了我们的出发点，

that the human mind and body, if properly augmented in that way,

那就是，如果我们能适当的放大 人类思维与身体的完美结合，

那我们就能够取得一些炫酷的成果。

can achieve some pretty cool stuff.

I mean, like I said:

我的意思是，就像我先前说的：

I'm not thinking about where I'm moving my arms at that stage.

在那时，我并不在思考 我的手臂应该如何运动。

I'm looking at the objective of where I want to get to,

而是望向我想到达的那个位置，

and a bit like riding a bike,

就有点儿像骑自行车，

my arms are just doing their thing.

我的手臂在自主的挥舞着。

这是一种奇妙的经历。

It's a very strange experience.

So where is all this headed?

所以，最后的效果如何呢？

I'll talk over this landing --

我会和大家谈谈这次着陆——

I think I land in this one.

我认为这把我成功着陆了。

Well, I don't think anybody's going to go down to Walmart

我并不认为人们会在短期内 使用这套设备

去逛沃尔玛， 或者是送孩子们去上学，

or take the kids to school in any of this stuff for a while,

but the team at Gravity are building some awesome technology

但是在Gravity的这个团队 将要构建一些相当厉害的科技，

that's going to make this look like child's play.

而它们可能看起来只像是儿戏。

We're working on some things

我们现在正在努力尝试

将这些飞行的特殊经历

that will seek to bring this unusual experience of flight

to a wider audience, beyond the events and displays we're doing.

带给更广大的观众， 超过我们现在做的这些演示。

我们甚至已经 开始寻找二号，三号飞行员，

We're even starting to look for pilots two and three,

如果有人自告奋勇的话。

if there's any volunteers.

我能预见到。

I've got this vision.

It sounds audacious, but let's just stick it out there,

虽然这听起来很大胆， 但是我们还是应该坚持做下去，

that one day maybe we can rise up above a beach,

也许有一天，我们就能够 在一个沙滩上升空了，

fly up and down the coastline of it, rise up a bit higher,

上上下下，飞的更高一点儿，

同时携带保护措施， 我们正在努力让这些变为现实。

with some of the safety kit we're working on to make this achievable.

在地平线的尽头 一个大力士俯冲下来。

Then over the horizon comes a Hercules with the ramp down.

当他经过你的时候 你就开始加速，

As it comes past, you start picking up speed

and see if we can intercept --

看看是否能成功拦截——

当然是从后方，不是正面， 正面是不对的——

from the rear, not the front, that would be a mistake --

然后尝试在后方着陆。

and then try and land in the back.

就像我说的， 这些离我们还有些遥远。

And as I say, that's a little way off at the moment.

But this is also, if I take a big step back from this,

但这段经历，如果我退一大步讲，

this is also a very personal journey for me.

也是我非常个人化的一段历程。

Back to that lovely photo,

让我们回到那张可爱的照片，

或是图中的这张照片。

or photo in a picture.

可惜的是，我父亲在 我15岁那年自杀了，

Sadly, my father took his own life when I was 15,

同时还留下了一大堆 未实现的抱负。

and left an awful lot of unfulfilled ambition.

他曾经是一名出色的发明家，

He was a wonderful inventor,

a maverick creator.

特立独行的创造者。

And I'd just like to think, if it was possible,

然后我就会去想，如果有可能的话，

if he was looking down,

如果他正在上面看着我，

he would be --

他会——

he'd certainly be smiling at some of the things we've done here,

他肯定会为我们今天 所取得的一些成果感到高兴的，

我是这样认为的。

I think.

所以，这也是献给他的。

So, it's a tribute to him.

谢谢大家。

Thank you very much.

（掌声）

(Applause)

（画外音）理查德 布朗宁: 在这个演讲之后，

(Voice-over) Richard Browning: I'm probably more nervous

about doing the demo after this.

我可能对于这个 演示环节感到更紧张了。

I've got a lot of things to get done today.

我今天有很多要做的。

Worst-case scenario, we don't get a clean start.

最糟糕的情况是， 我们初识始状态不够干净利落。

Or we get an unplanned failure while I'm actually flying around.

或是当我正在到处飞的时候 可能出现意料之外的失误。

因此我把高度控制的很低，

This is why we keep it very low,

最糟的也就是我像 一个笨蛋一样大仰摔。

so the worst is I just look like an idiot and fall on my rear, as I said.

如果真的发生了 你们就可以尽情的笑话了。

So you can all enjoy that if that happens.

（音乐）

(Music)

（飞行器加速声）

(Jet engine accelerates)

(Cheers)

（欢呼）